About This Tool
This tool removes encryption from a PDF using QPDF — the same open-source engine our password removal guide recommends for the command line — compiled to WebAssembly so it runs entirely inside this browser tab. The file is read, decrypted, and handed back to you on your own device; it never touches a server. That matters here more than almost anywhere else on this site, because the documents people unlock are usually bank statements, salary slips, and tax forms — exactly what you shouldn't hand to a stranger's upload form along with the password pattern your bank uses.
What This Tool Needs From You
The password itself. If you select a locked PDF, we detect that with a quick local check and show a password field. Type the password you already have (the one your bank, employer, or the file's sender gave you), and the tool produces a byte-for-byte copy of the document with the encryption layer stripped out — same content, same quality, just no password. This is not a password-cracking or recovery tool: without the correct password, it can't open the file, by design.
Two Kinds of PDF Password
- Open password (user password): required just to view the file — this is what this tool removes.
- Permissions password (owner password): the file opens freely, but printing, copying, or editing is restricted. If your PDF only has this kind, most viewers already ignore the restriction, and this tool clears it as part of the same decryption pass.
Good to Know
- Only unlock documents you own or are authorised to handle — see our full guidance in How to Remove a Password from a PDF You Own.
- Once unlocked, the file can be freely opened, printed, and edited by anyone who has it — store and share the unlocked copy as carefully as you would any sensitive document.
- Unlocking is usually step one, not the last step: once a statement is unlocked you can merge it with others, fix page orientation, or pull the numbers into Excel.
- Need to lock a file instead? Use Protect PDF — the same private, in-browser approach, in reverse.