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There was a problem reading the layer data. Read the composite data instead?

Forum|Forum|12 years ago
November 27, 2013
13 replies
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I can't open my psd with properly in Photoshop, it keeps showing :There was a problem reading the layer data. Read the composite data instead?

Photoshop cc

Help please

Correct answer Harpan & Stuket Studio AB

Discovered this issue today as well... Big file with lots of layers and folders, most of them duplicated so maybe that is the problem. Scary. It's my main design file for the work I'm doing and would die if that file died... Will keep copies in the future for sure!

Anyway, the www.photopea.com really helped for me at least. You just upload the file and save it again and you have everything back!

Close call that one... Really hope Adobe will look into it. Having stuff like this happen without a warning is scary af.

New Participant

there was a problem reading the layer data. read the composite data instead

New Participant

I can't open my psd with properly in Photoshop, it keeps showing :There was a problem reading the layer data. Read the composite data instead?

Photoshop cc

Help please

Community Expert

That means the file is corrupt, which is always caused by hardware failure. It can be a drive about to fail or bad RAM, but the most common cause is saving directly to an external drive or over a network connection.

If you can still open the flattened image, you'll have to go from there. At least the whole file isn't toast.

This is why we have backups, and save incrementally during work.

Inspiring

In case photopea doesn't work for someone.

I had a project ( with backups ) that started refusing to open, with this error, all backups.

I copied the all the files to another drive and was able to open them without issue in an older version of Photoshop. Scary moment as this was weeks of back and forth with a client to get it just right and they need the files delivered to signage tomorrow.

I really wish Adobe made better software

Ray Lambert_ATI Laminates

New Participant

This problem has raised its ugly head again in a file in Photoshop 23.1.1. I have a large Photoshop document with many layers and got the message "There was a problem reading the layer data. Read the composite data instead?".

After installing an older version of PS (V22.0), I could get the file to open correctly.

So, the problem appears to be a bug or limitation in 23.1.1 and not a read/write error or some other sort of hardware bug.

gregorypoolemarine

New Participant

I was running into this same issue. I downloaded an older version of Photoshop CC and was able to open my layered file.

New Participant

Same problem here, doing an artwork with around 20 layers, 475 mb, 105 x 141 cm, a lot of work to do, then photoshoop crashes and the file cannot be opened, I read the composite data message....All the work is lost.

I have gone through the messages here and tried photopea.com, amazing tool by the way, at least I could open the file...only to see it is damaged, all the layers are grey and with a lot of noise...that means all my detailed work between the laters is gone, puf...and does Photoshop offer any solution? Nope! No possibility to recover maybe previous versions or anything...the work gone. They need to take a look at this "magic dissappearances" that ruin a lot of work, and have us working double time.

Happy to see though thay with this photopea some other people were able to recover their work.

New Participant

I AM ABOUT TO LOSE IT!!! I created a PSD file with only 5 layers. Image size A2. I'm getting the "trouble reading composite data" message on this file. Checked the external hard drive, did a scan and no issues. Still wouldn't open. Transferred the file to another external hard drive, same issue. Have now tried to open other files, similar in size and same issue. Where's the glitch? Is this an Adobe issue?

Now, I've lost invaluable time trying to find a solution for this problem. 😞 😞 😞

Community Expert

"Checked the external hard drive"

Don't ever save directly to an external drive. Save it to an internal hard-wired drive, then copy it over.

All it takes is to accidentally bump into something while the save is in progress, and the file can become corrupt. Just a microsecond broken connection is enough. USB3 cables and connectors have always looked very fragile to me, because the connector itself isn't very deep, and looks like it can be pushed out of position very easily. It doesn't help that the cables are usually very stiff and inflexible.

When copying to the external drive, don't move it.

Known Participant

So I just encountered this problem. Basically a week's worth of work, about 200 layers and PS saying "Ooops, can't open it, sorry, bye".

Few hours of trying different stuff I finally opened the file in www.photopea.com. It read all the layers and I was able to download intact PSD that opens in PS with layers. Try this. If it doesn't work try different apps that can read PSDs.

It's great that there is a free software out there that can fixed what an overpriced, unreliable software breaks.

Participating Frequently

I just came across the same issue with a TIF file today. I had been working with this file while on vacation from a separate LR catalog that I created just for that project. Today, I imported the images back into my main LR catalog but I did not move the files to any other drive (the original image (CR2) and XMP file are on an external drive. With all layers the file was 1.6 GB with only about 20-30 layers (mostly adjustment layers). I'm using Lightroom CC Classic 7.1, Photoshop CC 19.0 and I'm on a MacBook Pro early 2011 running High Sierra 10.13.3. Note, I had not done any editing within Lightroom on this particular image--it was all Photoshop work. I was editing just fine; going in an out of Lightroom and Photoshop. I had created three or four copies of the file using this standard process: Lightroom>Edit In> Photoshop > Edit a Copy (of the original file) over the a few hours. I had just exported a JPG for the client when I noticed I need to make a couple of more edits in Photoshop. So I went back into Lightroom and again followed the procedure outlined above. This time, however, it got the dreaded error "This image was generated from source data that Photoshop cannot read. That data will be discarded. Continue reading?" I clicked OK and found that the image was now a single-layer TIF but is still 1.6 GB. In fact, all of the previous copies of that image that I edited today are no corrupted and are only showing one flattened layer. I'm trying to recover the image using Photopea (thanks for the suggestion drmono) but I think it's too large and hasn't loaded over the past hour.

Any idea what caused the corruption? Do you think it is the actual TIF file and/or the XMP file that got corrupted?

Thanks very much.

Regards,

Andy

Known Participant

It's probably too late. Sorry, I didn't see the notification. I'm not sure about the actual TIF/XMP problem but as far as Photopea goes, maybe try different browser. I think I was loading the file first using Safari which I use normally but it always crashed (the file was around 600-700mb), than I switched to Chrome or Firefox (not sure) and it worked.

New Participant

This just happened to me too after the latest update. Between this and the illustrator GPU rendering bug that's been going on for several months., I'm getting pretty tired of Adobe's bugs. These are huge issues that should be taken care quickly, given the costs of CC. As an Adobe supporter for the past 12 years, I gotta say I'm pretty disappointed.

Community Expert

My instinct would be to investigate what might be behind it.

Does it still open in the previous version? What happens if you try to resave it to a different name in the old version - will that open in the new? What happens if you copy the layers into a new document?

Most cases of file corruption - minor or major - are caused by hardware issues. These are by nature often very erratic.

New Participant

Dear Team,

I m using Photoshop CC 14.2.1 x64 on MAC.... i m working with hundreds of layered photoshop file for UI Designing..... After my proper saving the file and shutdown my photoshop.... i was shocked when my file opened... it was showing "There was a problem reading the layer data. Read the composite data instead ?"... after clicking the read composite data option.... the total file was in single layer... but my photoshop file size is 51.0 MB... Please help me to recover my file... i m worked day and night for whole week..... Please help me team.....

Thanks in Advance

By Sridhar

New Participant

the same happened to me... i want to cryyyyyyy

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