MP4 file format offers many features like high compatibility, efficient compression, and excellent quality, making it versatile and accessible. However, sometimes due to incomplete downloads, interrupted transfers, software issues, hardware failures, or other reasons, MP4 files get corrupted or become unreadable. Whenever you experience such issues with your MP4 files, it’s important to apply effective video repair methods to repair them and restore their integrity.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore various techniques and tools to help you learn how to repair corrupted or unreadable MP4 files, ensuring that you can enjoy your videos without interruption.
Contents
What Corrupts MP4 Video Files?
Before you proceed with methods to repair MP4, it’s important to understand the exact cause of your video corruption. Here are some main reasons why MP4 file corruption can occur:
- Incomplete Downloads: Any sort of interruptions or errors while downloading the video files can result in an incomplete download of MP4 files.
- File Transfer Issues: Errors while transferring video files, such as copying or moving MP4 files between devices, can cause video corruption or make them unplayable.
- Software Errors: Bugs, glitches, or crashes in video editing or playback software installed on your device can also corrupt MP4 files.
- Hardware Failures: Issues with storage devices, including hard drives or SD cards, which generally occur due to improper handling can also lead to MP4 file corruption.
- Virus or Malware Infections: MP4 files can become corrupted if they are infected with viruses, malware, or other malicious software.
- Codec Incompatibility: Using incompatible or outdated video codecs to encode or decode MP4 videos can cause playback issues, errors, and sometimes file corruption.
Quick Methods to Repair Corrupted or Unreadable MP4 Videos
Irrespective of the causes of MP4 file corruption, in this part of the blog, we will elaborate on various methods to help you learn how to repair corrupted or unreadable MP4 files. Just go with these methods one-by-one to repair and restore your original video files:
Method 01: Use VLC Player to Repair Corrupt MP4 Video
VLC Media Player is a popular multimedia software, which offers multiple built-in features to repair minor corruptions in video files, including MP4 videos. It provides in-built index repair features that instantly resolve the issue and repair movie file indexes. Follow the below-given steps to repair corrupted or unreadable MP4 files using VLC Media Player:
- Firstly, right-click on your corrupt video and select Rename.
- Change the file format of your video to .avi and press Enter key.
- Launch the VLC player, and click on Tools > Preferences > Input/Codecs.
- Scroll down and select the “Always fix” option next to the “Damaged or incomplete AVI file” drop-down menu and click Save.
- Once done, try playing your corrupt video with VLC and check if it is playing.
Method 02: Increase Cache Value in VLC Player
Another alternative to repair a video file using VLC media player is by increasing its cache value in VLC Player. Increasing the cache value of corrupt video can help repair video in certain ways, like improving playback performance, reducing buffering issues, etc. Here’s how increasing the cache value may help with corrupt videos:
- Launch the VLC media player and click on Tools > Preferences.
- Now, in the Show Settings section, two options appear: Simple and All. Here, select the All option.
- Go to the Input/Codec option and select Advanced.
- Increase the cache value next to the File caching(ms) option to 1000 or more.
- Lastly, click the Savebutton and then restart the VLC player.
Method 03: Repair Corrupt Video File Using Video Repair Software
Next in our list of how to repair corrupted or unreadable MP4 files on Windows/Mac devices is by using a third-party MP4 file repair software. Stellar Repair for Video is an all-in-one video repair software that supports repairing images corrupted for multiple reasons, such as incomplete downloads, virus or malware attacks, incompatible codecs, etc.
The Stellar Repair for Video tool offers an intuitive and ease of accessible GUI, which makes it best for your video repair. Not only this, this versatile video repair software offers many other features for easy and quick video repair. These features include:
- It supports repairing multiple video formats, including MOV, MKV, MP4, 3G2, 3GP, and many more.
- The software is compatible with both Windows and macOS and supports repairing videos saved on multiple storage devices, such as USB flash drives, HDDs, and SD cards.
- It is 100% safe and secure software for video repair.
- It allows you to preview the repaired videos after completion of the scanning process.
Quick steps to repair a video file using the Stellar Repair for Video tool:
Step 1: Download and install the Stellar Repair for Video software on your device. Launch the software and from the homepage, click Add Videos button to upload the corrupt MP4 files that you need to repair.
Step 2: Now, click the Repair button and wait till the software analyzes and repairs your video. The waiting time depends on your corrupt video duration and size.
Step 3: Once the process is complete, preview the repaired video and click the Save Repaired Files button to save them at the desired location.
Conclusion
In conclusion, repairing corrupted or unreadable MP4 files is crucial to restore original valuable video content. With the various methods and tools that we discussed above, you can easily repair a video file and restore the original video. Whether you are using the VLC Media Player or third-party Stellar Repair for Video tool, the key is to apply these methods to repair video files effectively and at the earliest. However, prevention remains key, maintaining regular backups, using reliable hardware and software, and practicing safe file handling practices to reduce the risk of MP4 file corruption in the future.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do MP4 video files get corrupted?
MP4 video files can get corrupted due to incomplete downloads, file transfer errors, software issues, hardware problems, and virus infections.
Can I fix all the damaged videos using VLC Media Player?
VLC Media Player can fix minor issues, but not all damaged videos. Severe corruption may require specialized video repair tools.
Can I repair more than one video file at the same time using the Stellar Repair for Video tool?
Stellar video repair software can simultaneously repair unlimited number of video files of same or different formats.
Is Stellar Repair for Video software free?
Yes, the Stellar Repair for Video tool is available in free version too which allows you to preview the repaired files up to 20% of total video size. To use more specialized features, you need to use paid versions of the software, which vary in price and features.