How to Recover Corrupted Video Files

A corrupted video file is one of the most common issues faced by many media players. It especially tends to happen to video files that are precious and filled with memories. When you try to play these video files on any media player and find out that the video is not playing correctly or can not open the video file, most probably the video is corrupted or damaged.

Henceforth, the long struggle to retrieve the valuable content on the video file starts. However, with the right method and tools, you can easily turn this nightmare into a happy recovery process. Follow along with this article to find out common causes of video files getting corrupted and how to recover corrupted video files with easy steps.

Why Video Files Get Corrupted

Like with most data files, video files also have a tendency to get corrupted and become unplayable. Your video files can get corrupted due to various reasons ranging from hardware and software issues. These issues can lead to video data loss, playback errors, or complete inaccessibility of your video files.

Here are some of the common reasons that cause video files to get corrupted:

• Improper System Shutdowns: If you often shut down your system incorrectly, it affects all types of files on your system, including video files.
• Virus Attacks: A virus or malware-infected system can corrupt files stored on it, including videos. They interfere with the reading process, making your videos unreadable.
• Interrupted Downloading: If the video downloading process from the internet is interrupted by an internet shutdown, the video might get corrupted.
• File Transfer Errors: Errors when reading or writing data on a hard disk because of broken sectors are a common cause of video corruption.
• Hardware Damage: Physical damage to videos saved on storage devices, such as hard disk crashes, SD card defects, or pen drive failures, can lead to corrupted video files.
• Video Editing Crashes: If your video editing or recording application crashes while saving a video file, the video could become corrupted.
• Wrong Ejection: When you remove a storage device, such as an SD card or a USB drive, without properly ejecting it, the video file may be damaged.

How to Recover Corrupted Video Files

Now that you know various reasons that cause your video file to get corrupted. To solve how to recover corrupted video files problem, you can use data recovery tool, video repair software, or you can fix the issue with VLC media player. Here are three options of methods to fix a corrupted video file and restore it to its original quality.

Here is a table to show an overview of each solution option:

Option 1: Recover Corrupted Video Files with Recoverit

To start, you can use data recovery software like Recoverit – Data Recovery Software to recover corrupted video files. It is a powerful tool that helps to recover damaged video files including lost or corrupted files. While it boasts advanced scanning and recovery technology, it also supports a wide range of file formats.

Here is a table explaining various advanced data recovery capabilities of the Recoverit application:

Follow the below steps to fix your corrupted video file using the Video repairing feature on Recoverit software:

Step 1: Download and install the Recoverit application on your system.

Step 2: Launch the app and select the “Corrupted Video Repair” option on the left side panel.

Step 3: Click on the “Add Video” button. You can browse to the location where corrupted videos are stored and open them on the app.

Step 4: Click on the “Repair” button at the bottom to begin the repair process. You can view the repair progress on the screen.

Step 5: After the process is completed, click the “Preview” option to view the complete videos.

Step 6: If you are satisfied with the repaired video file, click on the “Save” option and select the location where you want the file to be saved.

Option 2: Repair Corrupted Videos Files with Repairit

If data recovery software did not help you recover damaged video files, then you can try video repair applications such as Repairit - Video Repair. This damaged video file fixer can repair videos from a range of sources, including memory cards, SD cards, computer hard drives, cameras, and more.

The excellent thing about Repairit is that it supports a variety of video formats, including MOV, M2TS, MP4, MKV, 3GP, MTS, FLV, and AVI. Aside from that, you can use this video repair software and learn how to repair corrupted video files caused by memory card errors, file transfer errors, system shutdown interruptions, virus attacks, and a variety of other causes.

Follow the below steps to recover a damaged video file using Repairit:

Step 1: First, download and install the Repairit - Video Repair software on your system from the official website.

Step 2: Launch the app and select the “Video Repair” option on the left side panel.

Step 3: Click the “Add” button or drag and drop the corrupt video file into the window interface.

Step 4: After adding corrupt video files, click the “Repair” button at the bottom to start the repair process.

Step 5: Once the repair process is completed, you can preview the repaired video file.

Step 6: If you are satisfied with the repaired video file, click on the “Save” option and select the location to save the file.

Option 3: Recover Corrupted Video Files with VLC

VLC media player is among the most popular and versatile media players that supports almost all video file formats. It offers extensive playback features along with recording, snipping, and basic video editing options. Additionally, it also includes several video repair solutions to recover corrupted video files. These solution can range from converting file extension to transcoding the video file format.

