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This article describes why CLO's project file .zprj and garment file .zpac are corrupted and how to prevent them.

Problem Situations

• When launching CLO, get an error saying failed to read the project file.
• When opening a project file saved on computer, it says it is unreadable.
• When trying to save the file it says it can't be saved.
• Opening the file takes a long time and eventually fails. 

Causes and Solutions

Case1 Disk Full... Actually

• If disk space is insufficient during the process of designing and saving garments in CLO software, file corruption may actually occur. So make sure you have enough free space on your PC's drive.
• We recommend that you have at least 20GB of free space to install and run the CLO software. You can make free space by deleting or backing up unnecessary files.
• See also: CLO System Requirements

Case2 Mechanical Malfunction and/or Connection Failure

• File corruption may occur due to physical failure, disk error, or poor connection.
• You can check disk status through the built-in disk management app or disk management utility on Windows and macOS.
• In case of physical failure, contact your company's IT support department or the place of purchase.

Case3 No Permission to File Read and Write

• All computer operating systems, including Windows and macOS, have permission to read/write your files. If you do not have or only have partial permissions to read/write, CLO file corruption may occur. Following post explains how to gain read/write permissions for CLO files in Windows and macOS. Disk access rights required when CLO running
• If you are a corporate customer, please contact your company's IT/Security department.

Case4 Blocking File Read and Write, or Data Tampering by Security Apps

• Certain security programs, such as antivirus and Internet communication monitoring tools, may restrict Internet access and file creation of software such as CLO. In their detailed settings, change the CLO software's Internet access and file read/write settings to "Allow".
• In the case of enterprise companies, they often use stronger security solutions than those described above, and in some cases, the files themselves created by CLO are tampered with. For corporate users, please contact your IT/Security department.

Case5 Two or More CLOs Running Simultaneously

• If you use two or more CLO software at the same time, there is a possibility that the internal data of the CLO project file may be lost or corrupted.
• All you know that it's a good way to save file often. And if you need to save the final result, save it with only one CLO running.

Case6 External Storage Connection Failure

• File corruption may occur while reading or writing CLO files on external storage such as USB stick or portable hard disk. Although these are convenient, in reality, physical detection failures and connection failures are relatively frequent.
• When transferring files between external device and your PC, it often appears that the file-transfer has been complete, but in reality, the all data has not been completely transferred. To check whether the file was completely transferred, simply compare the file size.
• In summary, allow plenty of time when exchanging files with external storage devices.

Case7 Network Drive or Cloud Sync Failure

• If you use a NAS and various Internet cloud sync services, CLO files may be corrupted during file transfer over the network. Additionally, cloud sync services may have problems that removing or damaging files on the local computer during the sync process.
• If you use a cloud sync service, set it to sync only specific folders, excluding folders and directories referenced by the CLO software. For example, disable syncing your Desktop and Documents folders.

Read More

1 For example, the size of the zprj and zpac files, including the CLO basic t-shirt and basic avatar, is approximately 20MB. If your files are smaller than expected, it means the internal data may be corrupted. If your project file is less than 1MB in size, it cannot be recovered because all clothing data inside the file has been lost.

2 When recording animations of flashy, heavy garments, the project file size will be very large, and this animation recording data may be fragile in some user scenarios. If you are recording a long animation, dividing the entire scene into sections as shown below will help prevent file corruption.

3 Do not save files inside the CLO.app package. All Mac applications, including CLO, have a folder structure as shown below. It looks like a single icon, but multiple files and folders are bundled together to form an app. You can view it by right-clicking and selecting Show Package Contents. When you reinstall CLO or perform a live update, all existing files here will be deleted and replaced with the latest files. So never save your work files here.

File Recovery

If you would like to recover your file, please send us your problem file as is via Contact Us.

And if the size of the file you want to recover exceeds 50MB, please send it via cloud sharing like as Google Drive, WeTransfer, OneDrive, or iCloud.