Corrupt DOCX file (corrupt missing content types)

Handle it in code

Each snippet below was run against this exact file with Python 3.14.4 and Node 24.15.0 when this page was built, and the output shown is what it printed.

Python

A DOCX that passes a ZIP check can still be unopenable. Check for the parts Word requires.

import zipfile

with zipfile.ZipFile("corrupt-missing-content-types.docx") as z:
    names = set(z.namelist())

if "[Content_Types].xml" not in names:
    print("rejected: a valid ZIP but not an Office file (no [Content_Types].xml)")
elif "word/document.xml" not in names:
    print("rejected: no word/document.xml")
else:
    print("has the parts a DOCX needs")

Run against this file, it prints: rejected: a valid ZIP but not an Office file (no [Content_Types].xml)