Could not complete your request because the file-format module cannot parse the file

[_nina1234567_]

Hi there!

I use Photoshop CS4 now and I have a problem when I want to import (by dragging'n dropping, importing, open - I tried every way)a .png or i.e. also an .jpg:

when I worked a short time with PS (i.e. 10 minutes) and want to open a .png then, there comes the popup-window with:
"Could not complete your request because the file-format module cannot parse the file"

The funny thing is: my file is NOT broken!! Because if I then shutdown PS and open it again, there is no longer a problem to open the .png-file.... after a while of course it comes back...

So all solutions that I found on this problem were "the norton anti virus is also running"-solution: but I have no NAV running!!
And the files are NOT damaged!! Otherwise I couldn't have opened it after restarting PS.

I purged all files and I have enough cache!! So it doesn't seem to be a problem of my computerperformance.

Any idea???

Thanks a lot,
Nina

[carlif]

Fascinating. Thanks for all that work. It seems that multiple issues

are causing the error message. In my case, it was memory-related. The

exact same file - without any modifications - produced the error and

opened properly in Elements at different times. The only difference

was that when I got the error, I had more programs running.

In your case, there really is a file-based explaination. It is

interesting that the only Adobe program with a user-friendly approach

to the issue - by providing a file type selection dialog - is

Illustrator for Mac. That programmer was on top of things.

I'm not a PNG expert, but if GIMP and Mozilla can program an image

display without relying on those first 8 bits, why can't Adobe?

[E rac]

I have this problem both opening and saving. It will do both with .png sometimes, but it fails most of the time with large images (9000*3600). It works great with small files. I use XP and CS5. For clarification, it does say PNG at the start of the files I am opening, so that isn't the problem here.

[Chris Cox]

If the files say PNG at the beginning, and aren't readable as PNG - then they are most likely corrupt.

That could be due to a bad disk, malware, bad RAM, etc.

[E rac]

They aren't corrupt though. They open just fine in Paint, Paint.net, and The GIMP. They only fail part of the time in Photoshop, for me it happens while opening or saving.

[Chris Cox]

Ok, that I can't explain.

[Noel Carboni]

The most direct way to investigate a problem like this further is to put a copy of the offending file online and post a link to it.  Then others can try to reproduce the problem on their systems.

-Noel

[KathrynBlue]

It seems obvious to me that the issue here is some sort of memory leak.  What happens is that Photoshop is not cleaning up the memory when it is running, so eventually, it runs out and give you this error that is misleading.

If you shut down other files or programs, you free up space, so this may work for a while.

If you restart photoshop, it may free up some space, so this too may work for a while.

The only way if you are having repeated problems to clear out the space is to totally power down your computer and then restart it.  If you are having problems no matter what, you might consider adding more memory to your computer.

At any rate, I was having this problem with a very large file.  I reduced the size and the problem went away for a while.  I restarted photoshop and the same thing - it worked for a while.

This is an old problem with graphic programs and photoshop is hardly the only program that has it.  I might nudge Adobe to clean up their programming standards.  This is sloppy coding.

[Chris Cox]

It seems obvious to me that the issue here is some sort of memory leak.  What happens is that Photoshop is not cleaning up the memory when it is running, so eventually, it runs out and give you this error that is misleading.

Uh, really?  On what evidence do you claim this?

So far the OP issue sounds like a disk or memory issue -- nothing like a memory leak.  And Photoshop doesn't "run out" of memory too easily, because it reuses memory constantly.

The only way if you are having repeated problems to clear out the space is to totally power down your computer and then restart it.

Please explain how you think an application holds on to memory after the application has exited.

[KathrynBlue]

"Uh, really?  On what evidence do you claim this?

So far  the OP issue sounds like a disk or memory issue -- nothing like a  memory leak.  And Photoshop doesn't "run out" of memory too easily,  because it reuses memory constantly."

Because the problem goes away when you close other programs and shut down other photoshop files.

The only way if you are having repeated  problems to clear out the space is to totally power down your computer  and then restart it.

Please explain how you think an application holds on to memory after the application has exited.

Hung processes.  Firefox is one program that is notorious for this.  You can go out and try to find the processes in the task manager, but it's just far easier to restart your system.  Cold starting your computer is an old trick that does seem to work better that just restarting for such issues, but I have no real explanation as to why.

[KathrynBlue]

Let me restate the leak explaination - because the problem doesn't exist when I first use photoshop.  I can open a file and save it.  After working a while, I open up the same file later and can no longer save it, although if I restart photoshop, I can.

