IntactFile

Repair corrupted JPG photos — they never leave your device

The symptom tells you the prognosis. Match your photo to one of the three damage classes below and you'll know what's recoverable before you spend anything.

Your file never leaves your device — repair runs in your browser. 0 bytes uploaded.

Your data is the big block — usually intact. What breaks is the small index. Repair rebuilds it.

Drop a file here or browseTap to choose a file

ZIP · Office · PDF · video · JPG · PNG · RAR/7z · SQLite — repaired right here in your browser. Nothing is uploaded

0 bytes uploadedFree: 3 repairs/day — up to 500 MB video, 100 MB docs & archives, 50 MB photos. Free download. Single repair €5.90. No account required.

Short answer: drop a corrupted JPG here and the tool identifies which of three damage classes it has — won't-open (header or marker damage), gray-from-the-bottom (truncation), or wrong colors (bad markers) — so you know what's recoverable. It all happens in your browser: your photo is never uploaded, 0 bytes leave your device, and you can confirm that yourself in the browser's Network tab. The honest limit: missing data — like the gray region of a truncated file — can't be brought back, and full JPEG repair is still in development, so today you get a free local diagnosis and prognosis.

Photo won't open, or half of it is gray? Start here

  1. Drop the photo
  2. Local diagnosis — damage class identified
  3. Honest prognosis, before anything else

Fixing a JPG starts with knowing which of three damage classes hit it, because they decide the outcome. The tool above reads the photo locally in your browser (nothing uploaded) and identifies the class. Where the product stands, plainly: full JPEG repair isin development; today the tool gives you the diagnosis and prognosis free, so you know what's recoverable before the engine lands. It will run the same way, in your browser, no upload.

What corrupted JPGs look like — three damage classes

These blocks are illustrations, not screenshots, but if you've got a broken photo open right now, you'll recognize yours:

Won't open at all. No preview, viewers refuse it. Usually header or marker damage at the front — the picture data behind it survived. Best repair odds of the three.
Top fine, bottom gray or smeared. The file was truncated partway. The top is real and salvageable; the gray region is data that no longer exists. Partial recovery only, honestly.
Opens, but colors are wrong or the image shifts. Damaged markers or decode tables steering an intact picture wrong. Often fully repairable: the pixels are all there.

Why the classes differ: a JPEG is a short run of structuralmarkers (dimensions, decode tables) followed by the compressed picture, which decodes strictly top-to-bottom. Marker damage leaves the picture intact but unreadable (classes 1 and 3): rebuild the structure and the whole image returns. Damage to the picture data itself (class 2) is a hard boundary: everything above the cut decodes; below it there is nothing in the file to decode.

The errors this covers

Could not complete your request because an unknown or invalid JPEG marker type is found.

Photoshop — marker damage, classes 1 and 3. The strictest reader of the bunch.

It looks like we don't support this file format.

Windows Photos — misleading wording: the format is supported, the file's structure is damaged enough that Photos can't tell.

The file "IMG_2041.jpg" could not be opened. It may be damaged or use a file format that Preview doesn't recognize.

macOS Preview — same family, Apple's phrasing.

Where broken JPGs come from

Two sources dominate. Storage and transfer trouble: failing or counterfeit SD cards, a card pulled during a write, an interrupted import; the file ends up truncated or bit-flipped.Data recovery output: photos carved back after deletion are the single biggest source of broken JPGs, because recovery tools guess file boundaries. Recovery finds bytes; repair makes them a picture again. If your photos came out of a recovery tool, diagnose them here before assuming they're lost.

What this can and can't fix

Repairable

  • Header and marker damage (class 1 and 3) — the whole image typically returns, untouched pixels, no re-encoding
  • Truncated files (class 2) — the surviving top portion is rebuilt into a clean, viewable photo
  • Recovered photos with plausible sizes and partial damage

Not repairable

  • The gray region of a truncated photo — JPEG decodes top-down, and that area is data that doesn't exist in the file
  • Files that read 0 bytes or contain another file's fragments — a recovery problem, not a repair problem
  • Missing pixels are never "restored" by guesswork: no AI hallucination — what comes back is your real photo

The current honest boundary: today this page diagnoses your photo and tells you its class; the full JPEG repair engine is in development and ships in-browser like everything else we make. The diagnosis is free either way; you'll know the prognosis before anyone asks you for a cent.

FAQ

How do I fix a corrupted JPG file?

Start by identifying the damage class, which decides the prognosis. Photos that won't open at all usually have header or marker damage: the best repair odds, since the picture data survived. Photos that open half-gray were truncated, and only the visible part still exists. Drop the file above: the tool reads it locally and tells you which class yours is. Full JPEG repair is in development; the diagnosis runs today, free, in your browser.

Why is half of my photo gray?

JPEG decodes top-down, in order. A gray or smeared bottom half means the file ends early: the decoder ran out of data. The gray region isn't hidden or locked; it's data that doesn't exist in the file. The top portion is real and recoverable; the missing rows can't be restored by any tool, because there is nothing to restore.

How do I fix invalid JPEG marker type in Photoshop?

Photoshop is strict about the markers that structure a JPEG: one damaged marker and it refuses the whole file. Try a more tolerant viewer first: a browser will often still display the image, which proves the picture data survived. When that's the case, marker-level repair (rebuilding the structure around the intact image data) restores the file. It's the damage class with the best odds.

Can photos recovered from an SD card be repaired?

Often: they're one of the biggest sources of broken JPGs. Recovery tools guess where files start and end, so recovered photos frequently come back with damaged headers or truncated data. A recovered photo with a plausible size is a repair candidate; one that reads 0 bytes or a suspiciously round size is a failed recovery no repair can help.

Why do my recovered photos not open?

Because recovery and repair are different jobs. Recovery finds bytes on the storage device; it can't guarantee they form a valid JPEG; carved files often have the wrong length or a foreign fragment stitched in. Repair is the second step: rebuilding a readable image from the parts that are genuinely yours.

Can I repair a JPEG without losing quality?

Yes, when the fix is structural. Repairing headers and markers doesn't re-encode the image: the original pixel data passes through untouched, no generation loss. And in the other direction, repair never invents pixels: no AI fills the gray area with guessed content. What you get back is your real photo, exactly as much as survived.

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