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Unlock a PDF — Remove Passwords and Restrictions

Decrypt a PDF you have the password for, or strip owner restrictions that need no password at all.

There are two different things people mean by a locked PDF. One only carries restrictions — it opens without being asked for anything, but printing or copying is switched off. Those are an instruction to the reader, not encryption, and removing them needs no password. The other is genuinely encrypted and cannot be opened without the password. Give the password and this decrypts it properly and losslessly in your browser. It will not guess a password you do not have, and does not pretend to.

Runs in your browser
Supports
RC4-40, RC4-128 and AES-128 with the password; owner restrictions without one
Quality
Lossless — the document is decrypted, not re-rendered
Privacy
Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded
Cost
Free, unlimited, no sign-up

Frequently asked questions

I do not know the password. Can you crack it?

No. This decrypts a document you can already open, and removes restrictions from one that was never encrypted. Breaking a user password means trying every possibility, which is neither something a browser tab can do nor something this tool will attempt.

Why did it work without a password?

Because the file was never encrypted for reading. It carried owner restrictions — a flag asking readers to disallow printing or copying — and the content was in the clear the whole time. Removing that flag is legitimate and requires nothing.

Does unlocking reduce quality?

No. The document is decrypted object by object and re-saved, so text stays selectable, images keep their original data and the file is byte-for-byte the document that was encrypted. Tools that re-render each page to strip protection lose all of that.

AES-256 files fail. Why?

Revision 6 encryption uses a different key derivation that is not implemented here. Open the file in a desktop reader with the password and save a copy without protection.

How to use the unlock pdf password

  1. 1Select your protected pdf — the file stays on your device and is never uploaded.
  2. 2Enter or paste your password.
  3. 3Press Run, then download the result when it is ready.

Embed this tool

Put the working unlock pdf password on your own site. It runs in your visitors' browsers exactly as it does here — free, no account, nothing uploaded.

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