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🔒 Your files never leave your device ✦🔒 Your files never leave your device ✦🔒 Your files never leave your device ✦🔒 Your files never leave your device ✦🔒 Your files never leave your device ✦🔒 Your files never leave your device ✦🔒 Your files never leave your device ✦🔒 Your files never leave your device ✦🔒 Your files never leave your device ✦🔒 Your files never leave your device ✦
Repair & Recover Broken PDFs — No Upload, No Signup
Upload a PDF that won't open. The tool analyses the damage, rebuilds the structure, shows you exactly which pages were recovered, and lets you download the repaired file.
No upload Page-by-page recovery Recovery report Preview thumbnails
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Drop your broken PDF here
PDF that won't open, gives errors, or is partially corrupted
Max 100MB · Processed entirely in your browser
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Analysing PDF structure…
Reading file headers and cross-reference table
Damage severity—
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0%
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0
Pages recovered
0
Pages skipped
0
Warnings
Recovered pages — click to zoom or compare
Recovered Damaged
0 warnings
What can be recovered?
Honest about what works and what doesn't.
Can recover
Broken cross-reference tables
Invalid object references
Missing EOF markers
Malformed PDF structure
Corrupted metadata
Partial page damage
Cannot recover
Truncated / incomplete files
Missing binary content data
Password-protected PDFs
Non-PDF files renamed .pdf
Permanently deleted content
Corrupted image streams
Common PDF problems we see
These are the most frequent causes of PDFs that won't open or display incorrectly.
PDF won't open
The file exists but your PDF reader throws an error when you try to open it.
Broken structure
The internal file structure is malformed, making it unreadable to standard PDF readers.
Broken references
Internal links between PDF objects are damaged or point to invalid locations.
Corrupted metadata
Document properties, author info, or creation dates are damaged but content may still be intact.
Blank pages
Pages render as white or blank — content exists in the file but can't be displayed.
Invalid PDF objects
Some objects within the PDF are malformed, causing readers to fail on load.
How PDF recovery works
A 5-step process running entirely in your browser.
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Normal load attempt
The tool first tries to open the PDF normally. If it succeeds, no recovery is needed.
2
Damage detected
If loading fails, the tool identifies the type of damage and asks if you want to attempt recovery.
3
Aggressive recovery
pdf-lib loads the file with recovery flags that skip invalid objects and rebuild broken references.
4
Structure rebuilt
Valid pages and objects are extracted. The cross-reference table is rebuilt from scratch.
5
Recovered PDF saved
The rebuilt PDF downloads automatically with a full recovery report showing pages recovered and any warnings.
Common causes of PDF corruption
Incomplete downloads
The most common cause. If a download is interrupted the PDF file is saved incomplete with a broken structure that PDF readers cannot parse.
Damaged storage media
USB drives, SD cards, and external hard disks develop bad sectors over time. Files stored on damaged sectors become unreadable.
Failed transfers
Sending PDFs via WhatsApp or Bluetooth occasionally corrupts the file during compression or transfer, especially on slow connections.
Export errors
Software crashes during PDF export, power cuts, or running out of storage mid-save can produce a PDF that appears valid but fails to open.
Email corruption
Some email servers modify attachments during virus scanning or format conversion, occasionally corrupting the file in transit.
Version mismatch
Very old PDFs may not open in modern readers due to deprecated features, even though the file is technically intact.
Frequently asked questions
Often yes. If the corruption is structural — broken cross-reference tables, invalid object references, or missing EOF markers — the PDF can usually be rebuilt. Recovery shows you exactly which pages were saved and which were too damaged.
PDFs fail to open due to incomplete downloads, damaged storage media, broken cross-reference tables, corrupted metadata, or failed exports from other software. These structural issues can often be fixed by rebuilding the PDF structure locally in your browser.
The tool uses pdf-lib with aggressive recovery flags: throwOnInvalidObject:false which causes it to skip invalid objects instead of crashing. It rebuilds the cross-reference table, extracts valid pages, and saves them into a new clean PDF — all without uploading your file.
No. Recovery happens entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Your file never leaves your device — no upload, no server processing, no data collection. PDFs often contain sensitive information; this ensures complete privacy.
It shows what fraction of the total pages were successfully extracted. A 100% recovery means all pages were readable. Lower percentages indicate some pages had damage that prevented them from being included in the output.
If recovery fails completely, the PDF likely has missing binary data that cannot be regenerated. Try re-downloading the original from its source, check if you have a backup copy, or contact the sender for a fresh copy of the file.
Mildly damaged PDFs can often be recovered when the issue relates to structural corruption rather than missing binary data. Recovery is possible for broken cross-reference tables, invalid object references, missing EOF markers, and malformed metadata. Recovery is not possible when file data itself is missing or truncated.
No. All PDF recovery processing happens entirely in your browser using JavaScript and the open-source pdf-lib library. Your file never leaves your device — no upload, no server processing, no data collection. You can verify this by opening your browser's Network tab and observing that no file transfer occurs during recovery.
Password-protected PDFs cannot be recovered without the correct password. If you have the password, unlock the PDF first using your PDF reader, then use the recovery tool on the unlocked version. Bypassing encryption is not supported and is not legal.
The recovery tool can fix: broken cross-reference (xref) tables, invalid PDF object references, missing EOF markers, malformed PDF structure, and partially broken metadata. These are the most common causes of PDFs that won't open in standard readers like Adobe Acrobat, Preview, or Chrome.
No. If the PDF's binary data is missing or the file has been truncated, recovery is not possible. The data that was lost cannot be recreated. Recovery only works when the file structure is broken but the content data is still physically present in the file.
Yes. Recovery happens entirely in your browser using the open-source pdf-lib library. Your file is never uploaded or transmitted anywhere. The process is equivalent to opening a file in any local desktop application — completely private.
PDFs become corrupted due to: interrupted downloads (most common), damaged storage devices such as SD cards or USB drives, incomplete file transfers over email or messaging apps, failed exports from PDF creation software, file system errors during saving, and physical disk damage.
Yes. The recovery tool works on modern mobile browsers including Safari on iPhone and Chrome on Android. Upload directly from your Files app, email attachment, or WhatsApp. No app download required.
Not always. Recovery rebuilds the PDF structure but some content — particularly embedded images, fonts, or pages that referenced corrupted data — may still be missing or partially damaged in the output. The recovery report shows exactly which pages were fully recovered and which had issues, so you know exactly what was and wasn't saved.
Often yes, if the corruption is structural. Broken cross-reference tables, invalid object references, and missing EOF markers can usually be rebuilt by the recovery tool completely free and without uploading your file.
PDFs fail to open due to incomplete downloads, damaged storage media, broken cross-reference tables, or failed exports. The recovery tool analyses the damage and attempts to rebuild what is still readable.
The tool uses pdf-lib with recovery flags that skip invalid objects instead of crashing. It rebuilds the cross-reference table and extracts valid pages into a new clean PDF without uploading your file.
No. Recovery happens entirely in your browser. Your PDF never leaves your device.
If the PDF has missing binary data or is too damaged recovery will fail with an honest explanation. Try re-downloading the original file from its source if possible.