PDF files fail to load in Obsidian when file names contain non-ASCII characters

Bug graveyard
1

Environment:

  • OS: \ Fedora Linux 42 KDE Plasma 6.3.4 - Wayland
  • Obsidian Version: \v1.8.10 – (lastest)
  • Vault Storage: Mounted partition (different drive than OS)
  • Restricted Mode: Enabled/disabled (no change in behavior)
  • Plugins: Issue occurs with native PDF viewer (no plugins loaded)
  • File system encoding: ext4
  • PDF.js version: 4.9.0 (from log output)

Steps to Reproduce:

  1. Place a PDF file in the vault with non-ASCII characters (e.g., é, è, ç) in the filename.

    • Example problematic filename:
      2 - Corrigé-Détermination d'une quantité de la matière.pdf

  2. Attempt to open the PDF directly in Obsidian.

  3. Check Developer Tools (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + I) → Console and Network tabs for errors.

Expected Result:
PDF should display normally regardless of special characters in the filename.

Actual Result:

  • PDF fails to load, with net::ERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND errors in the console:
GET app://.../2%20-%20Corrig%C3%A9-D%C3%A9termination%20d'une%20quantit%C3%A9%20de%20la%20mati%C3%A8re.pdf net::ERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND
Message: Unexpected server response (0) while retrieving PDF ...
  • Issue occurs even with core plugins only (restricted mode).
  • Renaming the file to remove non-ASCII characters (e.g., replacing é with e) resolves the issue.
  • Other file types like .docx or .txt are unaffected.

Additional Information:

  • The issue does not occur in a freshly created vault.
  • Files are stored on a mounted non-OS drive (ext4 partition).
  • File paths are relatively long, though this has not caused issues previously.
  • this Error happens with both the flatpak and appimage versions
    Troubleshooting Steps Taken:

  • Verified file path integrity and ensured files open properly in external PDF viewers.

  • Disabled all plugins (restricted mode) to isolate core functionality.

  • Tested in a separate vault (PDF loads normally).

  • Checked Developer Tools:

    • Network tab shows failed requests for problematic files.
    • Console logs indicate unexpected server responses.

Attachments:
Relevant console logs included below:

PDF.js v4.9.0 (build: ?)
Message: Unexpected server response (0) while retrieving PDF "app://.../2%20-%20Corrig%C3%A9-D%C3%A9termination%20d'une%20quantit%C3%A9%20de%20la%20mati%C3%A8re.pdf".
2

i saw a mod asked someone with similar issue if using
LANG=en_US.UTF-8 as a prefix when launching help
it doesn’t

4

This is a duplicate of