How to Fix a Corrupt VLC File: Recovering Damaged Videos

Understanding VLC File Corruption

VLC media player is a popular tool for playing various video formats, but sometimes files can become corrupted and unplayable. This can happen due to incomplete downloads, system crashes, or file transfer errors. Fortunately, VLC offers some built-in options to attempt repairing corrupted video files.

Using VLC’s Convert/Save Feature

One effective method to fix a corrupt VLC file is by using the Convert/Save feature:

Open VLC and go to Media > Convert/Save
Click Add and select your corrupted video file
Click Convert/Save at the bottom
Choose “Video – H.264 MP3 (MP4)” from the profile dropdown
Click Browse to specify a new filename and location
Click Start to begin the conversion process

This re-encodes the video, potentially fixing minor corruption issues in the process.

Adjusting VLC’s Preferences

You can also configure VLC to automatically attempt repairs:

Go to Tools > Preferences
Select Input & Codecs on the left sidebar
Scroll down and set “Repair AVI files” to “Always fix”
Click Save

With this setting enabled, VLC will try to fix corrupted AVI files automatically when you open them.

Renaming File Extensions

Sometimes, simply changing the file extension can help VLC recognize and repair a file:

Rename your corrupted .mp4 or .mov file to have a .avi extension
Open the renamed file with VLC
If it plays, use the Convert/Save method to save it back to its original format

This trick leverages VLC’s built-in AVI repair capabilities for other file types.