Hello! In this post, we’ll show you some useful solutions to repair corrupted video files in the safest and fastest ways possible.
Losing your precious videos to corruption is a common issue. Luckily, there are many manual and software-based solutions available to repair video corruption and restore a video to its pristine form.
Table of Contents
How do you know if a video is corrupt?
When a video freezes while playing, lags, stutters, shows distorted and haphazard screens, makes unusual sounds, give errors, or simply does not open, this may indicate corruption in the video file.
Popular video formats
Some of the most popular video file formats are:
- AVI
- FLV
- WMV
- MP4
- MOV
Each file format has its advantage based on its applicability to different users. For example, you can play the AVI file in almost any computer or multimedia device; but you can play a MOV file only on specific media devices or applications.
Why does a video get corrupt?
Before you begin fixing corruption in a video, you need to understand why a video gets corrupt in the first place. There could be various reasons, such as errors while recording the video, improper camera shutdown while recording, incomplete media transfer, malware attacks, etc.
Other reasons may include,
- Improper conversion to another video format
- Sudden power surge while playing video
- OS crash
Here, we will explore some useful solutions that you can try to fix your corrupted video.
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Check Drive before Repairing Video
It’s important to check the status of the hard drive containing the video before trying to repair it. The video might not play properly if the hard drive itself is corrupted.
In case of an external hard drive connected to a separate power supply, try to change the power source and check whether the problem is fixed. If you’re using an external USB drive, check for errors in the USB, if any, and try to change the USB power source. In rare cases, a drive may be facing voltage issues causing video files to load and play in a disrupted manner.
If there are no errors on the drive, you can be sure that there are playback issues with the video only.
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Open Video in Another Program
Try to open the video in some other program to see if another program has the missing codecs for the video. This may fix the issue at once. If not, you’ll have to use a video repair software to repair your damaged or corrupt video.
Here’s some info about two of our favorites software/applications to decide which one is the most tailored to your requirement.
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Use a Professional Tool – Stellar Repair for Video
One of the most trusted video repair solutions, Stellar Repair for Video easily grabs the first place when it comes to an all-in-one video repair solution. It can repair corruption in videos caused by abrupt shutdown, downloading errors, incompatible or missing codecs, virus attacks, etc.
You can easily download the software from the Stellar website and follow instructions in the software interface to repair a video. All you need to do is Launch the software, Upload the damaged video file, and click Repair.
You can also preview the video file before saving it to check the authenticity of the repaired video. What makes this tool better from other video repair solutions provided is that it’s a professional tool built solely for repairing regular as well as severe cases of video damage. It works on advanced algorithms that play a key role in restoring your videos to their original & uninterrupted form.
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Use VLC Media Player
VLC Media Player is one of the most popular media players, preferred by users worldwide.
Apart from being a versatile video and music player, it also features a built-in video repair functionality (for AVI format).
If nothing works, you can use VLC Media Player to change the format of the damaged video to another playable format. This simple hack works in almost 70% of the video damage cases. However, it may not work in case of severe corruption in a video.
To convert a video format to another using the VLC media player, launch the application, add your video in the Convert/Save section, and click Convert.
This should make the video playable again. But merely changing the format does not fix the issue. What if you want to play the video only in the original format?
In that case, you might need to change the MP4, MOV, or any other format to AVI, since VLC features a built-in video repair functionality to repair only corrupted or damaged AVI file.
Here you need to rename the MOV/MP4 file by changing the extension to .AVI. Then launch the player, go to the Tools tab, select Preferences > Input or Codecs, and finally set the Repair AVI Files option to Always Fix.
It’s an effective solution to repair a video, but it does involve too many steps and may confuse you at some point. Plus, the quality of the repair output is not always 100% in the case of an open-source application like VLC Media player.
Verdict
Video corruption is a menace that is here to stay. Every user in their lifetime will face some form of video corruption, for which they will look for a comprehensive solution that can fix the issue in seconds.
VLC Media Player is undoubtedly a great solution for instant video repair as it provides an alternative in the form of changing the format to another playable video format.
However, it’s not very effective when you are looking for a custom-made solution to repair a video of literally any format without converting its original format.
Stellar Repair for Video is one such solution that meets all the repair criteria and is known for restoring videos in their original quality.
The software can fix stutter, lag, freezing, and sound issues in a corrupted video and make it playable again.
The verdict is clearly in favor of this professional tool if you don’t want to take any chances with your precious videos!
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- Useful Solutions to Repair Corrupted Video Files Safe & Fast - December 26, 2020
Hello.This post was really interesting, particularly since I was searching for thoughts on this issue last Tuesday.