EPS file could not be parsed

[MichaelPreiner2018]

When i try to open a clients Logo in eps-format i always get a error message. "The File could not be parsed". It´s important to open it cause it´s a project i have do finish in the next 10 days.

Find attached the file. 

Best regards

Michael

EVA_logo_farbe.eps

[stokerg]

Hi MichaelPreiner2018 and Welcome to the Forums,

I've tried that EPS file in the release build of Designer and also the beta, all resulted in the same error as yourself.  I also tried another app Graphic and got the same error.  Only program i found that could open it is Illustrator.  I'll attached the exported EPS file from Illustrator which does open in Designer, so you'll be able to get started on the project.

I'll need to log the original EPS file with the Dev team to see what the issue is.

 

EVA_logo_farbe (1).eps

[Move Along People]

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[v_kyr]

Well no wonder it can't be parsed, it's a PDF 1.5 file and not an EPS file. Just change it's extension from EPS to PDF and then retry opening it in AD etc.

[Move Along People]

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[v_kyr]

Don't know how the software internally treats and parses file formats in detail, but in this case here it seems it's only determining things via the file extension.

[R C-R]

55 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

Well no wonder it can't be parsed, it's a PDF 1.5 file and not an EPS file. Just change it's extension from EPS to PDF and then retry opening it in AD etc.

I give up. How did you figure that out?

[stokerg]

1 hour ago, v_kyr said:

Don't know how the software internally treats and parses file formats in detail, but in this case here it seems it's only determining things via the file extension.

How odd... I'll update the report i've made.

As @R C-R has said, how did you figure that out?  Would be handy info to know going forward that's all  

[MikeW]

2 minutes ago, R C-R said:

I give up. How did you figure that out?

That EPS has a PDF stream in it and can be seen if the file is opened in say a text editor.

 

[v_kyr]

Let's quickly add some common hints here for such real file type identification cases. In this specific case here it's easy, since EPS files can usually be opened and inspected in plain text editors (no hex editor is needed therefor) and this EPS files signature clearly states here that it isn't an EPS file and instead a common PDF file.

However there are situations where files might be available in binary format instead, without or with a wrong file format extension, which then might puzzle certain software due to not be able to recognize the true file format type. In such cases tools like TrID are useful.

• TrID  (The command line version for Windows and Linux) 

• TrIDNet  (The .NET Framework based GUI version)

• Online TrID  (Here you can upload files for type recognition)

• TrIDScan (Python script that creates new file type definitions for the TrID database)

Now let's check that EPS file via the Online version of TrID and see if that confirms our findings ...

Yes it tells what we already did know, but now you can be more sure.

[MikeW]

1 minute ago, stokerg said:

How odd... I'll update the report i've made.

As @R C-R has said, how did you figure that out?  Would be handy info to know going forward that's all  

Any EPS that has been saved with a PDF portion can open if the EPS extension is swapped with PDF. This has also applies to any AI file that has been saved with PDF compatibility. We've done that for years with the Plus line.

BTW, that original file opens in EVERYTHING I use from 2012's last version of MS Expression Design to Xara products, PL, CD (all versions installed), even PagePlus. They all can get at the PDF portion.

[stokerg]

2 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

Let's quickly add some common hints here for such real file type identification cases. In this specific case here it's easy, since EPS files can usually be opened and inspected in plain text editors (no hex editor is needed therefor) and this EPS files signature clearly states here that it isn't an EPS file and instead a common PDF file.

However there are situations where files might be available in binary format instead, without or with a wrong file format extension, which then might puzzle certain software due to not be able to recognize the true file format type. In such cases tools like TrID are useful.

• TrID  (The command line version for Windows and Linux) 

• TrIDNet  (The .NET Framework based GUI version)

• Online TrID  (Here you can upload files for type recognition)

• TrIDScan (Python script that creates new file type definitions for the TrID database)

Now let's check that EPS file via the Online version of TrID and see if that confirms our findings ...

Yes it tells what we already did know, but now you can be more sure.

