Extract PDF Attachments

Free

Download embedded files from a PDF — research datasets, regulatory supporting docs, PDF/A archive sources. Per-file download or ZIP bundle. FlateDecode + ASCIIHex + ASCII85 supported. Free, in-browser.

What you'll get: every embedded file in the PDF as a downloadable artifact. Per-file download or ZIP bundle. Supports FlateDecode (~95% of real PDFs), ASCIIHex, ASCII85; image-content filters (JPEG, JBIG2) pass through as native files. For another use, try PDF Attachments Lister.

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Stays in your browser

Free tools run fully on-device — nothing is uploaded to a server.

No watermarks

Clean output, no branding, no daily limits.

Free forever

No signup required. Seriously.

Why people extract embedded files from PDFs

Many PDFs ship with embedded files attached: research datasets, regulatory supporting documents, PDF/A archive sources, design source files, contract exhibits, working notes. The existing PDF Attachments Lister tells you what’s there; Extract Attachments downloads the actual file bytes ready for use. Runs entirely in your browser — no server, no signup.

Research data PDFs

Modern academic publications increasingly embed source datasets (CSV, R scripts, supplementary tables) as PDF attachments. The extractor pulls them out as their original files so you can run the analysis yourself or feed them into your own tooling.

Regulatory filing supporting docs

Indian SEBI / RBI / IRDAI filings, plus international SEC filings, attach supporting Excel sheets, exhibit PDFs, and source spreadsheets to the cover document. Extract them for compliance review without re-requesting from the filer.

PDF/A archive sources

PDF/A (the long-term archival format) often embeds the original source file (Word doc, design file, original PDF before flattening) for future re-editability. Extract recovers those sources from a 5- or 10-year-old archive.

Contract exhibits + addendums

Long contracts (MSAs, employment agreements, service contracts) often attach exhibits, addendums, and reference docs as PDF embeds. Extract pulls each one out as a separate file for individual review or counterparty negotiation.

Design / engineering deliverables

Design hand-off PDFs sometimes embed the source files (Figma exports, Sketch files, AutoCAD .dwg). Extract recovers them so the engineer / contractor can edit instead of just view.

How Extract Attachments works

Three steps, no signup, no uploads.

STEP 1
Drop your PDF
Up to 100 MB. The byte parser walks the PDF’s /Names tree to find the /EmbeddedFiles dictionary and enumerates each Filespec entry.
STEP 2
We locate + decompress streams
For each attachment, the parser walks the Filespec’s /EF reference to the EmbeddedFile stream object, slices the raw stream bytes, then decompresses per /Filter (FlateDecode in ~95% of PDFs; ASCIIHexDecode and ASCII85Decode supported; image filters like DCT/JPX pass through as native files). Browser’s built-in DecompressionStream API does the heavy lifting — no JS library dependency.
STEP 3
Download per file or as .zip bundle
Single attachments get a direct download. Multi-attachment PDFs offer a one-click .zip bundle (via JSZip) with original filenames preserved. Each file lands at its native MIME type so it opens in the right app.

What makes pdfcraft ai different

Same engine Chrome uses
PDFium is Google's PDF engine — the one that powers Chrome's built-in PDF viewer. We compile it to WebAssembly so it runs in your browser at near-native speed.
100% local processing
Most free PDF tools upload your file to a server, process it, and stream the result back. We don't. Your file lives in your browser tab and never touches our infrastructure. Verifiable in your browser's Network panel.
No watermark, no signup, no daily limit
Convert 1 PDF or 1,000. We don't gate on volume because there's nothing to gate on — the engine runs on your machine.
Honest about limitations
When something the tool can't do (encrypted PDFs, cross-reference streams), we tell you clearly instead of failing silently. Same for partial results: sampled vs exact, embedded vs not.
Open standards, free engines
PDFium is BSD/Apache licensed (free for any use). We don't pay vendor license fees and pass that savings on to you (and to ourselves) as a free, ad-supported tool with no upgrade-to-pro pressure.

Frequently asked questions

How is this different from PDF Attachments Lister?

Lister surfaces the metadata (filename, MIME, size, description) without extracting actual bytes. Extract Attachments goes further and pulls the file content. If you just need to know WHAT’s in a PDF, the lister is faster (no decompression). If you need the files themselves, use this tool.

Which compression filters are supported?

FlateDecode (zlib) handles ~95% of real-world PDFs; ASCIIHexDecode and ASCII85Decode (rare but still used in some demos / tutorials) are supported. Image-content filters (DCT/JPX/JBIG2/CCITT) pass through as their native compressed form — the encoded bytes ARE a valid file (e.g. JPEG bytes from a /DCTDecode-filtered stream open as a .jpg). LZWDecode (legacy, very rare in modern PDFs) is not supported — the tool surfaces this clearly per-file.

What about encrypted PDFs?

The byte parser doesn’t handle encryption today. For password-protected PDFs, run them through Unlock PDF first (provided you have the password), then re-run extraction.

Are filenames safe to download?

We sanitize filenames to strip path separators (some malicious PDFs embed paths like ‘../../etc/passwd’) and control characters. Original Unicode filenames (Indic scripts, CJK) preserved when present. For ZIP bundles, duplicate filenames get suffixed (1), (2), etc.

Privacy?

Everything runs in your browser. The PDF never leaves your machine; the extracted attachment files are downloaded directly. For sensitive PDFs (legal exhibits, confidential research data), this is genuinely the safest extraction path — no server, no logs, no inference-provider transit.

What if my PDF has no embedded files?

We tell you clearly. Most PDFs don’t have any embedded files — the feature is mostly used by archives, regulatory submissions, and research publications. If you expected attachments and don’t see them, double-check the source.

Want to inspect attachments without extracting?

PDF Attachments Lister surfaces metadata only (filename, MIME, size, description). Faster than extraction and useful when you just need to audit what’s embedded vs pull the files out.

Try PDF Attachments Lister

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