What Is a DJVU File?

This is an image of a scanned document, which you can view or convert to a more popular file format like PDF

By
Tim Fisher
Photo of Tim Fisher, Lifewire GM and Writer
Tim Fisher
Senior Vice President & Group General Manager, Tech & Sustainability
  • Emporia State University

Tim Fisher has more than 30 years' of professional technology experience. He's been writing about tech for more than two decades and serves as the SVP and General Manager of Lifewire.

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Updated on May 25, 2021
Reviewed by
Ryan Perian
Ryan Perian headshot
Reviewed by Ryan Perian
  • Western Governors University
Ryan Perian is a certified IT specialist who holds numerous IT certifications and has 12+ years' experience working in the IT industry support and management positions.
lifewire's editorial guidelines

What to Know

  • A DJVU file is a DjVu image. Open one with Sumatra PDF, DocsPal, or another compatible viewer.
  • Convert to PDF, EPUB, MOBI, and others with Calibre, Zamzar, and similar tools.
  • Files randomly renamed to .DJVU are the result of ransomware. A decryptor tool can help restore those files.

This article describes what a DJVU file is, how to open one, and which programs are able to convert one to a more common format like PDF or MOBI.

What Is a DJVU File?

Developed by AT&T Labs, a DJVU file (pronounced like déjà vu) is a graphics file format intended for scanned images, kind of like the PDF format, which you're probably more familiar with.

Since a DJVU file can contain compressed yet high-quality color images, photographs, text, and drawings, it's used as the format for some eBooks, as well as manuals, newspapers, ancient documents, etc. that have been scanned into a computer.

DjVu files can use the .DJVU or the .DJV file extension.

Screenshot of several DJVU files in Windows 10 that open with DjView
Lifewire / Tim Fisher

How to Open a DJVU File

The free Sumatra PDF program is probably the quickest and easiest way to open DJVU files. It can also save an open DJVU file to a TXT file for easy reading without any graphics.

DjVu.org has a list of some other programs that open DJVU files, like DjVuLibre for Mac and Windows. Okular and Evince are two options for opening DJVU files on Linux.

DocsPal is an online DJVU viewer which is useful if you don't want to install a dedicated viewer to your computer. Using an online tool also means that you can open the file much faster, as well as view the file regardless of your operating system. The converter portion of this website saves the uploaded DJVU file to EPS, PS, and a few other formats.

How to Convert a DJVU File

DJVU files aren't as widely used as similar formats like PDF, EPUB, MOBI, and other eBook file formats.

DjVu2PDF.com and ConvertOnlineFree.com are two online DJVU converter for Windows, Mac, and Linux that provide a quick option to convert DJVU to PDF.

Another free online file converter that's great for smaller DJVU files is Zamzar. Just upload the DJVU file to this website to convert it to JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG, TIF, or some other similar image formats.

Aside from online DJVU converters, there are, of course, downloadable and installable converters like Calibre. This particular program can convert DJVU to EPUB, MOBI, AZW3, DOCX, PDB, FB2, LRF, and other formats. However, Calibre can convert a DJVU file only if it contains embedded text, like if it was created using OCR software. Image-only DJVU files aren't supported.

Another example of a downloadable DJVU converter is one called DjVu Converter, which can convert DJVU to PNG, JPG, EPUB, PDF, and TIFF. With this program, you don't have to convert all the pages if you don't want some of them to be included in the final file. For example, you can choose to convert just pages 10 to 25, or only pages 11 and 14, to essentially cut out every other page. There's also an option to define the image quality/compression rate.

Sumatra PDF and DocsPal, mentioned above, can convert DJVU files as well.

More Information on DJVU Files

DjVu files can separate images into different pieces and compress each of them separately from the other parts, which is how they can be compressed as high as they are but still allow for superior quality images.

Since DJVU files can separate images and text into different layers, it means one layer can be used just for holding OCR text, letting you search for and copy text out of the file.

How to Open Files Renamed as .DJVU

Some DJVU files are really just other files that have been renamed to this file extension when the STOP Djvu ransomware encrypts them. This specific malware might also rename your files to have any of these other file extensions: RUMBA, RADMAN, or GERO.

If this has taken place, it's important to not give in to the ransomware request by sending the attacker money. Instead, Emsisoft's free STOP Djvu decryptor should be able to help fix this issue. It will decrypt the files so that the originals are restored.

It's recommended to have security software installed, like something from our Best Free Antivirus Software list, to help prevent such a threat in the future. Another preventative measure is to routinely back up your files so that you can restore them in an event like this.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • How do you open a DJVU file on Android? To open a DJVU file on an Android device you'll need a DJVU to PDF converter app. Go to Google Play and download theReadler: Great Reader DJVU to PDF converter app or download the DjVU to PDF converter app.
  • How do you open a DJVU file on an iPad? To open and view DJVU and PDF files on an iPad or iPhone, download the DjVu Reader from the App Store. This app has a visualization system that makes it easy to navigate DJVU documents on an iOS device.
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