Unlock PDF
Take the password off a PDF you can already open. The password is used in this browser tab and never uploaded.
- No file upload
- No sign-up
- No daily limit
This early version works with a limited set of PDFs up to 32 MB (25 MB on iPhone and iPad), including PDFs with an AES-128 password. Forms, comments, layers, attachments, newer compression and AES-256 aren't supported yet. Your original is never changed.
What's supported?
This version accepts PDF 1.x with complete classic cross-references, and stream lengths stored directly or, in unencrypted files, in a separate object. Files with later edits saved on top are accepted when they are unencrypted and every edit uses that classic form in a way this version has qualified; only their latest version is used, and earlier versions are checked but never copied. Object streams, cross-reference streams, hybrid files, other forms of later edits and PDF 2.0 are refused. Files with forms, layers, attachments or annotations other than links are refused until preservation is qualified, and so are bookmarks, links, tags and metadata streams in forms this version has not qualified. Inline images in forms this version has not qualified, pages that set default colour spaces, unsupported content encodings and incomplete inspection also cause a refusal. Encrypted input is limited to Standard R4 AES-128 with matching string and stream filters; AES-256 and other unqualified routing are refused. Passwords in this compatibility profile use single-byte characters and the first 32 bytes. Full rewrites create a new file identity. Unsupported inputs are not converted.
Files containing any of these are refused:
- digital signatures or signature fields
- XFA forms
- interactive form fields
- tags or marked content, in forms this version has not qualified
- document or object metadata streams, in forms this version has not qualified
- output intents (the colour profiles that PDF/A archival and PDF/X print files often carry)
- embedded files or file attachments
- associated-file relationships
- optional content layers
- page annotations, in forms this version has not qualified
- bookmarks, destinations or document navigation, in forms this version has not qualified
- custom page labels, in forms this version has not qualified
- document actions or multimedia, in forms this version has not qualified
- externally stored stream data
- document features outside the current supported profile
Drop PDFs here
or choose them from your device
Checking this device's limit…
Request-body observations · Observation unavailable
Request-body observation scope
Observed window APIs: none. Calls are counted since observation started. Measured sizes describe supported supplied bodies at the API call, before native conversion, including failed attempts; delivery is not measured. Multipart values are a lower bound, and streams or unmeasurable bodies have unknown sizes. Other APIs, workers, service workers, headers and earlier traffic are outside this counter. This is not a total network-byte count.
How to remove a PDF password
- Drop the protected PDF onto the box above.
- Enter its password when asked. Either the open password or the owner password works.
- Press Remove the password.
- Download a copy that opens with no password at all.
The size limit is 32 MB per PDF (25 MB on iPhone and iPad), and the file selector shows the figure for your device.
Unlock supports a restricted document profile
This version opens the source with its password and saves the admitted document without encryption. It retains ordinary document information and checks the saved copy by reopening it without a password before returning it. It accepts the restricted page-content profile described above the file selector.
Forms and navigation are refused before conversion. Files with form fields, page annotations, bookmarks or destinations are outside the current supported profile. This version does not flatten fields or promise to carry bookmarks into the result.
Tags, layers, attachments and metadata/profile streams are also refused until their preservation is qualified. An unsupported file is not converted, and your original remains available. The page on why a PDF is refused explains each reason.
Common questions
Can this open a PDF whose password I don't know?
No. This is not a password cracker and will not become one. The document is decrypted using the password you supply; without it there is nothing to work with, and the tool refuses rather than guessing. Use it on files you are entitled to open.
My PDF opens fine but won't let me print or copy.
That usually means an owner (permissions) password: the file is encrypted with an empty open password and carries restriction flags. Those flags are a request to PDF readers rather than a lock, and anyone who can open the file can remove them. When Unlock removes a file's encryption, its restriction flags go with it. If Verso asks for a password for a file like this, enter its permissions (owner) password.
Where does my password go?
Into a Web Worker in this browser tab, and nowhere else. The page keeps it in memory until the job succeeds, you start over or choose another file, or you close the tab; it is never written to storage or uploaded. The request-body counter observes selected window API calls after it starts, with unknown sizes disclosed. It does not observe the worker or establish complete password transmission privacy.