How to Repair Broken or Corrupt MP4 Video Files

Having a broken MP4 video file can be annoying! The broken video file becomes inaccessible, and also malfunctions sometimes. When MP4 file is broken or corrupted, you would come across these scenarios – MP4 video file will fail to play on any media player; the audio and video will not be in sync; the video will freeze every now and then while playing, etc.

Under such circumstances, the very first thing to do is to repair corrupt MP4 video. But how to go about it?

Methods to repair broken MP4 video files

Method #1: Using VLC Media Player

It is possible to repair a corrupted MP4 video file using VLC player on Windows. Any Windows user must have a copy of this tool as it packed with various amazing features, including video file repair technique. Here’s how a corrupted MP4 video repair can be done using VLC...

When you try to open a damaged video within VLC, you’ll encounter with an error message dialogue box with an option Build index. Choose it and VLC do its thing. Further, if you have a series of MP4 files corrupt and don’t want to regularly deal with the on-screen message, you can make VLC automatically fix files when you open them.

Open the VLC app and navigate to Tools > Preferences. Then, click on the tab labeled Inputs/Codecs and scroll down the to the Files section. Within Files, locate Damaged or incomplete file and select Always fix from the drop-down menu. Click Save when you’re ready.

However, the VLC player temporarily fixes the video by saving a new index in the app’s memory while the file is in use. Chances are there that when you try to watch the file in another media player, you may still encounter an error or not able to play the file! If that is the case, then go to next solution.

Method #2: Repair corrupt MP4 files using Remo Repair MOV Tool

Remo Repair MOV software will fix broken MP4 video file in an easy and simple manner. This Video Repair tool will scan the damaged video files MP4, identify the issues, and repair the file in just a short while. It generates a healthy playable file after repairing MP4 video file without causing any alterations to the original quality of the video file. The application also helps to repair corrupt MP4 video on Mac in addition to Windows. Moreover, it even fixes broken, inaccessible, or corrupt video files MP4 and MOV.

• Remo MOV Repair tool will also fix large file size .mp4 video, truncated or abruptly finalized MP4 videos which have become corrupted
• It is a read-only tool which only extracts contents from the corrupted MP4 file, and fixes corruption. Thus the original corrupt video file is left intact, with no further damage
• MP4 and MOV videos saved on hard drives, external hard disks, flash memory cards, pen drives,and other storage devices will be fixed
• Even when video and audio is out of sync, video freezes every now and then, MP4 plays only audio with no video and vice versa, and so on, the tool comes handy to fix the issues

Steps to repair broken MP4 video files using Remo Repair MOV:

Step 1: Free Download and Install Remo Repair MOV software on your Windows system and launch it. Browse the broken MP4 file to be repaired. Also, select a healthy MP4 file to act as a reference and click on "Repair" button.

Figure 1: Main Screen

Step 2: The MP4 repair process is intiated and it may take a while to complete.

Figure 2: Repair Process

Step 3: Preview the fixed MP4 by playing a portion of the video file using "Preview" option.

Figure 3: Preview MP4 Video

Step 4: Save the repaired MP4 file to any secure location using "Save" option.

Figure 4: Save Repaired MP4

Additional info - Few Causes for corrupt MP4 Video File and some precautions

The causes may include corrupt header file, improper download of MP4 video or interruptions during download process, editing the video files with some third party video editor tools, interruptions while transferring video files from one storage medium to another, etc.

So to avoid these causes, avoid interruptions while transferring a file, safeguard your video file from virus infections. And most importantly, maintain a backup copy of video files so that you can recover it if something goes wrong.