With the inception of portable devices, entertainment has become an integral part of our everyday life. There is no denying the fact that people carry their world in the digital devices, therefore, these devices have become an important asset.
Digital devices have steered the way of working to a new direction, and somehow, has made the process faster and efficient. Apart from that, it has also changed the definition of entertainment. For instance, whenever you want some time to recharge, all you need to do is just have a look at one of your favourite videos. Videos act as an energy booster and within a few moments, you’re ready to take on the world.
At times, you make a video of your anniversary, marriage, and birthday parties or even download a series of your favourite sitcom only to realise that the video you have recorded/downloaded is unable to play. The video may be distorted, broken, out-of-sync, frozen, etc. It displays the following message —
“Can’t play!!!
The file format may be unsupported or the file may be corrupt or the file extension is not valid”
If you have been receiving these error messages every time you play videos on your phones or other devices, then you need to know that the files are broken/corrupt and the player is unable to read them.
Your built-in video player is unable to play the video, therefore, as a litmus test, you try to play the video on third-party apps but to no avail. Now you realise that something is wrong with the video file, perhaps, it has turned corrupt and needs to be repaired.
You can repair MP4/MOV files manually as there are a number of solutions available online and the chances are that they may even work. However, depending on the complexity of the problem you can look for solutions but again, the risk of losing data is associated with it and may not be a safe-sided option. Eventually, there are software to fix and repair corrupt MP4 and MOV files which can efficiently repair all corrupt files.
With that being said, let’s go through some of the best software to repair corrupt MP4 and MOV files.
Why MP4 and MOV files get corrupt?
Before we discuss the functionality of the software, first, let’s have a look at the reasons behind the corrupt MP4 and MOV files.
Listed below are some causes for corrupt MP4/MOV files:
- Files containing broken header.
- Recording videos when the memory space is full.
- Bad sectors or virus attack on the storage drive.
- Frequent loss of internet connectivity or power failure while media file is playing.
- Video files can be corrupt due to compression issues.
- Incomplete read/write operations
- CRC errors or interruption while downloading the files.
- Accidental changes to raw data or interruption while moving files from one storage device to another.
How to Repair Severely Corrupt MP4/MOV files?
There can be various reasons behind the corrupt video files which can be resolved with video repair tools. Several options are available which may leave you confused. The features and modus operandi, nonetheless appears to be the same; also, every software claims to be the best, which adds more to the confusion.
It is important to know that MP4 and MOV are two separate file extensions; therefore, they require different repairing tools. Speaking of which, there are MP4 repair software and MOV repair software catering specifically to the file extensions.
Here, we present 6 software which will assist you in fixing and repairing corrupt MP4 and MOV files:
Grau GmbH (Video Repair Software)
With Video Repair Software you can repair damaged, broken, truncated and corrupt MOV/MP4 video files that do not play in the media player. This utility supports non-broken reference videos to find the missing meta-data so that you have an enriching viewing experience.
Follow these steps to repair your files:
- Download the zip file and extract it
- Right click the downloaded file and choose ‘Extract all’
- Run the ‘gs.exe’ file and follow the procedure
- Select ‘Choose movies’ and select the broken file
- Click ‘Choose reference movie’ and select a non-broken video file of the same type if the broken file is damaged.
- Click ‘Scan’ to start the repairing process
- After the completion of the process, click ‘Preview’ to play the repaired file
PRICE: 29 Euros (5 video repairs) and 99 Euros (unlimited video repairs)
COMPATIBILITY: Windows, macOS.
Stellar Phoenix Video Repair (Windows and macOS)
Stellar Phoenix Video Repair is an intuitive and interactive software that lets you fix and repair MP4 and MOV files without the need for any external assistance. You can recover and repair all your lost/deleted/formatted data no matter where you have stored it, be it the hard drive, CDs, pen drives any storage media.
