32 Replies Latest reply: Oct 1, 2014 10:17 AM by gregc207 RSS

    Cannot open EPS files in illustrator

    Brandconnect Community Member

      I am running illustrator CS6 16.0.4 on an iMac (new). I get the following error when trying to open some EPS files "can't open this illustrator file. the file was generated with a newer version of illustrator and cannot be opened. Please resave in a format compatible with your version of illustrator". As far as I can see I am running the latest version of illustrator and have updated everything that is available. I am having to get the files resaved in older versions to open

        • 1. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
          Willi Adelberger Community Member

          The latest version is not AI CS6 v16, it is AI CC v17.

          BTW you should not use EPS at all anymore with the Creative Suite or Cloud, use AI or PDF instead, because EPS does not support transparancy nor color management, both important factors in today's files.

          • 2. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
            Brandconnect Community Member

            Hi

             

            When I update CS6 there are  no updates for illustrator beyond v16? Also we require EPS files for vector format in our industry for logo management. How do I get to download v 17 for illustrator?

             

            I just checked the adobe site and 16.0.4 is the latest illustrator update for mac so not sure why EPS will not open?

            • 3. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
              Willi Adelberger Community Member

              You have to buy it on the Creative Cloud. http://www.adobe.com/products/creativecloud.html

               

              You should also consider to change your logo management, because EPS is outdated. PDF and AI are also vector formats, but in better conditions.

              • 4. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                Brandconnect Community Member

                Thanks Willi

                 

                I am not using creative cloud but Design Standard desktop software which we purchased a year ago. Does this mean that Adobe are no longer providing updates for desktop software suites and that you have to basically abandon it and take out a cloud subscription? We work in an industry where our customers provide logos in EPS so we cannot really do anything about that.

                • 5. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                  Willi Adelberger Community Member

                  Version 17 is only available in the Creative Cloud. If you have to use that version you will have to subscribe!

                   

                  Your customers should also learn that EPS is not a modern file type which is causing a lot of problems in the further workflow. Even with simple files without transparency EPS can cause workflow problems with InDesign. (E.g. Ink manager)

                  • 6. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                    Brandconnect Community Member

                    Thanks

                     

                    That is pretty poor of Adobe - it is really making second class citizens of those people who have purchased the desktop version of its products.

                     

                    We have over 1000 customers using EPS so they are not likely to change and we do require this format.

                    • 7. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                      Willi Adelberger Community Member

                      It is not not a question if we like Adobe's marketing modell. But if you work professionally with a software you should be able to afford it. If some small company or single designer cannot upgrade to CC, I understand it, but a company? If you need only AI, then you can jumo in into the CC for Illustrator only. Amd of ypi make money with clients which are working with CC you will have to upgrade anyway.

                       

                      And yes, it is a problem, that many designers stick with old formats, like EPS or PostScript. I cannot understand why? I don't see any advantage. Anyone who creates an AI file will have to keep this file anyway, why to create a copy in EPS? To waste disk space?

                      • 8. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                        Brandconnect Community Member

                        Thanks

                         

                        Yes we have one designer so yes it does make it hard. Also Adobe tend to charge more in Australia for exactly the same subscription software for which they were taken to court recently.

                         

                        It would be so good if Adobe were to get some competition!

                        • 9. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                          Willi Adelberger Community Member

                          In Germany is Adobe much more expensive than it Australia. And when you buy it in countries with higher taxes inside Europe, like Austria, you have to pay even more. Adobe tells us always it's the localization, but the price of the UK version is the same here and the German versions had always less functionality like the US or English versions, missing manual, no Kuler in several Illustrator versions, less online services. So be happy, you get in Australia more content for less price than in Europe.Yes, US have better prices anyway, it is a cheap country.

                          • 10. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                            Monika Gause CommunityMVP

                            Create a new file in your version of Illustrator and then place the EPS.