[Chris Cox]

Let me restate the leak explaination - because the problem doesn't exist when I first use photoshop.  I can open a file and save it.  After working a while, I open up the same file later and can no longer save it, although if I restart photoshop, I can.

And that is a very different problem from what is being discussed in this topic:  not reading a file because the file could not be parsed.

[KathrynBlue]

Re: Could not complete your request because the file-format module cannot parse the file

Let  me restate the leak explaination - because the problem doesn't exist  when I first use photoshop.  I can open a file and save it.  After  working a while, I open up the same file later and can no longer save  it, although if I restart photoshop, I can.

And that is a  very different problem from what is being discussed in this topic:  not  reading a file because the file could not be parsed.

*no, because the file I open is an EPS file and I create a large png from it. When I try to save it, I get that exact same error message.  The first time it happens, if I close other open files, the problem goes away.   Eventually when the problem gets bad enough, I cannot re-open the png files and get the same error.

[Chris Cox]

When I try to save it, I get that exact same error message.

No, you don't.

You only get an error about not parsing a file when opening/reading the file.

It cannot happen when saving.

If you cannot read PNG files, that is a different issue from what you are describing.

This topic is about that specific error message when reading files (still predominantly caused by users typing the wrong file extension).

[KathrynBlue]

Yes I do get the error.  Specifically it says cannot save as .... because the file format file module cannot parse the file.

If you have an email address, I can send you a screen print.  I also get the could not complete the request version when trying to open a png file and once with a post script file.

[Chris Cox]

Please send a screenshot to ccox (at) adobe (dot) com.

That would be hilarious, because parsing something on save makes zero sense...

[Chris Cox]

OK, I'm amazed.  She actualy did get "cannot parse" while saving.

It appears that someone used the wrong error code in the Photoshop PNG source for 2 exceptional cases:  OS memory allocations failed badly (so that Photoshop's VM system would also be hosed), and OS file system failure (so files could not be created or saved).

I think she's hitting the later case.

[Noel Carboni]

I'd like to state that I use Photoshop CS5 heavily on my Windows 7 x64 system, day in and day out.  Additionally, I never reboot this system, except for very occasionally when Windows Update or installation of a software package requires a restart.  It's on 24/7, and I use it day after day.  The longest it has gone between reboots in recent history is about a month and a half when no updates required it.

At no time do my resources get used up, no matter how much I use Photoshop.

If you're regularly seeing "hung" processes, your computer system sounds like it may be basically unhealthy.  This is not a Photoshop problem but rather a system problem on your computer.  The root causes for such things can be numerous, from excess junkware accumulated from visiting web pages, to poor choices in system packages (e.g., antivirus), to bad drivers (e.g., display), even to faulty hardware.

Also, generally speaking, this sort of thing was more common in Windows XP than with the more modern operating systems.

The need for reboots that you're seeing may seem to be related to your usage of Photoshop, but it's more likely just related to the heavy use of your system; Photoshop is not in itself causing it or it would be seen on all systems.

-Noel

[KathrynBlue]

LOL Noel, I know a lot of people who have this same problem with Firefox.  It's been a problem with graphics programs for a very long time.  But then again, I use a system pretty hard with large graphics and major graphics programs so probably you just don't stress your system much.

[Noel Carboni]

You may not want to go there.

I am a software engineer running my own software company.  I do Photoshop work, software development work, web work, design work, multimedia, virtualization, and all kinds of other things 16 hours a day, and my computers use the rest of their time to do backups, defrags, etc.  I'm currently moving off my very good main 8 GB 64 bit 4 core workstation to a newer, bigger, better 8 core model because the older system is no longer powerful enough to keep up with me.

Your statement "it's been a problem with graphics programs for a very long time" indicates you really don't know what's going on.  As a career software engineer with 35 years professional exprience, I do.

As far as Firefox goes, I use it for testing my web work, but Internet Explorer, with settings changes, can be more secure so I use that primarily.  When I do run Firefox I don't see the problems you're describing.

I'll tell you again that you can achieve a 100% reliable, works all day every day setup, and that if you find you have to reboot then you have things that need fixing.  Photoshop does not inherently use up anything across sessions.

May I suggest, to address your Photoshop CS4 problems, that you try this:

- Edit - Preferences - Performance.

- Click the [Advanced] button in the OpenGL section.

- Uncheck everything, so that you're using the most basic OpenGL.

- Close and reopen Photoshop.

The theory here is that the OpenGL implementation (i.e., in your graphics driver) is buggy, and that this will stress it less.  I'll be interested to hear whether this helps.

What variant of Windows are you running, by the way Kathryn?

