Repair PDF

Fix corrupted or damaged PDF files that won't open or display errors.

Drop a corrupted PDF here or click to select

Fix corrupted PDF files online — free

A corrupted PDF can be caused by an incomplete download, an interrupted email transfer, a software crash during saving, or physical damage to the storage drive. Even minor corruption — such as a broken cross-reference table or an incorrect byte offset — is enough to prevent the file from opening in Adobe Acrobat, Preview, or a browser.

Filero's repair tool runs your PDF through Ghostscript, a professional-grade PDF engine used in publishing and print workflows worldwide. Ghostscript reads the damaged file, reconstructs the internal structure from whatever data remains, and outputs a clean, standards-compliant PDF. It is the same technology used by many desktop PDF repair utilities, available here for free with no software to install.

Repair is most effective when the underlying content data is intact but the PDF index or object structure is broken. If a file was severely truncated before any content was written, recovery may not be possible — but it is always worth trying before concluding the file is unrecoverable.

Common signs a PDF needs repairing

How the repair works

When you upload a PDF, it is sent over HTTPS to Filero's processing server. Ghostscript (gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite) re-renders the document from scratch: it parses as much of the file as possible, ignores structural errors that would cause other readers to abort, and writes a fresh PDF with a valid object tree and cross-reference table.

If Ghostscript cannot process the file, a secondary pass using pypdf with strict mode disabled attempts to salvage the document. Your original file is never modified. The repaired output is returned directly to your browser and deleted from the server immediately after download.

How to Repair a PDF

Attempt to fix a corrupted or damaged PDF that won't open, displays errors, or has missing content.

Step-by-step

  1. 1Click "Select PDF file" or drag your damaged PDF onto the upload area.
  2. 2Click "Repair PDF". Filero will attempt to reconstruct the PDF structure.
  3. 3Download your repaired PDF file.

What can PDF repair fix?

  • PDFs that fail to open with "file is damaged" errors.
  • Truncated PDFs caused by incomplete downloads or transfers.
  • Minor structural corruption from disk errors or software crashes.
  • PDFs with broken cross-reference tables or incorrect object offsets.

Limitations

  • Severely corrupted files with lost data cannot be fully recovered.
  • If content was permanently overwritten or deleted, it cannot be restored.
  • For the best chance of recovery, try repairing as soon as possible after the corruption occurs.

Read our guide

How to Repair a Corrupted PDF

Also try

Compress PDF
Unlock PDF
Protect PDF
Merge PDF

Read our guide

How to Repair a Corrupted PDF

Also try

Compress PDF
Unlock PDF
Protect PDF
Merge PDF