mozilla/pdf.js · error · ParserEOFException

End of file inside dictionary.

Error message

End of file inside dictionary.

What it means

Thrown as a ParserEOFException by Parser.getObj() while collecting dictionary key/value pairs. The loop reads entries until '>>' or EOF; if EOF arrives first the dictionary is unterminated. As with arrays, recoveryMode returns the partial dict instead of throwing.

Source

Thrown at src/core/parser.js:162

          while (!isCmd(this.buf1, ">>") && this.buf1 !== EOF) {
            if (!(this.buf1 instanceof Name)) {
              info("Malformed dictionary: key must be a name object");
              this.shift();
              continue;
            }

            const key = this.buf1.name;
            this.shift();
            if (this.buf1 === EOF) {
              break;
            }
            dict.set(key, this.getObj(cipherTransform));
          }
          if (this.buf1 === EOF) {
            if (this.recoveryMode) {
              return dict;
            }
            throw new ParserEOFException("End of file inside dictionary.");
          }

          // Stream objects are not allowed inside content streams or
          // object streams.
          if (isCmd(this.buf2, "stream")) {
            return this.allowStreams
              ? this.makeStream(dict, cipherTransform)
              : dict;
          }
          this.shift();
          return dict;
        default: // simple object
          return buf1;
      }
    }

    if (Number.isInteger(buf1)) {
      // indirect reference or integer

View on GitHub (pinned to 5903d58d58)

Solutions

1. Verify the PDF is fully downloaded (check file size, re-fetch).
2. If a specific object is implicated, inspect it with qpdf --qdf to linearize and locate the truncation.
3. Let PDF.js retry in recoveryMode; if it still fails, rebuild the PDF with qpdf --fix or Ghostscript.
4. Catch ParserEOFException during PDFDocumentLoadingTask to present a graceful error.

try {
  await pdfjsLib.getDocument({ data }).promise;
} catch (e) {
  if (e.name === 'ParserEOFException') { /* truncated dict, attempt recovery */ }
  else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: getObj() handles a '<<' command and loops; this.buf1 becomes EOF before '>>'. The dictionary stream was truncated or the closing '>>' is missing. Fires after the loop's EOF break when not in recoveryMode.

Common situations: Truncated PDF where an object dictionary is cut off, corruption that damaged the '>>' delimiter, or a stream whose /Length was wrong causing the parser to lose position. Very common symptom of incomplete downloads or damaged object streams.

Related errors

• End of file inside array.
• Dictionary key must be a name object
• Duplicate entry in "${this._type}" tree.
• Invalid header in flate stream: ${cmf}, ${flg}
• Parent must be a dictionary.

AI-assisted analysis of mozilla/pdf.js@5903d58d58 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2f372b0356afe9a8. Report an issue: GitHub.