Can't Read File Header, Unknown file format

[WellOiledPC]

Anyone ever figure this one out? I know this is an old thread and I ran across it by accident. I have hundreds of JPEG files that I cannot open with any program. I'm running Windows XP and in picture viewer I get the message that no preview is available. In Internet Explorer I get a small red X. In paint I get an error message also. A friend of mine recommended this program so I downloaded it. When I try to open my JPEG images it says it cannot read the file header. I have been on this problem for a week now to no avail. This all seemed to happen at once. One day it was fine the next day I went to open some pictures and I noticed all the icons were changed to JPEG. I've been over everyone's suggestions and nothing works. The problem seems to be everywhere and in several forums but nobody seems to have an answer. Since my system is set up for automatic updates, I'm thinking the culprit might lie in one of those updates. Possible? I have a little hair left but not much. Please help.

It is most likely that the files are corrupted, since they do not open with ANY image viewer or under Browsers. Is it possible to get a few of these files again, from the original source? I am not aware of any program that 'corrects' corrupted image files...!

[Laurent]

Hi klubdoc,

Try to create a drawing using IrfanView or another program and save is as JPEG. Close the program and try to reopen this image. If it is displayed correctly then your other pictures are probably corrupted (no hope to recover them imho).

This all seemed to happen at once. One day it was fine the next day I went to open some pictures and I noticed all the icons were changed to JPEG.

Did something special happen that day? Defrag disk, disk read error message, error message about FAT or NTFS file system... Were those files once day recovered after deletion?

File recovery programs do their best, but no miracles: if you used your computer for a while before recovery, then it is very likely that recovered files are corrupted.

Since my system is set up for automatic updates, I'm thinking the culprit might lie in one of those updates. Possible?

I dont believe the updates are responsible. Try with a new file as I suggested above.

Laurent

[klubdoc]

Got them back with recovery program!

Well, I tried your suggestion, but nothing. I broke down last night and bought a program called "Stellar Photo Recovery". Cost is $38. I let it scan my files and I'll be damned if it didn't extract almost every single picture that I couldn't open. The only problem I can see is that it forces you to place all the pictures in one single file. Now I have 680+ pictures all mixed up in one folder. It even pulled out duplicates including thumbnails of each picture. The plus side is that it lets you scan for free and actually shows you which pictures it was able to recover. You just can't do anything with the pictures until you pay for the program. I never used one of these recovery programs before and there are so many of them that I pretty much had to just pick one. Turned out okay and what a relief. I will be writing the company and giving them a thumbs up. I only wish I knew what caused this whole thing. I will also be backing these pictures up on another device. Thank you for the reply. WHEW.

[Grom]

This worked!

Hi Erick,
... I used a text editor (Notepad++) to erase all bytes preceding the first occurrence of "ÿØÿá" and saved it.

I've been trying to help a friend recover corrupted images from a digital camera, and This Worked!

It hasn't worked 100%, but certainly enough to provide some satisfaction. I recommend trying this if you're searching around, trying to figure out how to recover corrupt .jpg files, and happened to have stumbled on this post, as I did.

I must ask however, why "ÿØÿá"? And on those files which don't have an instance of "ÿØÿá", is there something else I might try? I'd love to understand this one a bit more.

[Laurent]

Hi Grom,

The hexadecimal equivalent of those characters is "ff d8 ff e0". This is the signature of JPEG files (or magic number"). They are at the beginnig of the file.

Laurent

[rosenmd]

Hi -have the same problem with different files - had worked fine for yeas - now get the error when trying to download updates - opening internet shortcuts -download new version - same problem - says activate plug-ins - do not see activate plug ins anywhere in properties options - please help - for Chrome

[ZeroDiferit]

I had the same problem, it seems like is a problem with IrfanView 32 bit application. I installed 64 bit app, and the same photos I had problems, now works fine.

[stoupanet]

I have Windows 10 32b and IV 4.53 / 4.60, i cannot open file from NOVELL directories, i get eror mess Cant read file, bad header. From desktop same file works. I cannot reinstall to W10 64. Any idea ?

[JendaLinda]

Make sure you have read access to the files on the server.

[stoupanet]

I have all rights except supervisor, i copied that .jpg to novell disk. From desktop same file open.

Isnt it something with Windows safety ???

I cant run and install .exe from novell disks. I must copy to desktop.

----

When i open IrVi and from menu File -> Open ..... it works.

PDF to Acrobat reader, JPG (same as trying open to IV) to GIMP opens succesfully from Novell dir.

[JendaLinda]

There still may be some problems with permission on the Novell server. Are you able to open files from the server in other programs?

[stoupanet]

OMG, i have IV set to "open as admin" which Novell have problem with this, im not admin at Novell. thx

[ghazestor]

I don't know if this helps or not but when I went to rename the bad/corrupted file just to give it a different name for uploading to this forum, Windows asked if I was sure I wanted to rename this *read-only* file. So, I wonder if it means something that this file has somehow been set to be a read only file. And...no, I was not able to open the file after simply removing the read-only switch. mobdro 2022

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Upload unsupported file formats by Zipping them into an archive.