Repair a corrupted video without risking the original.

Common symptoms of video corruption.

The player may reject the file, display a duration of zero, stop at the same timestamp, show video without sound or advance through a black frame. Severe corruption can produce blocks and repeated frames. A missing codec can look similar, so test another modern player before concluding that the file is damaged.

Container damage and stream damage are different.

A video container describes tracks, timing and the position of media samples. Its index can be broken even when much of the recorded stream remains. Repair is more difficult when the audio or video stream itself contains missing or overwritten regions.

MP4, MOV, MTS, M2TS, AVI, WMV and 3GP organise this information differently, so the repair strategy must match the detected format.

Checks to perform before repair.

1. Copy the file to a healthy disk.
2. Confirm its size and expected recording length.
3. Try a second player and device.
4. Note whether sound, image or duration is available.
5. Keep every attempt separate from the original.

Do not convert the only copy. A converter may discard sections it cannot decode.

How to assess a repaired video.

Check the beginning, middle, former failure point and final seconds. Compare duration, sound synchronisation and frame continuity. Playback for the first few seconds does not prove the entire recording survived.

The free PixMedic trial is reserved for one photo and does not include video because video analysis takes much longer. Review the video options before starting.

Missing scenes cannot be recreated faithfully.

Repair can rebuild indexes and make existing streams readable. It cannot restore frames that were never recorded or were overwritten. Residual macroblocks or gaps may remain. Keep the result separate and judge whether it meets the intended personal or professional use.