Great post @v_kyr I'm sure this will not only help myself but also other users who encounter the same problem  

[v_kyr]

2 minutes ago, MikeW said:

That EPS has a PDF stream in it and can be seen if the file is opened in say a text editor.

 

Yes as said EPS is usually an editable format, worked with that in editors and interpreters a lot in the past (greetings from NeXTstep/OpenStep where everything was DisplayPS and EPS).

[stokerg]

@MikeW Thanks for the explanation.  The fun part of this job, everyday is a school day   

[walt.farrell]

On Linux there's also the "file" command which will provide details about a specific file. For that EPS file it says it's a PDF Document, version 1.5. That command might also exist on Mac, in the Terminal.

The command is also available in the Bash shell on Windows.

[R C-R]

3 minutes ago, MikeW said:

BTW, that original file opens in EVERYTHING I use from 2012's last version of MS Expression Design to Xara products, PL, CD (all versions installed), even PagePlus. They all can get at the PDF portion.

FWIW, I only have a few Mac apps that open eps files & NONE of them would open the file when it had the eps extension. Neither would the Mac Quick Look feature nor would Finder views show anything besides a blank generic document icon.

[stokerg]

2 minutes ago, R C-R said:

FWIW, I only have a few Mac apps that open eps files & NONE of them would open the file when it had the eps extension. Neither would the Mac Quick Look feature nor would Finder views show anything besides a blank generic document icon.

That's the results i got, i could only open the EPS file in AI.  Tried a few apps and all failed, but at least i've got A LOT more information to update the log with.  Thanks to everyone in this thread

[v_kyr]

4 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

On Linux there's also the "file" command which will provide details about a specific file. For that EPS file it says it's a PDF Document, version 1.5. That command might also exist on Mac, in the Terminal.

The command is also available in the Bash shell on Windows.

Did you tried out and approved with a Unix tool like "whatis"?

[MikeW]

1 minute ago, R C-R said:

FWIW, I only have a few Mac apps that open eps files & NONE of them would open the file when it had the eps extension. Neither would the Mac Quick Look feature nor would Finder views show anything besides a blank generic document icon.

Don't know what to say, R C-R.

Photoline has a Mac version. It opens it.

[v_kyr]

4 minutes ago, R C-R said:

FWIW, I only have a few Mac apps that open eps files & NONE of them would open the file when it had the eps extension. Neither would the Mac Quick Look feature nor would Finder views show anything besides a blank generic document icon.

Yes most will fail here on Macs, though I think GC might be that clever to recognize and probably can show up this file.

[R C-R]

7 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

On Linux there's also the "file" command which will provide details about a specific file. For that EPS file it says it's a PDF Document, version 1.5. That command might also exist on Mac, in the Terminal.

It does exist on Macs & it works, telling me the EVA_logo_farbe.eps is a PDF document, version 1.5. 

[R C-R]

9 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

Yes most will fail here on Macs, though I think GC might be that clever to recognize and probably can show up this file.

When I try to open the file with GC 9, I get this:

So it does recognize that it has PDF content & it will open it. But it opens as a 'flat' raster image so it can't be exported from that app to any format that preserves the vector info.

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, v_kyr said:

Did you tried out and approved with a Unix tool like "whatis"?

"whatis" doesn't provide any information about that file.

[v_kyr]

1 hour ago, R C-R said:

So it does recognize that it has PDF content & it will open it. But it opens as a 'flat' raster image so it can't be exported from that app to any format that preserves the vector info.

Seems it treats PDF files more like that on export, I recall a similar behaviour from other PDF files I once opened with GC. Though I also only used then that now older GC9 version. - Ok I've looked at the GC site and there under supported formats they write for PDF import/export ...

Quote

7) requires Mac OS X 10.1 or later; exports only raster PDFs

 

[v_kyr]

6 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

"whatis" doesn't provide any information about that file.

Yes it's not the appropriate tool for such things, the one you mentioned above ("file") is the one mainly suited for determining file types and a default one on Unix systems instead.