Windows 10: My .png file made on MS Paint got corrupted. "It appears we don't support this file format"

First of all: I already accepted my file cannot be fixed. It's a shame, since it was a drawing I spent hours working on, but oh well.


I started drawing something on Paint around four days ago. I spent three days continuously working on it, opening and closing the file. Yesterday, I had to reboot my computer due to external issues, so I saved the file, closed it, and then did what I had to do. When my computer had finished rebooting, I opened the file again, only to notice the thumbnail was gone, and Photos was unable to open the file, showing the following message: "It appears we don't support this file format".


I tried opening the file on Paint, only for a "Paint cannot read this file. This is not a valid bitmap file, or its format is not currently supported" to show up. I tried Paint 3D, Photoshop, Photo Gallery, one or two third-party softwares, but nothing, the file couldn't be opened.


I tried other solutions using Command Prompt, but I had no luck. I even contacted Microsoft Support, but they were unable to do anything. I tried around 7 or 8 different photo repair tools, but none of them worked. Lastly, I took a look at the image's binary code, only to find out it was just a bunch of zeros. My file was completely gone.


So, if I know there's nothing I can do, why am I posting this here? Well, I wanna know two things. One, how often does this happen to people? I found several threads regarding this issue and none of them seemed to have a definitive answer. And two, how did this happen? It was just a normal .png file, not even made on a third-party software. What am I supposed to do? Create a backup of a file that's already backed-up to OneDrive? I don't know. I guess this proves that valuable stuff can just disappear out of nowhere, and I shall now be paranoid every time I draw something. Great!

:)

 

Corrupted file RAR

If the archive has been created using WinRAR, why don't you try WinRAR itself? It has a built-in repair feature for repairing corrupted archive (ZIP as well as RAR). Follow the steps given below:

• Open WinRAR application in your system.
• Now click on File tab > Open or simply press Ctrl+O.
• A small window "Find Archive" will pop up. Locate the corrupt RAR archive from your system directory and select it.
• Now click Open button.
• Click Tools tab > Repair archive or simply press Alt+R.
• Again a small window "Repairing File name.rar" will pop up.
• Now click Browse to select a location to save the repaired archive.
• Check the box "Treat the corrupt archive as RAR" and click OK.
• WinRAR will start repairing of corrupt RAR archive. Once it gets completed click Close.

I hope the above steps will help you repair the corrupted RAR archive.

Thanks.

 

MS Paint will not save in .emf format

Hi RMcG1, I'm Bill.

I don't believe MS Paint has ever had support for more than the most basic file formats. Could it be that you're using a different app to MS Paint?

According to the Wikipedia article for MS Paint:

"The program opens and saves files in Windows bitmap (BMP), JPEG, GIF, PNG, and single-page TIFF formats."

If you need support for other formats, you might need to look up another graphics editor program with support for those formats.

Let me know if you need any more information! Thanks!

 

MS Paint Recent Files

Here s a partial solution. Works for Windows 10 as well.

Paint - Delete Recent Pictures from List in Windows - Windows 7 Help Forums

This will clear it but of not disable list ie you would have to do again later etc.