How to Try Repairing Corrupted Photos and Documents (In Your Browser)

Few moments are as sinking as an important photo or document refusing to open with a “file is corrupted” message. One common cause is damage to the structure (signature) at the start of the file — and that can be diagnosed and repaired. Corrupted files are also often sensitive, like contracts or personal photos, which makes uploading them to an unfamiliar server especially uncomfortable — so this is best done inside the browser.

First — ‘repair’ is not ‘undelete’

This tool fixes the structure of a file you still have but can't open. It is not a way to bring back a file you accidentally deleted from disk. Recovering deleted files requires dedicated software that scans the storage device directly — a different job from what this tool does.

Diagnosing and repairing

1. 1Open the recovery tool.
2. 2Upload the problem file — it diagnoses the signature automatically.
3. 3Review the damage found and the repair attempt.
4. 4If a repaired copy is produced, save it separately from the original.

What kinds of damage it can fix

• •PNG — chunk CRC repair
• •JPEG — marker repair
• •ZIP-based documents (DOCX, XLSX, etc.) — structural diagnosis

Why it's 100% on-device

Because corrupted files are often sensitive, this feature offers no server (hybrid) mode at all. Both diagnosis and repair happen inside the browser, and the file never leaves your device.

Habits that prevent corruption

• •Don't pull out a USB or external drive mid-save or mid-copy
• •Back up important files in two or more places
• •Delete and re-download any file whose download was interrupted