Are you searching the web for solutions to repair corrupt or damaged images? You’re in the right spot. Let’s make it easy for you by listing the best solutions online to repair & view corrupt or damaged image files.
Learn how to repair broken, distorted, blurry, grainy, pixelated, greyed out, and un-openable images with the help of some built-in, DIY, and professional image repair solutions in Windows.
Causes of Image Corruption & Damage
Any image format, be it JPEG, JPG, PNG, or RAW, is susceptible to damage and corruption. When a file is corrupted, you won’t be able to open it. It happens when your system is unable to read or write a file successfully. Various other factors may result in image corruption, such as:
- Bad sectors on a storage media
An image file becomes inaccessible due to bad sectors accumulated on a magnetic or optical disc with time.
- Corrupt file system
At the time of saving a file, your system may crash unexpectedly or shut down. This may result in corrupting the image file.
- Scratches on CDs/DVDs
Although they are no longer the preferred storage medium for photos, many users still use CDs/DVDs to store their photos & videos.
- Loss of Magnetic Orientation
Hard drives degrade over time, corrupting the data stored on them. Extreme conditions like humidity, heat, cold can accelerate the degrading process.
- Errors at the time of data transmission
Errors may occur at the time of transferring images from one storage media to another. If there is an interruption at the time of transfer, such as power outage, system shutdown, internet disconnection, etc., the images may get damaged or corrupted.
- Incompatible image format
Sometimes, the format that you’re trying to open is incompatible with the photo viewer app on your system.
How to View a corrupt/damaged image file?
To view a corrupt image, try some of the DIY alternatives listed here first:
- Open Image in a different viewer
You need to check if the image format is compatible with your photo viewer. If the image is not opening in your system’s default photo viewer, try opening it in another viewer. If the image opens easily in a different image viewer, it means the format is not compatible with the existing image viewer. You can also open the image in Paint, rename it, and then try to open it.
- Change image format
The image may open if you convert it into a different format. You can use an online image file converter tool, change the format, and see if this helps to open & view your image.
- Change File Extension
The easiest way to repair & view a corrupt image is to change its file extension. Rename the file and then try to open it.
- Re-download the files
Images may get corrupted when they are not downloaded properly. Try to download them once again from the source, and see if they open.
- Try third-party software
A corrupt image file can be repaired with the help of third-party software. There are lots of image repair tools available on the web that you can try. One such tool is the Stellar Photo Repair tool, available for free download.
1. Stellar Repair for Photo
When it comes to searching for the fastest photo repair & recovery, Stellar Repair for Photo is the go-to solution for all. The software can easily repair corrupt, broken, damaged, distorted, grainy, pixelated, and greyed-out images. Using this tool, you can:
- Fix corrupt header & invalid image file structure
- Extract thumbnails
- Repair severely corrupt images using sample files
It works on photos shot from any camera or device; works on both Mac & Windows, and supports photo recovery & repair on USB flash drives, HDDs, SSDs, SD cards, drones, CCTV, android, iPhone, etc.
Simply download Stellar Repair for Photo on your computer, install & launch the software, and follow the screen’s instructions. Your image will be repaired in seconds.
2.Picture Doctor
The Picture Doctor is a useful tool when it comes to repairing damaged, corrupt, or broken images. It fixes your photos and saves them in BMP format after repair. But a major drawback of the Picture Doctor is the huge watermark it leaves on the repaired photos, and you can’t even remove it.
3. File Repair
File Repair is a free tool that can easily repair your corrupted images and other documents. It can also repair files damaged due to virus infections and malware attacks. Using File Repair, you can fix an image of almost any format such as jpg, jpeg, tiff, gif, bmp, png, etc. simply download the software, upload damaged image, and click on Repair.
1.Use Image Editors to Repair Photos
You can try to repair a broken image in Photoshop, Lightroom, or Picasa. To do so, open the image in any of these applications and rename the file. If this doesn’t work either, move to the next method.
2.Run CHKDSK command
If you’re facing trouble opening an image, try running the chkdsk command to find if there are any errors or bad sectors in the storage media containing the image. There may be bad sectors in the drive that might be causing the issue. Here are the steps you need to follow to perform CHKDSK.
1. Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog box.
- Type cmd and press Enter. The Command Prompt will open.
- Type chkdsk in the Command Prompt and the (drive letter) /r. Then press Enter.
- Once the system stops checking the disk, you need to restart your computer.
- Now, try to open the image files again. This method should work if there are bad sectors on the drive.Wrapping Up
The methods and tools mentioned above should be able to fix your broken, corrupted, damaged, blurry, grainy, and distorted image files. In case Windows built-in utilities or the free tools don’t work, opt for a professional photo repair tool mentioned in this post.
