How to Fix Corrupted/Damaged Video Files

Burdened with a corrupted or damaged video file? That feeling of disappointment at the discovery of an unplayable video is all too familiar. Before trashing it and starting over, did you know that it might just be salvageable? We have several ways you can fix corrupted video files, all of which prove indispensable in one situation or another. Read on to learn about them.

How to Repair Damaged Video Files Online

The appeal of online video repair is plentiful. You don’t have to download software, it’s oftentimes very fast, and you can be done in mere minutes. While online video repair tools may not be best suited for tackling extreme cases of corruption, they’re an essential ‘first step’ in trying to fix corrupted videos.

Option A: Clever Online Video Repair

Clever Online Video Repair specializes in repairing truncated files, which are video recordings or transfers that were interrupted prematurely. Truncation can result in a number of issues, a popular one being the “Moov atom not found” error. It’s the first solution we recommend because it has proven useful to others, and it’s completely free – all you need to do is register.

The tool itself works with many video formats, including MP4, MOV, DAT, 3GP, 3G2, M4V, M4A, M4R, M4B, F4V, F4A, F4B, GIFV, and QT. You can upload files up to 5 GB in size, which should prove useful for repairing footage shot in 4K. It requires a healthy (working) video recorded by the same device, from which it can extract essential information necessary to repair the damaged file.

Follow these instructions to fix videos using Clever Online Video Repair:

1. Go to repair.cleverfiles.com and click Choose file.
2. Choose the type, brand, and model of the device used to record the video. If you’re unsure, click Unknown device.
3. Upload the healthy sample video and wait for it to be analyzed.
4. Create an account or sign in.
5. Let the repairs take place, then download the repaired video.

Option B: FileConverto

FileConverto is another online-only repair solution you can use to repair damaged video files that are truncated. It differs from Clever Online Video Repair in that you don’t actually need a reference file. This is ideal if you don’t have another healthy sample to use for repairs, but the downside is that the repairs are less accurate.

The tool works exclusively with MP4 and MOV files. Additionally, it only supports files up to 500 MB in size. Despite this, it’s still a viable option for repairing truncated files, and the upside is that you don’t need to create an account either.

The below instructions will show you how to repair an MP4 or MOV video with FileConverto:

1. Visit fileconverto.com/repair-damaged-video and upload your damaged video file.
2. Download the repaired file.

How to Repair Video Files on Your Desktop

Online tools are ideal if you need to repair video files quickly, but you may find they’re not suitable for tackling other forms of video file corruption, or you may not be comfortable uploading your videos to the internet. This can range from missing metadata, like broken or improperly indexed headers, to container corruption, in which the container of your video file has become corrupted and unusable.

Option A: VLC Media Player

You may be surprised to learn that VLC Media Player is capable of fixing corrupted or damaged video files as well. Actually, it has two ways. The widely used multimedia player is commonly recommended as a free video repair solution because it’s readily available on a lot of computers already.

AVI Repair Function

VLC includes the ability to repair video files in the AVI format. However, your file doesn’t necessarily have to be AVI. Instead, you can get around this by renaming the file with a different format. In doing so, VLC will automatically attempt to fix it.

Here’s how you can do this:

1. Download and install VLC.
2. Make a copy of your corrupted video file and rename it to AVI. For example, a file titled video.mp4 will become video.avi.
3. Click Tools, then Preferences.
4. Go to Input/Codecs.
5. Change the dropdown for Damaged or incomplete AVI file to Always fix.
6. Click Save and try to open the video.

Converting with VLC

Another great way of fixing corrupted or damaged video files is by converting them, something that VLC can do as well. The program comes with a number of preconfigured profiles to choose from, like H.264 + MP3, or you can create and configure a new profile with your desired settings.

This is how you can convert a video file using VLC:

1. Click Media, then Convert/Save.
2. Click Add then select your corrupted video file.
3. Click Convert/Save.
4. Choose a profile, or create your own, and select a destination location. Click Start.

Option B: DivFix++

For AVI files specifically, you’ll want DivFix++. AVI is sometimes overlooked as it’s an older video file format, meaning it’s left out of software designed for video file error repair. This tool intends to fix that, as it only works with AVI file formats. It also includes some options for advanced users, such as the ability to strip the index, check for errors, and recover from key frames.

Take a look at how DivFix++ can be used to repair an AVI file:

1. Download and open DivFix++.
2. Click Add Files and choose the corrupted video.
3. Click Fix.

How to Fix Corrupted Video Using CMD

If you’re more comfortable working through a command-line interface (CLI), you still have some very reliable options available to you. Let’s take a look at Untrunc and FFmpeg, both of which can uncorrupt video files.

