Repair PDF
Fix a damaged PDF that won’t open or shows errors — the tool rebuilds its internal structure, tells you what was wrong and lets you preview the recovered pages. Free, and the file never leaves your browser.
Free · No sign-upHow to use Repair PDF
- 1. Drop the damaged PDF into the box (or click to choose it). The repair engine loads once, then works on your device.
- 2. The tool rebuilds the file with qpdf or by re-reading every object in it. Only if both fail does it re-draw each page a tolerant PDF reader can still display.
- 3. Read What was fixed — a plain-English list of the problems found — and compare the page counts before and after.
- 4. Check the preview of the first pages, then click Download repaired PDF.
Frequently asked questions
Is my PDF uploaded to a server?
No. The repair runs in your browser with qpdf compiled to WebAssembly, pdf.js and pdf-lib. Only those open-source engines download the first time; your file never leaves your device.
What kinds of damage can it fix?
Broken or missing cross-reference tables, wrong /Length values on streams, junk bytes before the PDF header or after the end of the file, a damaged trailer or page list, and files that were cut off during a download. It keeps every page whose data is still in the file.
Why does the repaired file have fewer pages or odd characters?
If a file was cut off, the data for the missing part is simply gone and can't be rebuilt. The tool shows how many pages were readable before and after, warns you when pages declared in the file couldn't be recovered, and lists pages whose fonts were in the missing part — text on those pages may show the wrong characters.
Will text, links and form fields be kept?
Yes, in most cases. When qpdf rebuilds the file, or when the tool re-reads every object in the damaged file, the text, fonts, images, links and form fields that are still in the file are kept. Only for badly broken files does it fall back to re-drawing pages as images, and it tells you when that happens, because that text is then no longer selectable or searchable.
Can it repair a password-protected PDF?
Not directly. If the PDF needs a password to open, remove it first with Unlock PDF (you must know the password), then repair the unlocked copy. The tool cannot crack or bypass passwords.
What if the tool says the PDF is healthy?
Then no structural damage was found. If the file still misbehaves, the problem may be in the app you open it with — you can download the cleanly rewritten copy anyway and try that.