If you are wondering how to fix corrupted video files using a VLC media player, then follow below given methods:

Method 1: Repair MP4 Files with Fix Feature in VLC

VLC includes a built-in capability for fixing corrupted video files, that can be enabled or disabled manually. To automatically fix a corrupt video file with a VLC player, follow the instructions below by changing the file format.

Step 1: First, right-click on your corrupt video file and select the “Rename” option. Change the video file format extension to “.avi” and press “Enter”.

Step 2: Now, launch the VLC media player on your system. Click the “Tools” option at the top and select the “Preferences” option from the list.

Step 3: On the new window, click on the “Input or Codecs” tab.

Step 4: Under the Files section, choose the “Always fix” drop-down option for the “Damaged on incomplete AVI file” option. Click the “Save” button.

Step 4: Try to play the renamed corrupted video file in AVI format and check if it is working.

This is how to repair corrupted video files with VLC.

Method 2: Fix Corrupted MP4 via Transcoding in VLC

Sometimes unsupported or incompatible codecs can also cause video files to be unplayable. You can use the transcoding feature on the VLC player to fix the issue. Follow the below steps to fix a corrupted video file using the transcoding feature on VLC:

Step 1: Launch the VLC media player and click on the “Media” option at the top to select the “Convert/Save” option.

Step 2: Click on the “Add” option and add the corrupted video file. After you are done adding all corrupted files, click on the “Convert/Save” button at the bottom.

Step 3: On the new window, enter the Image name and destination location to save the converted file. Select the preferred input codecs from the “Profile” drop-down option under the “Settings” section.

Step 4: Click the “Start” button to start transcoding the corrupt video file to the new profile.

Method 3: Increase the Cache Value in the VLC Player

Sometimes streaming or offline saved video files tend to get corrupted due to the bugger cache.

Here is how you can fix the playback issue by increasing the cache values in VLC:

Step 1: Launch the VLC media player and select the “Tools” option at the top.

Step 2: Click on the “Preferences” option in the drop-down menu and enable the “All” option from “Simple” under the “Show settings” section at the bottom.

Step 3: Here, select the “Input/Codecs” option from the left panel list. Under the “Advanced” section on the right, increase the “File caching (ms)” option to 1000. Click the “Save” button.

Step 4: Now, try to play your corrupted video on VLC. It should play smoothly.

Method 4: Change Video Output Settings in VLC

As a last resort, you can also try changing the video output settings of the VLC media player to fix the damaged video files. Here are steps to change video output settings in VLC:

Step 1: Launch the VLC player and select the “Tools” option at the top.

Step 2: Click the “Preferences” option and select the “Video” tab on the new window.

Step 3: Here, under the “Video Settings” section, change the “Output” option to the “DirctX (DirecDraw) video output” option from “Automatic."

Step 4: Click the “Save” button and check if the corrupted video file is playing properly.

Tips & Notes: How to Avoid Video Files from Corruption

You can easily solve the how to fix corrupted video files issue by following above mentioned solution options. However, would it not be rather a better solution to prevent the reasons for the issue itself. By following simple precautions with respect to both hardware and software aspects of your system and storage devices, you can prevent your video files from getting damaged or corrupted.

Here are a few simple tips for you to follow that can help you stop the corrupted video file issue:

• You should regularly back up your video files to ensure an alternative option when the original is corrupted.
• Make sure to store your precious video files in reliable storage devices.
• Start a better practice to avoid abrupt system shutdowns that cause video files to go corrupt.
• You should take extra care to avoid interruptions during the video files being transferred, such as moving, copying, or editing.
• Always ensure to eject your storage devices properly before removing them from the system.
• Get yourself a powerful and reliable anti-virus software to protect your system from viruses or malware.
• Ensure to take extra care of video files during editing and use reliable editing software.

Conclusion

For all of us, losing precious video memories is frustrating, but with the right method and tool, the damaged or corrupted video file can be recovered. Now that you understand the reasons for video corruption and various ways to recover your video files. Pick the right method depending on your requirements to recover the lost videos. You can either try fixing with third-party software like Recoverit data recovery software or Repairit video repair application. Or, you can fix corrupted video files using the built-in features of the VLC media player.