Option A: Untrunc

Untrunc is a command-line tool that focuses on fixing truncated videos. In order to do so, it will need a healthy sample video that was shot from the same device that recorded the corrupted video.

This is the basic structure of the command we’ll be using:

& “untrunc.exe” “reference.mp4” “corrupted.mp4”

As you can see it’s very straightforward, only requiring you to state where Untrunc is located and the paths to both the reference and corrupted files. We’ll just be using Untrunc straight out of the box, but you can also set up a PATH environment variable if it makes it easier for you.

Follow these instructions to uncorrupt a video file using Untrunc:

1. Download and unpack Untrunc.
2. Right-click Start and click Admin (Terminal).
3. Type the following command, but customize it so it includes your own paths to Untrunc and the two videos.

   & “C:\Software Tools\untrunc_x64\untrunc.exe” “C:\Corrupted Video Repair\ORG\healthy-file.mp4” “C:\Corrupted Video Repair\ORG\corrupt-file.mp4”

   

Option B: FFmpeg

FFmpeg is one of the most powerful open-source tools for handling multimedia files. It was created to give users the ability to perform a wide range of tasks, like conversion, compression, editing, streaming, and most importantly in this case, repair. Because its functionality is so vast, there’s more than one way to fix corrupted video files. As such, I’m going to show you several.

Before we go through each FFmpeg fix, here’s how you can install it by setting up a PATH environment variable. This will make using FFmpeg much easier, especially for each step.

1. Download the full build of FFmpeg from Gyan.dev and extract it (ideally somewhere it will stay).
2. Click Start and search “Environment Variables”. Open Edit the system environment variables.
3. Click Environment Variables.
4. In the “System variables” section, find and select Path, then click Edit.
5. Click New and add the path of the FFmpeg bin folder. For example, if you extracted it to the C: drive, it will be C:\ffmpeg\bin. Once added, close all the open windows by clicking OK.

While each one is intended to solve a certain type of corruption, feel free to try each if you’re unsure what type of damage your video file has sustained.

Basic File Repair

Should the video file index be damaged, video players will be unable to seek within the file, disrupting playback. The same is true for other, smaller kinds of issues like missing metadata and timestamps.

Here’s the command we’ll be using:

ffmpeg -i corrupted.mp4 -c copy fixed.mp4

This command tells FFmpeg to take the contents of the input file (corrupted.mp4) and copy it to a new container (fixed.mp4) without re-encoding the video and audio streams. This will ensure the video file is fixed while preserving the original quality.

Here’s how to use it:

1. Open the folder where your corrupted video is located.
2. Shift + Right-click an empty space in the window and click Open in Terminal.
3. Type the below command, modifying it with the name of your corrupted file and the desired output location.

   ffmpeg -i corrupted.mp4 -c copy fixed.mp4

   

4. Press Enter.

Advanced File Repair

For more elaborate types of corruption, re-encoding the video file may be necessary. Re-encoding the video involves decoding it and compressing it again, sometimes into a different format. This is the final solution as the command is a bit more complex and it will take some time to run, considering it’s reprocessing the entire video. Also, keep in mind that some quality loss is to be expected.

Here is the command we’ll be using:

ffmpeg -vcodec mpeg4 -b:v 7561k -qscale:v 2 -acodec aac -ac 2 -async 1 -strict experimental fixed.mp4 -threads 0 -i corrupt-file.mp4

This is what each parameter does, excluding the input and output:

• -vcodec mpe4 – Specifies the MPEG-4 codec.
• -b:v – Sets the bitrate to 7561 kbps.
• -qscale:v 2 – Specifies the video quality as 2 (in FFmpeg, lower numbers equate to higher quality).
• -acodec aac – Specifies the AAC codec.
• -ac 2 – Specifies that it has 2 audio channels (stereo).
• -async 1 – Synchronizes audio with the video.
• -strict experimental – Makes use of FFmpeg’s experimental features.
• -threads 0 – Enables FFmpeg to control how many threads are used to process the video.

This is how you can run the FFmpeg command:

1. Open the folder where your corrupted video is located.
2. Shift + Right-click an empty space in the window and click Open in Terminal.
3. Input the command, modifying it to specify your input and output locations.

   ffmpeg -vcodec mpeg4 -b:v 7561k -qscale:v 2 -acodec aac -ac 2 -async 1 -strict experimental fixed.mp4 -threads 0 -i corrupt-file.mp4

   

4. Press Enter.

Tried everything but still struggling to fix your corrupted video? Try reaching out to our Handy Recovery Advisor Community. There, our experts and experienced readers will be happy to give you a helping hand. Remember: the more details, the better. When posting, be sure to include what device recorded the video, the file format, as well as any other relevant information.

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