                             

                            And read this:

                            http://rwillustrator.blogspot.de/2006/11/whats-in-file.html

                            • 11. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                              Dennis3000 Community Member

                              I am a professional in business. We bought cs 6 to solve eps importproblems last year. Illustator can not open eps files anymore now? (cant open newer versions). Wherefor did I payed € 2500, -? . Its very bad  to work with a professional package and no eps opens from other (uprofessional) customers! Thay cant make a pdf from a eps. We work with clients and inport for over more than 2000 .eps files a year. So we have to look aroud for other software, because there is no solution in illustrator?!!?

                              • 12. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                                Monika Gause CommunityMVP

                                Am 26.11.2013 um 14:27 schrieb Dennis3000:

                                 

                                Its very bad  to work with a professional package and no eps opens from other (uprofessional) customers! Thay cant make a pdf from a eps. We work with clients and inport for over more than 2000 .eps files a year.

                                 

                                exactly which software created these EPS?

                                exactly what happens instead of opening the files? any error message?

                                 

                                Normally it's not a problem to open an EPS. But EPS is a format that can be created by practically any software and it can contain practically anything (doesn't need to be vector paths).

                                • 13. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                                  Dennis3000 Community Member

                                  Yes, EPS can also be a pixel file or something. most of the eps files can be changed or opened in Illustrator. But sometimes... i dont know what happens.

                                  In this case, the customer does not know by wich software it's made.

                                  But it is possible to import in photoshop or indesign, so the information is in the file. Photoshap ask me the format in px. I can make it as big as i want. But, if my customers ask me to change the logo (in illustrator), or use a part of it for some things else(like a backgroud e.c.), then i have a problem. I have to make a copleet new logo! This customer does not have a pfd, ai, ps or else.

                                  • 14. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                                    Monika Gause CommunityMVP

                                    What exactly do you do with the file?

                                    What exactly does Illustrator do instead of opening it?

                                     

                                    Can you create a new file and place the other file into it? Embed it

                                    • 15. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                                      Willi Adelberger Community Member

                                      Can you convert this file in Adobe Distiller to a PDF? If Yes, is it a vector or something else.

                                      Does the PDF file info then give you some mor information.

                                       

                                      If you open the EPS in a text editor (use a copy of the file), do you find any information of the creator programme of that file? Or any hint which might help you?

                                       

                                      Or is this only a file with an .EPS extension but in reality it is omething else and only someone has exchanged the extension? (Sometimes people think that exchanging the extension converts a file. i know some who do so.)

                                       

                                      If you open in Adobe Bridge the folder where this file is saved, does Bridge give you some helpful information?

                                      • 16. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                                        Dennis3000 Community Member

                                        in notepad the header it looks normal:

                                         

                                        %%LanguageLevel: 2

                                        %%DocumentData: Clean7Bit

                                        %ADOBeginClientInjection: DocumentHeader "AI11EPS"

                                        %%AI8_CreatorVersion: 17.0.0

                                        %AI9_PrintingDataBegin

                                        %ADO_BuildNumber: Adobe Illustrator(R) 17.0.0 x256

                                         

                                        In Bridge the thumnail is ok, iit information is EPSF  windows

                                         

                                        I can open it in Photoshop

                                        I can open it in Indesign

                                        I can import it in illustrator

                                        Changing the extention in ai, ps, pfd does not work.

                                         

                                        But i can not open it in Illustrator.

                                        • 17. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                                          Dennis3000 Community Member

                                          But!!!!!!

                                           

                                          I forgot to try the Distiller option!

                                           

                                          And it works! It becoms a .pdf, and i can also change the .pdf into a .eps. It opens in Illustrator!

                                           

                                          Thank you very much Willi!  Good Job!

                                           

                                          Dennis

                                          • 18. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                                            Monika Gause CommunityMVP

                                            Dennis3000 wrote:

                                             

                                            %%AI8_CreatorVersion: 17.0.0

                                             

                                            Of course you can't open this in CS6, because it's a CC file. But why do you do all this distilling and converting?

                                             

                                            If you just place and embed the file into a new file, you'll get the same (maybe even a little less flattening), but a lot easier.

