How to open broken computer files

It is a frustrating and common technical problem to be unable to open a file. But don't give up and delete them immediately. In most cases, the following tips can help you solve your problem on your own.

Find the reason

A variety of problems can cause PDF files to fail to load or videos to fail to play. Maybe the file is corrupted, someone saved it in the wrong format, or you just opened it with the wrong program. Doing some early investigation can help you find out what the problem is. Then, you can choose the best solution.

The prompt message you see when trying to open a file will provide some clues. If you double-click a project that is classified as an unrecognized file type, the Windows computer will ask "How do you want to open this file?" and the macOS computer will show "No app set up..." Both operating systems will provide some Options for finding applications that can open mysterious formats. In a specific program, if you try to open a file that the software cannot fully read, you may see messages about unreadable content or invalid file types. This may indicate that the file is corrupted or the file extension is incorrect.

If you are not sure what type of file you are working on, some online tools can help. Both CheckFileType and Online TrID File Identifier allow you to upload files in your browser and then identify mysterious files. Once you know the file type, you can find a program that can access it. As always, please be careful to open files that you are uncertain or from suspicious sources.

Change file extension or format

File extension is the code of three or four letters after the dot in its name. For example, the extension of the music file will be ".mp3" at the end. Some files do not have these codes to display, but you can force them to display. On Windows, go to File Explorer, navigate to the View tab, and then check the File Name Extension box. On macOS, select Finder, then select Preferences, go to the Advanced tab, and check Show all filename extensions.

These extensions act as indicators or labels for file formats, which are the way files are encoded or saved to disk. The MP3 file is the .mp3 mentioned earlier, the PowerPoint presentation is .ppt, and the video file may be .m4v. The format and extension must match, otherwise you will encounter problems when opening the file. To change the file extension on Windows or macOS, simply click on the file and edit the last three or four letters to display the correct extension for that format.

Modifying the extension does not actually change anything about the file, but it can help your application recognize the file, thus helping you open it. For example, your image editor may not know what "picture.ipg" should be, but it will open "picture.jpg" without any problem. If the file extension is wrongly marked for some reason, editing it is an easy workaround.

Changing file format is tricky; it involves saving files again using different standards. Generally, you need to open a file in an application to change its formatting – so this doesn't work for corrupted files. This is more about fixing files that cannot be opened in your favorite image editor or word processor but can be opened in an alternative program. Suppose a colleague typed a document in the Mac program Pages and gave it a .pages extension, and then sent the file to you. You may not be able to open the document in Microsoft Word, so if you prefer the word processor, you have to change the format: Open the document in Pages, click File, then click Export to, and save in Word format, The extension is .doc or .docx.

If the file cannot be opened in one application, try opening it with a different application and modifying the file format. For example, the free HandBrake program for Windows and macOS can convert one video file to another file type. If you can't open a video on your computer or smartphone, HandBrake may be able to convert it to an available format. If you don't care about the video app - you just want to watch your files - try the free and famous VLC media player, which plays almost all video file formats. Again, you can open almost any image format with IrfanView as long as the file is correctly encoded.

Repair corrupt files

These technologies—editing file extensions, changing formats, and trying different applications—can only help you do this. To recover truly corrupted files, you need a dedicated repair tool. These programs usually focus on one specific file format, so you need a tool to fix word processor documents, another tool to untie the video, and so on. To determine which type of fix you need, check the extension and any additional information you can find about the file.

Due to the large number of file types, we will not introduce all file repair tools here. However, a quick online search (keep keywords as specific as possible) should give some clues to any format you are working on. Be sure to check out the free and official options before paying the program. For example, for Word documents, try Word's own repair tool first. Don't spend money on fixing unless you have exhausted all the other options, and you have read user or professional reviews that it works for you. For suggestions on repairing documents, videos, and PDFs, please continue reading. To use Word's built-in repair tool, start the program, click Open Other Documents, and select Browse. Select your problem file, click the Down Arrow next to the Open button, and select Open and Fix from the list. For other Microsoft Office applications such as Excel and Powerpoint, you can access similar tools in the same way.

Another type of file that is often corrupted is video. We've mentioned HandBrake and VLC Media Player, but while they can convert between formats and open many different video types, they can't fix corrupted video files. As far as your free option is concerned, Recover MP4 fixes only a limited number of issues…unless you are willing to pay for it, that’s it. In this case, the Grau GmbH Video Repair Tool (about $35) and Stellar Repair for Video (from $50) are well reviewed, and they also offer free demos. Before you pay, try these programs to see if they are right for you.

PDFs are often damaged during creation and downloading. Two free online services, Repair PDF and PDF Online, may be able to recover your documents from the digital grave. If they fail, download the PDF Repair Toolbox (Windows only, $27). It allows you to run tests on damaged files before you charge you for the full software.

Unfortunately, some files are too corrupt to be repaired-you cannot repair all files. Sometimes your only option is to return to the source of the file, whether it is a music service or a colleague who sends you a document via email, and get a new copy. In some cases, you may even have to grit your teeth and create your own new file from scratch.

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