Remove the “you may not print or copy this” lock. Your file never leaves this tab.
Read this first, because the word “unlock” is used for two different things.
Some PDFs open fine but refuse to let you print, copy the text, or edit them.
That is an owner password, and it is a request the reader is trusting you
to honour, not real protection. This removes it: the file opens the same, minus
the restriction.
Some PDFs will not open at all without a password. That is a user
password, and the file is genuinely encrypted. This is not a
cracker — it cannot guess a password you do not have. If your file
needs one to open, you will be asked for it, and you must know it.
1. Open a PDF
Drop a PDF here, or click to chooseNothing is uploaded — it is opened inside this tab
The honest notes
Nothing is uploaded. Static page, no endpoint, no account. The PDF is opened, decoded and rebuilt in your browser.
How it works — and the cost. The reader here can open a restricted file, so it rebuilds it as a fresh PDF with no restrictions. Each page is rendered to an image, and the text is laid back over it invisibly, so you can still select and search it — but the pages are now pictures with a text layer, not the original vector text. The file usually gets larger, and very fine text is a touch softer. That is the trade for removing the lock without a server.
It is not a password cracker. A file that needs a password to open is properly encrypted; you will be asked for that password and it is never sent anywhere. Removing an owner restriction from a file that already opens is a different thing, and the one this does.
Use it on your own documents. Owner restrictions are usually there for a reason even when they are trivial to remove. This exists for the everyday case — a statement you cannot print, a form you cannot fill — not for getting around someone else's wishes.
It downloads about 700 KB the first time, to render pages (pdf.js) and write the new file (pdf-lib), served from this domain because the security policy forbids third-party scripts.