In the demo version, you can preview the recoverable video files with size less than or equal to 10 MB. It can fix any problem be it corrupt header files, invalid file extension, power failure, corrupt memory card, and more but to repair and save these files, you need to register the software.
You can easily install Stellar Phoenix Video Repair by following these simple steps:
- Download, install and run Stellar Phoenix Video Repair.
- On the Main interface, select “Repair Video”.
- Select the video files that you wish to repair. You can use “Add” and “Remove” buttons to add and remove files.
- Hit the “Repair” button to start the repairing process.
- After the repairing process, click on the “preview” button to see the repaired files.
- Save the repaired file on the chosen destination.
PRICE: Available in Demo and Full version (Windows = $69.99 and Mac = $69.99)
COMPATIBILITY: Windows, MacOS.
Repair corrupt MOV & MP4 files with VLC Player
You can repair corrupt MOV/MP4 files with VLC Player. Follow the below steps:
- Launch VLC Player then go to Media < Convert or Safe
- Add the files that need to be transcoded and press Convert or Save and provide the file name
- Now, select the desired Codec from the list
- After selecting, click ‘Edit Selected Profile’
- You can edit an existing profile or add a new profile
- Click the ‘Start’ button
Price: Free
Compatibility: Windows and MacOS
Remo Repair MOV
If you are looking for an option to repair the unplayable video files, then Remo Repair is a good choice. Remo Repair fixes all corrupt video files easily. It follows a simple algorithm yet a powerful one.
The software analyses the video files and separates audio and video streams to identify the root location of the issue and after identifying the location it fixes it and then again puts together both the streams together to create a new and files without any distortion.
For installation process, follow these steps:
- Install Remo Repair Video software and then choose the video files that you want to repair.
- After selecting the files, the evaluation process starts followed by the repairing process.
- After the completion of the repairing process, you can preview the repaired file.
- If satisfied, then save the repaired file on the desired destination.
PRICE: Demo and Full version (Windows = $69.97 and Mac = $69.97). Demo version allows you to preview the damaged files. To save the repaired files, you have to purchase the full version of the software.
COMPATIBILITY: Windows, macOS.
Digital Video Repair
Whether the video files have been infected by malware or virus, system failure or the server crashed, Digital Video Repair is capable of fixing all the issues. You can easily repair broken files in a moment’s notice. You can fix and repair broken MP4 damaged by virus intrusion, abrupt power outage, inappropriate read/write operations, hardware failure etc.
It fixes broken M4P and MOV files encoded with DivX, 3vix, Xvid and Angel Potion Codecs to have an enriching viewing experience.
Running this software is quite easy. Just follow these steps:
- Click on the “Input File” tab and choose the file you want to repair.
- After selecting the file, click “Output File” to choose the desired location where you want to save the file.
- Finally, click on “Check Errors” tab to start the repairing process.
Price: Free
Compatibility: Windows 2000/Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows
Yodot MOV Repair
As we already know that MOV and MP4 files can be corrupt due to several reasons and sometimes, the impact is so severe that recovering and repairing is quite difficult. What makes the situation worst is the file size.
When the file size is huge, it takes time to repair it but Yodot MOV Repair fixes such files with ease. It is a viable option for video files that is generally larger in size and contains advanced audio/video codecs. With this software, you can easily repair all corrupt video files without having to wait for like forever.
Follow the steps below to install Yodot MOV Repair:
- Download and install Yodot MOV Repair for either Windows or Mac.
- The Main interface asks you to select the damaged MOV/MP4 files.
- Select the corrupt files and start the repairing process.
- After the completion of the process, it shows result along with the file description.
- Preview the repaired files and if satisfied, save it to the desired location.
PRICE: $69.95 (Windows and Mac)
COMPATIBILITY: Windows and macOS.
Final Thoughts
Although, there are number of options that you have at your disposal to choose a better option. Still, opting one is quite difficult. After analysis all these video repair software, choose the one, that suits your need the best.