File appears to be damaged, corrupted or is too large

originally published at www.disktuna.com

Windows Photo Viewer can’t open this picture because the file appears to be damaged, corrupted or is too large.

If try to open a corrupt JPEG file in the Windows Photo Viewer it will tell you: Windows Photo Viewer can’t open this picture because the file appears to be damaged, corrupted or is too large.

This message indicates that at least the header of the JPEG is corrupt. If damage is limited to the header then it is likely the picture can be repaired if you have a known good image shot with the same camera. If damage extends beyond the header repair is unlikely. EDIT: Current build of my software may still be able to help you repair as long as partial JPEG bit stream survived. I have replaced video at the end of this article with an up to date version that discusses this.

Uh oh!

Check if picture can be repaired

Most pictures that are sent to my JPEG Repair service that are beyond repair suffer from:

• Entirely filled with zeros
• Entirely filled with a repeating byte pattern (FF FF FF etc.)

You can check this using a hex editor like HxD.

If the file appears to contain data, you can use the same editor to repair it using the header of an intact JPEG.

Repair a JPEG using a hex editor

Using HxD: Use Search > Find, search for FF DA using HEX data type. If not found the file is beyond repair.

Find the last instance if FF DA using HxD

It is possible multiple instances of FF DA are found, you need the LAST one. There may be a few if the JPEG included a thumbnail and preview.

Note: If you find many FF DA byte combinations then you’re probably not looking at JPEG data but random binary data. The file then is probably beyond repair.

Write down the address (Using View > Offset base you can switch to decimal numbers if you like). Now search for FF D9. Or, go to end of the file which is where you’d normally find FF D9.

Once found, select the entire block including the last FF DA upto and including FF D9 > right click > copy.

Open a new file > Paste Insert > Save as ‘image.jpg’. You have now copied the image data to a new file.

Open a known good file that was shot with the same camera, using same resolution and orientation (portrait/landscape).

Use Search > Find, search for FF DA using HEX data type.

Search, set data type to Hex-values

It is possible multiple instances of FF DA are found, you need the LAST one.

Select the block preceding the FF DA bytes all the way to the start of the file (FF D8)

Switch to your image.jpg file TAB containing the image data, make sure you’re at offset 0 (zero) > Paste Insert > Save the file.

If damage was limited to the header you should now be able to open your file. Open and Save it using something like Paint.NET (free) to update the file thumbnail (if any).

Repairing a JPEG using JPEG repair software

Using JPEG Repair software to fix the “File appears to be damaged, corrupted or is too large” error message.

If the above procedure is too intimidating there is an easier way to accomplish the same. Using my utility JPG-Repair (click to download) and a sample or reference file you can patch an intact header on your corrupt JPEG files.

JPG-Repair shows previews of the JPEGs it’s able to repair

1. Place the corrupt or damaged JPEGs + sample file in one folder. The sample needs to be named to “sample.jpg”. Work on copies of the corrupt JPEG photos!
2. Double click “jpgrepair.exe”. There is no setup, just a single executable file.
3. Select the drive containing the copies of the corrupt photos.
4. Browse to the folder containing the copies of the corrupt photos. If you have for example copied them to a folder on your desktop, you typically select the C: drive > Users > Your username > Desktop > and then the Folder.
5. Select the JPEGs you need to repair. The free version only allows for one file to be selected at the time.
6. Click “Repair”.

This video explains:

1. Different situations that can result in the error message
2. How you can determine if it can be repaired
3. Demonstrates repairs for JPEG and RAW photos (CR2, NEF, etc.)

If all went well then the “Windows Photo Viewer can’t open this picture because the file appears to be damaged, corrupted or is too large.” error is no longer displayed and it will now show your photo.

Category: image repair JPEG Repair Tags: corrupt jpeg, corrupt jpg, damaged jpeg, digital image repair, jpeg photo repair, jpeg repair