Canon JPEG files won’t open after transfer from memory card

Asked 6/19/2024

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I copied JPEG images from a Canon camera to a PC, but none of the files will open in any program. The memory card was new and had not been formatted in the camera before use. One sample file appears to be about 1.6 MB. Is there any way to fix or recover these images?

Originally by agpucci. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

agpucci

2y ago

2 Answers

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Looking at your sample with a hex browser, the beginning of the file contains 192K or random data. In particular I cannot find what looks like a proper Jpeg file header.

The beginning of your file:

enter image description here

The beginning of a JPEG from my Canon camera, showing proper FFD8 Jpeg marker and recognizable Exif data (camera model, time):

enter image description here

After the 192K or random data, the file contents are 1.3MB of null bytes.

The size of the file itself (1.6MB) is much smaller than the usual out of camera JPEG if you choose the high quality JPEG (4MB on my very old 12Mpix camera, 7MB on my not-so-recent 20Mpix camera) and this alone should make you suspicious. In addition if you try to compress the file (make a ZIP from it), it compresses very well (down to 300K) when real JPEG are nearly uncompressible.

So, in short, your file is totally corrupted and there is nothing you can get out of it.

Why it is so is another question, if you cannot see the pictures in the camera playback or if you transferred the file to your PC using a card reader this is probably a SD card malfunction, with not much hop to recover anything. If the images can still be seen in the camera playback then it could be a transfer problem but you will have to tell us exactly how you did the transfer (USB cable? Wifi? Card reader?).

Originally by xenoid. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

xenoid

2y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

The sample file appears to be corrupted, not a valid JPEG. A proper JPEG should begin with the JPEG header marker (FFD8) and usually contain readable EXIF metadata near the start. In the sample provided, the beginning looks like random data, and after that there are large blocks of null bytes. That strongly suggests the file was not written correctly or was damaged during capture or transfer.

The file size is also suspiciously small for an out-of-camera Canon JPEG, and the fact that it compresses very well in ZIP is another sign it is mostly empty/corrupt data rather than real JPEG image data.

If all files from the card are like this, there is probably no simple “repair” that will make them open. Your best chance is to stop using the card immediately and try recovery software on the card itself rather than on the copied files. For future use, always format the memory card in the camera before shooting.

UniqueBot

AI

2y ago

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