-Noel

[KathrynBlue]

Noel, I've seen the problem a long time.  I've read other experts who have said exactly that about Photoshop when I was first researching prety much the same problem years ago.  I've been programming for about 30 years, doing some major graphics for maybe 25. This current photoshop problem is only an issue when I work on unusually large files.  The Firefox problem shuts down my laptop on a regular basis. First I have to restart Firefox when it slows to a crawl, and then eventually I have to restart the machine which fixes it.  I've also had problems with explorer with folders with large numbers of files.  I run XP on everything.  I have no time or reason to update to Windows 7 at this time.  I certainly haven't heard anyone make the claim that it fixes issues with lots of graphic files.

Essentially I'm not sure what you are trying to resolve for me.  Your responses are kind of beside the point and I'm not sure I want to go through some kind of long debugging session with a stranger who has unkown goals to prove something to her.  I wasn't trying to be rude, I just don't have a lot of time to invest making you happy about what I had to say.  I really don't much of a problem with how graphics programs work usually and I'm not seeking an answer to whatever it is that you apparently think it is.

I came here because I searched on this error text and reading the responses, I was just trying to offer the best way to fix it that I've used.  I don't think any of my solutions were out of line.  So far, I haven't seen anything either you or Chris has to say that makes me think otherwise.

[Noel Carboni]

KathrynBlue wrote:

I run XP on everything.  I have no time or reason to update to Windows 7 at this time.  I certainly haven't heard anyone make the claim that it fixes issues with lots of graphic files.

Essentially I'm not sure what you are trying to resolve for me. 

I don't have any agenda here other than to be helpful.  Feel free to skim through my other posts if you can't believe that.

You contradict yourself quite clearly here...  You claim problems with resources being used up over time, yet you claim you have no time nor reason to upgrade to a modern version of Windows that doesn't do that.  However you apparently have time to go through reboot after reboot.  Can you imagine how productive you could be if you didn't have those disruptions?  I can because I live that dream.

Can you not see the reasoning behind moving up to a better operating system because a smart person with even more experience than you is telling you that the goals you seek are solved by it? 

You have apparently been listening to the wrong people so far, and as a result have been missing out on a MUCH improved computing experience.  That's the honest truth.

If you do decide to rejoin the modern computing world, I'm here to help.  I can advise on all kinds of things to make Windows 7 even more usable.

-Noel

[Paulo Skylar]

It may be useful to hear a brief summary of the experiences of another user and those experiences are unlike yours regarding both Photoshop and Firefox.  In short, my experience mimicks what Noel claims.

I run systems using both Vista-64 and Win7-64. On both systems my browser is Firefox, and has been since near its inception.  I have no problems with hung processes.  My main design work is on the Vista system on which I have  the full CS4 design premimum suite and 8GB. I typically have open simultaneously Photoshop, Illustrator, Firefox and Word 2010.  Frequently InDesign or Acrobat is also added to the mix. I literally cannot remember having a hung process or a crash in doing any desing work. Ditto for the Win 7 system.   I can remember having a variety of issues when running XP.

My conclusion is that you may benefit from a reconsideration of moving to a new operating system.

Paulo

[Chris Cox]

Because the problem goes away when you close other programs and shut down other photoshop files.

Which could have hundreds of other possible causes.

Memory corruption, OS file system bugs, third party utility bugs, etc.

Hung processes.  Firefox is one program that is notorious for this.  You can go out and try to find the processes in the task manager, but it's just far easier to restart your system.  Cold starting your computer is an old trick that does seem to work better that just restarting for such issues, but I have no real explanation as to why.

A hung process holds onto VM, but relaunching the app would get a new address space and not be impacted (other than some paging) by the hung process.

[KathrynBlue]

Re: Could not complete your request because the file-format module cannot parse the file

Because the problem goes away when you close other programs and shut down other photoshop files.

Which could have hundreds of other possible causes.

Memory corruption, OS file system bugs, third party utility bugs, etc.

*  Could have, but I only have the problem when I create very large pngs in Photoshop CS4.  It duplicates problems I used to have on other computers with photoshop years ago.

Hung  processes.  Firefox is one program that is notorious for this.  You can  go out and try to find the processes in the task manager, but it's just  far easier to restart your system.  Cold starting your computer is an  old trick that does seem to work better that just restarting for such  issues, but I have no real explanation as to why.

A hung  process holds onto VM, but relaunching the app would get a new address  space and not be impacted (other than some paging) by the hung process.

*   You need to go to talk to a programmer, because I really don't have time to explain coding to you.

[bshepper]

I can download any number of png files from the internet EVERY SINGLE PNG file I download it will come up with this error... Adobe please stop pushing it aside is there a fix. It is not currupt. it's clearly photoshop