JPEG Medic // Accurate Manual JPEG Recovery
Table of Contents
  1. Overview
  2. Theory of JPEG Repair
    1. JPEG structure
    2. How to fix broken JPEG file
  3. Working with the Program
    1. Main menu
    2. Virtual folder tree
    3. Files panel
    4. Preview panel
    5. Cluster view
    6. Hex view
  4. Repairing JPEG image
    1. Opening JPEG file
    2. Repair window
      1. Menu commands
    3. Repair procedure
      1. Visual analysis and localization of damaged MCUs
      2. Finding the next correct MCU
      3. Deleting damaged MCUs
      4. Inserting empty MCUs
      5. Color correction
        1. Automatic color correction
        2. Manual color correction
      6. Filling empty MCUs with data
        1. Use the thumbnail image to fill the empty MCUs
        2. Auto-generate missing content
    4. Saving repaired JPEG image
    5. Repairing fragmented JPEG file
    6. Repairing damaged JPEG image based on SOS marker
    7. Repairing JPEG file encoded by ransomware

Opening JPEG file

To start repairing a broken JPEG file, you need to open it in JpegMedic. Use the File > Open menu command to browse for a JPEG file and open it. You can also Drag&Drop files from Explorer to JpegMedic.

Opening arbitrary files

One of JpegMedic's strengths is that it can work not only with individual JPEG files, but also with arbitrary files that contain JPEG images in them. For example, a damaged RAW file created by a contemporary camera contains a JPEG preview that you can recover using the program. Such a preview can actually have a decent resolution, so the game is often worth the candles, especially if the original file is severely damaged and does not open at all.

Opening disk images

JpegMedic cannot work with physical storages (such as flash drives) directly. Instead, you can create a disk image using any third-party tool available to you, and then open such a disk image in JpegMedic. The program scans the opened file automatically and if it detects the file is a disk image, JpegMedic attempts determining its file system. The following file systems are supported: FAT12/FAT16/FAT32/exFAT/ISO.

Note, that the Home license of JpegMedic can only open the first 10 found images, and processing of file systems is only available in Professional and Forensic licenses.

If the file system of the disk image is damaged, JpegMedic may not be able to determine its type and build the correct list of clusters. Consequently, the program also incorrectly locates the existing files in the image. However, you can still try to work with such a disk image. Turn off the Ignore FAT table option in the File menu, then try to open the disk image again. The program will ignore FAT, and will search for JPEG images using signatures only.

Multi-volume disk images (.001, .002, etc) are processed automatically, you only need to open the first volume manually.

You can also open compressed disk image files created by various forensic software such as Encase or AccessData FTK as long as your JpegMedic license allows that.