Unlock PDF.
Remove a password from a PDF. You need to know the password — encryption can't be bypassed without it.
Note: The first time you use this tool, your browser downloads the decryption engine (qpdf-wasm, about 1.3 MB). After that, unlocking is instant. Your file and password never leave your device — everything happens locally.
Files never leave your device
Local processing
Conversions happen in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
Instant results
Native browser APIs mean no server queue, no waiting room.
No account needed
Open, drop, convert. No sign-up, no email, no friction.
Frequently asked questions
Does this work on real password-protected PDFs?
Yes — as long as you know the password. The tool uses qpdf (a real PDF library) compiled to WebAssembly to decrypt the file with your password. The output is a clean unprotected PDF. This is the same engine many command-line tools and server-side services use.
Can it unlock PDFs WITHOUT a password?
No, and no other honest tool can either. PDF passwords aren't a 'lock' you can pick — the actual content bytes are encrypted with AES, using a key derived from the password. Without the password, the bytes are mathematically scrambled and no software can read them. Sites that claim to 'unlock without password' either (a) only work on PDFs that already opened freely (owner restrictions, not encryption), or (b) are misleading you. If you don't know the password, you cannot unlock the file.
What are 'owner restrictions' then?
Some PDFs open freely but show flags like 'copying not allowed' or 'printing disabled'. These are just metadata flags — not real encryption — and any tool that re-saves the PDF can ignore them. This tool handles those too: leave the password field empty and it strips the restrictions.
Are my file and password sent anywhere?
No. Everything happens inside your browser using WebAssembly. The PDF bytes and your password never leave your device. You can verify this in your browser's developer tools — after the qpdf engine downloads on first use, there is zero network traffic during unlocking. The 'engine download' only happens once and is cached.
Is it legal to unlock a PDF I own?
Yes, for documents you own or are authorized to modify — your own contracts, scanned papers, files where the sender forgot to remove the password. It is not legal to circumvent protections on copyrighted material you don't have rights to. Use responsibly — that's on you.
Will form fields, signatures, and annotations survive?
Form fields and annotations: yes. Digital signatures: they will become invalid because the file bytes change when re-saved. If signature validity matters, don't unlock the PDF.
My PDF is huge. Will this still work?
Yes, but expect your browser to use memory equal to roughly 2-3x the PDF size while processing. PDFs up to a few hundred MB work fine on desktop; mobile Safari may struggle with files over 100 MB.
Are my files really not uploaded?
Correct. Every conversion in this tool runs in your browser using JavaScript and the local file APIs. There is no server-side processing, no file upload, no temporary storage, and no log of what you converted. You can verify this by opening your browser's network tab while converting — the only traffic is loading the page itself.
Do I need an account or to install anything?
No. Open the page, drop your file, download the result. No signup, no email, no extension, no app.
Is there a file-size limit?
Not from us. The practical limit is your device's memory — browser tabs typically handle files in the hundreds of megabytes range without issues. Very large files may take longer to process on phones than on laptops.