"The file is corrupt and cannot be opened" — Excel repair steps.
Excel says "The file is corrupt and cannot be opened" when its workbook parser cannot build a usable .xlsx from the package. Upload the workbook for a separate repair attempt and see a free summary of the sheets, rows, and masked cells recovered into a validated copy.
Free preview — pay only if you download ($14)
Your files auto-delete within 48 hours
No person looks at your file as part of repair
Uploading your file.
Keep this tab open while the file transfers. Large files can take a few minutes.
Starting upload...
Recovering what we can.
Analyzing your file...
Here's what we recovered.
Review the watermarked preview before checkout. Previews are capped at 90 seconds.
Repair your file
Choose a supported file to see what can be repaired before checkout.
Simulated checkout — no payment is processed.
Optional — we'll email your private download link.
Download repaired fileYou preview before you pay. If the download is materially worse than the preview you approved, we'll refund you.
Good news — your file isn't damaged. No charge.
There's nothing to repair. If it still looks broken, the issue may be the player, codec, or viewer on your device rather than the file itself.
We couldn't recover this one.
The file is too damaged to rebuild, so there is nothing to preview and no charge. You can try another file.
Have another clip from the same device?
A healthy video recorded on the same device — ideally the same settings — gives the repair engine a template to rebuild from. It can unlock repairs that fail on their own.
FileFix can't fix that kind of file yet.
Right now we repair video, audio, and document files (MP4, MOV, M4V, MKV, AVI, TS, MTS, M2TS, MPG, MPEG, VOB, 3GP, WebM, M4A, WAV, MP3, AAC, FLAC, OGG, AIFF, XLSX, DOCX, ZIP, and PDF). We're adding support for more formats over time.
Something went wrong.
The request could not be completed.
Why this happens
In Excel, this message means the application recognized a workbook file but could not read a consistent ZIP package and workbook model. The central directory may be missing, or worksheet, shared-string, workbook, and relationship XML may be truncated or malformed.
Excel needs those parts to agree before it presents the grid, so one broken package member can stop the application even when other worksheet records remain readable. Rebuilding requires extracting surviving members and writing a fresh workbook container rather than changing the filename or extension.
FileFix scans local ZIP records, repairs worksheet and shared-string XML where possible, and validates the new .xlsx with an independent workbook reader. The free summary lists the sheets and populated rows found in that output without promising unrecovered formulas, styles, charts, or relationships.
What we can and can't recover
We can usually fix
- Files that show "Excel found unreadable content"
- Files Excel calls an invalid format or extension
- Workbooks cut off mid-save or mid-transfer
- Files that show the right size but won't open
We can't fix
- Password-protected/encrypted workbooks
- Genuinely empty (0-byte) files
- Deleted or formatted files (that's data recovery, a different job)
- The old binary .xls format (this repair is for .xlsx)
How it works
-
Upload Drop the file in. It uploads over an encrypted connection. The repair runs automatically — no person looks at your file.
-
Free Watermarked Preview You see exactly what we recovered — sheet names, row counts, and a small sample.
-
Pay & Download If the summary shows what you need, unlock the repaired Excel file for a one-time $14.
You see a recovery summary built from your actual file before you decide anything — so you never guess.
See what's recoverable.
Free recovery summary · files auto-delete within 48 hours
Browse by problem
Questions
An .xlsx file is a ZIP container of XML parts. FileFix scans the parts that are still readable, repairs malformed worksheet and shared-string XML where it can, writes a fresh workbook container, and verifies that the result opens as an Excel workbook before offering it.
It lists the recovered sheet names and row counts, plus a small masked sample from the first sheet. The sample hides parts of cell values; it is evidence from the repaired workbook, not a generic example.
The engine preserves readable package parts, but the summary only verifies sheets, populated rows, and sampled cell values. It does not promise that every formula, style, chart, relationship, or embedded object survived. Review the downloaded workbook in Excel before relying on those features.
No. This repair is for the modern .xlsx format. The older .xls format is a different binary structure and is not handled by this engine.
No. Encryption prevents the repair engine from reading the workbook parts. FileFix does not remove or bypass workbook passwords.
The rebuilt workbook contains the worksheet parts the engine can recover and validate. The free summary names the sheets and counts the rows found in the repaired result, so you can decide from that evidence before checkout.
A one-time $14 — and only if the repair works. The recovery summary is free, and a file that does not produce a validated repaired workbook is not offered for checkout.
No. Upload, repair, validation, and summary generation are automated. Files auto-delete within 48 hours.
No. The repair runs on FileFix's servers. You will need a compatible spreadsheet app to review and use the downloaded .xlsx file.
File repair can reorganize bytes and XML that still exist; it cannot recreate cells that never reached the file. If the engine cannot build and validate a readable workbook, there is no checkout.
Yes, when a clean source or version history is available. A complete original is better than any repair because no repair can recreate bytes that are absent. Keep the damaged copy until you have verified the replacement.
No. The summary reads sheet names, populated rows, and sampled values from the rebuilt workbook. It does not test external links, queries, data connections, macros, or recalculation behavior.
No. FileFix reads the uploaded file and creates a separate repaired workbook. The source file on your device is not modified.