can't open pdf. error: File type unknown (application/octet-stream) is not supported

Question

I am struggling to open an important pdf file I have on my ubuntu 12.04, which is probably created on MS Windows(assuming since it has some formatting issue). When I open the file using a PDF viewer it shows me this error: File type unknown (application/octet-stream) is not supported

I tried to open it using terminal, too. Here is the output:

➜  pdf: gnome-open mypdf.pdf
Error: May not be a PDF file (continuing anyway)
Error (30): Illegal character '{'
Error: PDF file is damaged - attempting to reconstruct xref table...
Error: Couldn't find trailer dictionary
Error: Couldn't read xref table

➜  pdf:  evince my pdf.pdf    
Error: May not be a PDF file (continuing anyway)
Error (30): Illegal character '{'
Error: PDF file is damaged - attempting to reconstruct xref table...
Error: Couldn't find trailer dictionary
Error: Couldn't read xref table

Can anybody help me with solving this issue and to fix this?

Solution

MIME type for a PDF on Ubuntu is application/pdf

but application/octet-stream (meaning any generic binary file) is a sort of catch all for files, and usually requires a file extension to determine what to open it with.

Download the PDF locally and save it as a PDF, making sure there is .pdf at the end.

Comments

[Eric Carvalho]

Are you sure the file isn't corrupted? What's the output of pdfinfo <file>.pdf?

[Derrick Mar]

I see these errors: Error: May not be a PDF file (continuing anyway) Error (30): Illegal character '{' Error: PDF file is damaged - attempting to reconstruct xref table... Error: Couldn't find trailer dictionary Error: Couldn't read xref table

[Derrick Mar]

Being this file corrupted is my nightmare, and I think it's coming true. Just hoping for a way to get the content back. :(

[Derrick Mar]

I did try to change extension to .pdf, but it seems that there is no other way to get the data back. I think I'll have to live with accepting the fact that the file is corrupted. :(

[Fakhri Zulkifli]

And still no one know the solution for this annoying problems? it seems the corrupted or damaged pdf file can't be recovered

[BiggJJ]

Maybe some of these methods? superuser.com/questions/278562/…

[Sildeag]

I had one .pdf file which generated same message and others indicating - a corrupted file. Unable to open it using LibreOffice components, Google browser, and file reader. Firefox browser was able to open it and it turned out to be a scanned document. Printed it using PDF output printing option. The disadvantage with this is the PDF isn't searchable.