Can it fix a password-protected PDF that's corrupt?

Only if the corruption is outside the encryption layer. If the encryption metadata itself is damaged, repair can't reach the content. Try decrypting first with Unlock PDF, then repair the decrypted file.

Should I overwrite the original?

No. Always save the repaired file under a new name and keep the original. If a different recovery approach (or another tool) might help later, you'll need the source bytes.

No. Repair runs entirely in your browser — the damaged file never reaches our server, which matters when the file you're trying to recover contains sensitive content.

Repair a damaged PDF

Rebuild a broken PDF and recover readable content. Free and browser-based.

Why use this

Rebuilds the xref table: The most common form of PDF damage is a corrupt cross-reference table — the index that tells readers where each page lives. PDFWix walks the file object-by-object and rebuilds it from scratch…
Fixes broken streams: Damaged content streams (the data that holds page content) are detected and either recovered or skipped, so one bad page doesn't take down the whole document.
Honest about recovery: Repair shows you what it found before fixing, and what it couldn't recover. No false 'success' on a file where half the pages are gone — you see exactly what's salvageable.
Partial recovery is real recovery: When a PDF is severely damaged, PDFWix extracts every readable page into a clean new PDF instead of giving up. Even 60% of a contract is better than zero.
Browser-side: Damaged files often contain sensitive content (the reason you're trying to recover them). Repair runs entirely on your device — nothing reaches our server.

Use cases

Recovering an important contract that won't open after an interrupted email download
Salvaging a thesis draft after a Dropbox sync conflict left it corrupt
Fixing a PDF generator's buggy output where Acrobat throws a 'damaged file' error
Recovering pages from a PDF that copied incompletely from a flaky USB drive
Reading a PDF from a colleague whose version-control merge produced a broken file

How it works

Upload the broken PDF — Click "Select PDF file" or drag the corrupt file into the upload box. Even files that won't open in Acrobat will load here — PDFWix reads the raw bytes directly.
PDFWix scans for damage — The repair engine walks the file looking for a missing xref table, broken object streams, truncated content, or invalid headers. It reports what it found before attempting recovery.
Click "Repair PDF" — PDFWix rebuilds the xref table from scratch by scanning every object in the file, fixes recoverable stream errors, and writes a clean new PDF. Salvage rate is typically 80-95% on files with index…
Download the repaired PDF — Save the recovered file under a new name — never overwrite the original. Open it in your usual reader to verify the pages and content you needed are back.

Frequently asked questions

What kinds of damage can be repaired?

Mostly index-level damage: a corrupt cross-reference (xref) table, broken object headers, malformed metadata, or trailing garbage from a sync conflict. PDFWix can also recover from individual broken content streams by isolating the damaged page. It cannot recover content that wasn't transferred — a truncated download…

Will every page come back?

Usually yes for index damage; partially for stream damage. PDFWix is honest about what it recovered — if 3 of 200 pages had unrecoverable content, you'll see that in the report and the rest of the document will be in the output.

Should I repair before compressing?

Yes. Running [Compress PDF](/compress-pdf) on a damaged file can amplify the damage or fail silently. Always repair first, then compress.