                                            • 19. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                                              Dennis3000 Community Member

                                              Yes, Monika!   You are right!

                                               

                                              Even better. I didnt know the button Embed!

                                               

                                              Excuse for not paying attention. It is mutch easier!!!

                                               

                                              Thank you!

                                              Dennis

                                              • 20. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                                                Tatomir Community Member

                                                Having the same problem but i cannot open the eps file with anything.

                                                I get the same message everywhere:
                                                "unknown file format and cannot be opened."
                                                I tried: illustrator, photoshop, distiller, even tried to place it in indesign. same message everywhere.
                                                Running CS6

                                                 

                                                Any help besides upgrading to CC is welcomed.

                                                 

                                                Thank you!
                                                Tatomir

                                                • 21. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                                                  Larry G. Schneider CommunityMVP

                                                  If you open the file with a Text Editor, what are the first few lines?

                                                  • 22. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                                                    Tatomir Community Member

                                                    ShowLogo_noBox.epsEPSPART5 Ωä ì@ÅÅ?î≈–”∆ R˜ r˜  ∆ˇˇ%!PS-Adobe-3.1 EPSF-3.0

                                                    %ADO_DSC_Encoding: MacOS Roman

                                                    %%Title: ShowLogo_noBox.eps

                                                    %%Creator: Adobe Illustrator(R) 16.0

                                                    %%For: jeffk

                                                    %%CreationDate: 5/22/14

                                                    %%BoundingBox: 0 0 261 79

                                                    %%HiResBoundingBox: 0 0 260.9244 78.4415

                                                    %%CropBox: 0 0 260.9244 78.4415

                                                    %%LanguageLevel: 2

                                                    %%DocumentData: Clean7Bit

                                                    %ADOBeginClientInjection: DocumentHeader "AI11EPS"

                                                    %%AI8_CreatorVersion: 16.0.4

                                                    %AI9_PrintingDataBegin

                                                    %ADO_BuildNumber: Adobe Illustrator(R) 16.0.4 x691 R agm 4.6676 ct 5.2594

                                                    %ADO_ContainsXMP: MainFirst

                                                    %AI7_Thumbnail: 128 40 8

                                                    %%BeginData: 10110 Hex Bytes

                                                     

                                                    Thank you

                                                     

                                                    TATOMIR PITARIU

                                                    tatomir@grapheye.com

                                                    • 23. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                                                      Tatomir Community Member

                                                      i have just updated illustrator to 16.0.4

                                                      still cannot open.

                                                       

                                                      TATOMIR PITARIU

                                                      tatomir@grapheye.com

                                                      • 24. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                                                        Larry G. Schneider CommunityMVP

                                                        Alright lets try editing this. With the file open In the Text Editing app, delete everything in the first line up to the % sign and then save the file as plain text but with the eps extension. Then try opening in AI.

                                                        • 25. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                                                          Tatomir Community Member

                                                          Thank you Larry,

                                                          I tried and it opens the file as text in illustrator

                                                          i saved it out of word as eps.txt and deleted .txt

                                                          same from TextEdit

                                                           

                                                          TATOMIR PITARIU

                                                          tatomir@grapheye.com

                                                          • 26. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                                                            Larry G. Schneider CommunityMVP

                                                            You will need to use something like Notepad or Text Edit, not Word. I should have told you to work on a copy. Do you still have the original file?

                                                            Can you load it to Dropbox so I can try?

                                                            • 27. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                                                              Tatomir Community Member

                                                              Thanks Larry,

                                                              here is the link:

                                                              https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0gxyzkyowb7xu8j/AACxK05yDFnDLEXV42Uz4wBOa?dl=0

                                                              i placed 2 peas files with the same problem

                                                              TATOMIR PITARIU

                                                              tatomir@grapheye.com

                                                              • 28. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                                                                Larry G. Schneider CommunityMVP

                                                                I got the EPS file to open in AICS6. Here's a link to a PDF file I was able to save after opening the file

                                                                 

                                                                Dropbox - 14_SEMAShowLogo.pdf

                                                                and

                                                                Dropbox - 14_SEMAShowLogo.eps

                                                                 

                                                                The other was too messed up by our earlier fiddling.

