How to fix a corrupted Android video

By the FixMP4 engineering team · Updated October 9, 2026 · Tested on real H.264, HEVC and AAC recordings

When an Android phone dies, freezes or runs out of storage while recording, the video usually keeps all its frames but loses the MP4 index that players need. First look for the clip in the DCIM/Camera folder, including hidden files that start with ".pending-", copy it to a computer, then rebuild the index using a short reference video recorded on the same phone with the same camera settings. The FixMP4 repair tool does this in your browser with a free preview and no upload.

Why Android videos break

Android camera apps (Samsung Camera, Google Camera on Pixel, OnePlus, Xiaomi and others) record MP4 files with H.264 or H.265 (HEVC) video and AAC audio. Frames are written while you record, and the moov atom index is written when you press stop. Anything that ends recording abruptly leaves a file without that index:

• Battery dies or the phone shuts down from heat.
• The camera app crashes or the phone restarts.
• Internal storage or the SD card is full.
• An SD card is removed or fails.

Finding the file: the ".pending" trap

Since Android 10, apps create new media files in a "pending" state while writing them. If recording never finishes, the file can stay hidden with a name like .pending-1728480000-VID_20261009_101500.mp4, and it does not appear in the Gallery. To find it:

1. Connect the phone to a computer over USB (File transfer mode) and open DCIM/Camera, or use a file manager app with "show hidden files" enabled.
2. Look for large files starting with ".pending-" or "VID_" with no thumbnail.
3. Copy them to your computer before the system cleans them up (pending files can be deleted automatically after some days).

Triage table

Record the reference

Use the same phone and camera app with exactly the same settings:

Ten seconds is enough. See how to choose a reference file.

Rebuild the index

1. Open the repair tool on a computer.
2. Add the broken file (rename a .pending file to .mp4 if your system hides dot files; the content does not change).
3. Add the reference, then press Repair and check the free preview.
4. Export with a subscription.

What is supported

SD cards on Android

If the clip was on a microSD card and the phone now says the card is damaged, do not format it. Remove it, copy what you can on a computer, and use a recovery tool before repairing. Our guide on recovering video from a corrupted SD card covers the safe order of steps.

Messaging apps and cloud backups

Videos sent through messaging apps are re-encoded and usually smaller; if the original is broken, a copy you shared earlier may be a fallback. Google Photos backups may also hold a copy if the phone uploaded before the crash, though an unfinished recording is rarely backed up.

How the rebuild works on Android MP4 files

The media data inside a broken Android MP4 is an interleaved series of video frames and audio frames. FixMP4 scans it, identifies H.264 or HEVC frames by their NAL unit structure and parses AAC frames to measure their exact length, so the two streams can be separated again. Codec parameters such as resolution and profile come from your reference, timestamps are computed from the frame rate, B-frame reordering and keyframes are restored, and a new index is written. Nothing is re-encoded, so the repaired video has the same quality as the original.

Common mistakes

• Recording the reference in a different mode, for example with HEVC switched off, or at 30 fps when the original was 60 fps.
• Repairing a copy that a cloud or messaging app re-encoded, instead of the original file from DCIM/Camera.
• Letting a cleaning app or the system delete ".pending" files before copying them.
• Formatting an SD card that the phone reported as damaged before trying recovery.

Prevention

• Keep several gigabytes free before long 4K or 8K recordings.
• Avoid recording while the phone is hot or fast-charging.
• Use quality A2/V30 microSD cards and replace cards that throw errors.
• Keep the camera app updated.

Related guides

• Fix iPhone video
• Repair an MP4 file
• "File is not supported" errors
• All device guides

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