🔓 Unlock PDF

Strip the password so you can open, print, or edit freely

✓ Free Forever · ✓ No Signup · ✓ No Upload · ✓ Works Offline

🔒 Your documents never leave your device. All processing happens locally in your browser using pdf-lib + Web Crypto (decrypts RC4 40/128-bit, AES-128 and AES-256). No upload, no server, no tracking.

Features

  • Remove Open Password — Strip the password so you can open the PDF without entering it every time.
  • Remove Permissions Lock — Unlock printing, copying, and editing restrictions on PDFs you own.
  • Password Stays Local — Your password never leaves your browser — decryption happens entirely on your device.
  • Fast & Free — Unlocking takes seconds. No signup, no watermark, no file limit.

How It Works

  1. Upload — Drop the password-protected PDF onto the page.
  2. Enter password — Type the password you use to open the PDF.
  3. Unlock — Click Unlock — decryption happens in your browser.
  4. Download — Save the unlocked PDF.

Use Cases

  • Stop re-entering the password every time you open your own PDF
  • Remove print restrictions on documents you own
  • Prepare a PDF for editing (merge, rotate) that requires an unlocked file
  • Share a PDF without passing along the password

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this a password cracker?

No. You must know the password. This tool removes the password from a PDF you can already open.

Is it legal?

Only unlock PDFs you own or have explicit permission to unlock. Removing DRM from third-party content may violate copyright or licenses.

Does my password get sent anywhere?

No. Password and file stay in your browser — nothing is uploaded.

Does it remove printing and copying restrictions too?

Yes. A PDF that only restricts printing, copying or editing opens without a password — leave the box empty, and the copy you download has no restrictions. If it also needs a password to open, type that one (or the permissions password).

Can it unlock any PDF?

Any PDF locked with a standard password: RC4 40-bit and 128-bit, AES-128 and AES-256 (Acrobat 9's variant too). PDFs locked to a certificate or by a DRM system (FileOpen, Adobe LiveCycle) can't be opened — the page tells you so.

Does unlocking change anything else?

No. Every part of the file is decrypted where it is: the text stays selectable and searchable, and fonts, images, links, bookmarks, form fields, attachments and the title stay the same. The file is written out again, so its size can change a little.

Notes from Milo 🐨

2026-10-10

Confession: this tool never really decrypted anything. It drew every page as a picture and put the pictures in a new PDF — the password was gone, but so was the text (nothing to select or search), the links, the bookmarks, the form fields and the title, and the file came out several times bigger. I wrote a proper decryptor instead: it reads every standard PDF lock (RC4 40 and 128-bit, AES-128, AES-256), takes either the open password or the permissions password, and removes only the encryption — everything else in the file stays exactly where it was. And a PDF that only blocks printing or copying needs no password at all: leave the box empty.

2026-10-02

The unlock page used to turn away many locked PDFs with "Could not read this PDF. It may be encrypted — try Unlock PDF first" — on Unlock PDF itself. Its file check used a library that can't parse every encrypted file. It now hands the file straight to the reader that knows how to use your password, so those PDFs unlock normally.

Related Tools

  • 🔐 Password Protect PDF — Encrypt your PDF with AES-256 — a password to open, plus optional print, copy and edit restrictions
  • 📑 Merge PDF — Merge multiple PDF files into a single document — all in your browser
  • 🗜️ Compress PDF — Reduce PDF file size with adjustable quality levels
  • 🔄 Rotate PDF — Fix sideways scans or flip specific pages — entirely in your browser

💬 Bug, idea, or just to say hi? Tell Milo 🐨 · [email protected]