                                                                 

                                                                If you can you should stop using EPS files and switch to PDF.

                                                                • 29. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                                                                  Tatomir Community Member

                                                                  thank you so much Larry.

                                                                  i have aics6 too, but for some reason i couldn’t open.

                                                                  i owe you!

                                                                  all the best and thanks again.

                                                                   

                                                                  TATOMIR PITARIU

                                                                  tatomir@grapheye.com

                                                                  • 30. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                                                                    Willi Adelberger Community Member

                                                                    I want to clarify the reasons for the several mentioned problems:

                                                                    1. Illustrator saves every Illustrator EPS together with the Illustrator fork of the selected or current version.
                                                                    2. EPS flattens transparency. When you place an EPS in any application including Illustrator you get a flattened version of that file without transparency.
                                                                    3. When you open an EPS which is saved from Illustrator in the same version or a newer version of Illustrator you get the transparency back, not because it is an EPS as EPS does not support transparency but because the Illustrator fork is included in that file which is used by Illustrator.
                                                                    4. You can open an Illustrator EPS and resave as PDF/AI. This will create a file with transparency. This transparency is also alive when you place this file in applications which support transparency, like InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.
                                                                    5. When an EPS is saved in a newer AI version either the EPS part is used or it is not possible to open. You get a flattened artwork without transparency.
                                                                    6. Illustrator is not a common PDF editor. The same is valid for EPS too. You will encounter the same problems you encounter when you open an non-Illustrator-PDF as you do with a non-Illustrator-EPS.
                                                                    7. You can convert any EPS in Adobe Distiller to a PDF. But be aware, even if the EPS has transparency information included in its AI fork, this information is lost by converting via Distiller. A Distiller PDF can not include any form of transparency.
                                                                    8. If you choose to convert an EPS in Distiller and you are aware about the transparency issues (as it is not a problem with older EPS or Freehand EPS or Corel EPS) use a setting which include all used fonts (they need to be available), turn off any image compression and image resampling and fit size to EPS content, and avoid any conversion of colors.
                                                                    • 31. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                                                                      CHMprepress Community Member

                                                                      Or stop using EPS, like all have said here, and step in here and now:=)

                                                                       

                                                                      You mentioned that you even ask your suppliers to give you EPS, just change your deliverable spec  and you wil have less work to solve all problems later.

                                                                      • 32. Re: Cannot open EPS files in illustrator
                                                                        gregc207 Community Member

                                                                        I encountered this issue today when another designer sent us an EPS file from a newer version of AI. We use CS5 and are perfectly happy with the functionality - just because Adobe decides to update their software does not mean the additions they've made have value to us, so we rarely upgrade unless absolutely necessary. The plugins for our equipment aren't always readily compatible with newest version of Adobe products, so sometimes we have to skip a version entirely to avoid shutting the whole shop down.  Also, FWIW we don't always get a say in how files are sent to us. We own a commercial sign shop, and sometimes we have to work with completely mangled files. "Just don't use EPS" isn't always a realistic option when the customer hired a hack to design their logo.

                                                                         

                                                                        Anyway, here's how we solved this version compatibility problem: Please note we are on a Mac platform. Open the newer EPS files in Preview and then Save As a PDF. Preview will save to a clean version of PDF that is compatible with earlier versions of AI, at least it did for us. I did not test for transparency, but it did a good job of preserving the original file's colors, line weights, and gradients.

                                                                         

                                                                        For those who might question our logic about upgrades, think about this: Software updates are effectively legalized extortion. If Ticonderoga makes a new updated pencil, that doesn't give them the right to break into your office and snap all your existing pencils in half, but the software industry gets away with this (along with making crazy profits), because "licensing." I flat out refuse to downgrade to a software that requires a monthly tithe to the software gods. Until some feature comes out that we absolutely must have, we'll keep our older machines with CS5 going as long as they run.