Unlock a PDF and remove its password

Drop in a protected PDF and the tool first tells you what kind of protection it has. If it only blocks printing, copying or editing, the lock is removed straight away — no password needed. If it asks for a password when you open it, type that password once and you get a copy that opens without one. It handles AES-256, AES-128 and older RC4 encryption, works on many files at once, and runs entirely in your browser, so neither the document nor the password is sent anywhere.

Nothing is uploaded — the file stays on your device
No file size limit
No sign-up, no watermark
Free, with no paid tier holding anything back

How to remove a password from a PDF

Drop one or more protected PDFs into the box above, or click it to choose them.
Each file is checked straight away and labelled with the kind of protection it has.
Files with only a permissions lock are unlocked at once — just click Download.
For a file that needs a password to open, type the password and click Unlock. With several such files, use the single password box to try one password on all of them.
Download each unlocked PDF, or all of them as a ZIP.

The unlocked copy is a new file ending in -unlocked.pdf. Your original, still protected, is left exactly as it was.

Two kinds of PDF protection

“Password-protected PDF” covers two quite different things, and knowing which one you have tells you whether you need the password at all:

	Open password	Permissions lock
Also called	User password, document open password	Owner password, security restrictions
What you see	A password prompt before the document appears	The document opens, but printing, copying or editing is greyed out
Is the content encrypted?	Yes — unreadable without the password	Yes, but readers can open it without a password
Needed to unlock here	The password	Nothing
Typical sources	Bank statements, payslips, tax documents, medical results	E-books, reports, forms and brochures from organisations

A permissions lock is a request to PDF readers rather than a real barrier: the content is encrypted with a key that every reader can derive, which is why the file opens for anyone. That is also why it can be removed without the owner password. An open password is the real thing — the key is derived from the password itself.

Know what you are dealing with before you type anything

Rather than asking for a password first and finding out afterwards whether one was needed, this tool reads the file's security settings the moment you add it. For a permissions lock you see exactly which actions were blocked — for example printing, copying text and images, editing — and the restrictions are removed without a prompt. A file that turns out not to be protected at all is labelled that way, so you do not go looking for a password that does not exist. After unlocking, each file shows which encryption was removed, such as AES-256 or RC4 128-bit.

If you have forgotten the password

For an open password, there is no honest shortcut. Modern PDFs use AES encryption, and trying passwords one by one is far too slow to be practical — which is exactly what makes the protection worth having. This tool does not attempt it. What usually works is finding the rule the sender used. Statements and payslips commonly come with an email explaining the password, often a combination such as your date of birth, the last digits of an account or ID number, or your postcode. The sender can also send the document again without a password.

Unlocking many files at once

Twelve months of bank statements or a year of payslips usually share one password. Drop them all in together: a single password box appears as soon as two or more files need one. The password is tried on each file in turn; files it opens are unlocked, and any that need a different password keep their own field. When you are done, Download all as ZIP gives you every unlocked copy in one go.

What stays the same

The content. The file is rewritten without its encryption, and nothing is converted to images or re-compressed. Text stays selectable and searchable, photos keep their quality.
Bookmarks, links and form fields. The table of contents still jumps to the right pages, links still work, and fillable forms remain fillable.
The size. An unlocked copy is normally within a few percent of the original.

Encryption	Where you find it	Supported
AES-256	Current Acrobat, most PDF tools today, PDF 2.0	Yes
AES-128	Acrobat 7–8 era and many office programs	Yes
RC4 128-bit	Older files from the 2000s	Yes
RC4 40-bit	Very old files	Yes
Certificate or rights-management protection	Corporate document control systems	No

Once unlocked, the file works with every other PDF tool: sign it, merge it with other statements into one document, compress it for an upload limit, or save its pages as images with PDF to JPG. The whole set is listed under PDF tools.

Your file and password stay on your device

Uploading a bank statement and its password to a website is exactly what the password was meant to prevent. Here, both stay in your browser. The first time you use the tool it downloads the unlocking engine — about 1.3 MB, cached afterwards — and runs it in a background worker. Your PDF and password are passed to it in memory and discarded when it finishes. Only unlock documents that are yours or that you have permission to change.

The engine is qpdf, the open-source PDF transformation tool by Jay Berkenbilt and contributors, compiled to WebAssembly and released under the Apache License 2.0.

Frequently asked questions

Can I remove a PDF password if I don't know it?

It depends on the kind of password. A permissions lock - the kind that opens without a password but blocks printing, copying or editing - is removed without one. An open password is different: the whole file is encrypted with it, and with AES encryption guessing is not a realistic option, so this tool does not try. If you have forgotten an open password, look at the email or letter the document came with; banks, payroll services and tax offices usually explain the password format there, such as part of your date of birth or account number.

What is the difference between an open password and a permissions password?

An open password (also called a user or document open password) must be typed before the PDF shows anything, because the content is encrypted with it. A permissions password (owner password) lets anyone open the file but tells PDF readers to block things like printing, copying text or changing pages. When you drop a file in, the tool tells you which one it has and, for a permissions lock, exactly which actions are blocked.

Is it legal to remove a password from a PDF?

Removing protection from your own documents, or from documents you have permission to change, is normal - a bank statement you need to upload elsewhere, or a form you were sent to fill in. Removing restrictions from someone else's document to copy or redistribute it can break the terms it came with or copyright law. This is general information, not legal advice.

Are my PDF and password uploaded?

No. The unlocking engine is downloaded to your browser the first time you use the tool and runs there, in a background worker. Your file and the password you type are handed to it in memory and discarded when it finishes; nothing is sent to a server, logged or stored.

Does unlocking change anything else in the PDF?

No. The file is rewritten without its encryption and nothing else: text stays selectable, images keep their quality, and bookmarks, links and fillable form fields still work. Nothing is re-compressed or converted, so the unlocked copy is normally about the same size as the original.

Which kinds of PDF encryption are supported?

The standard password encryption that PDF readers and writers use: AES-256 (used by current versions of Acrobat and in PDF 2.0), AES-128, and the older 128-bit and 40-bit RC4. PDFs protected with a digital certificate instead of a password, or with a rights-management service that checks a server before opening, cannot be unlocked here.

How do I unlock several PDFs that use the same password?

Drop them all in together. Files that only have a permissions lock are unlocked immediately, and when two or more need a password, a box appears to try one password on all of them. Any file it does not open keeps its own password field, and the unlocked files download together as a ZIP. This is handy for monthly bank statements or payslips that share a password.

Why does it say my password is wrong?

Passwords are case-sensitive, so check Caps Lock, and watch for a space picked up when copying the password from an email. Either password works: if the document has both an open password and a separate permissions password, typing the permissions password also unlocks it. Very old files encrypted with RC4 handle accented letters inconsistently, so a password containing them may have been saved differently by the program that made the file.

The tool says my PDF is not protected, but I still can't edit it. Why?

Some PDFs feel locked without being encrypted. A scanned document is made of page images, so there is no text to select or change. A digitally signed or certified PDF is shown as locked by Acrobat because any change would break the signature. And some readers simply do not edit PDFs. In those cases there is no password to remove.