We've all generally experienced a scenario where we pull the SD card from our drone, to find that a video file won't play and appears to be corrupt, well there's a simple fix and it's sat right in front of you - you'll be VERY surprised!! No need to download dodgy software or to use unreliable online fixers.

It happens when you don't end the video recording before turning off the drone. Your drone doesn't have a chance to finish writing the video so when you turn it back on it finishes the write. If you want to avoid the scenario completely, stop recording before you turn off your drone.

deathsquad Posted at 5-14 13:27
It happens when you don't end the video recording before turning off the drone. Your drone doesn't have a chance to finish writing the video so when you turn it back on it finishes the write. If you want to avoid the scenario completely, stop recording before you turn off your drone.

Sadly that's not always the case, I always give sufficient time for the drone to complete writing and closing the file and yet have still suffered this precise issue. It can depend on many factors.

sergeant Posted at 5-14 13:44
Sadly that's not always the case, I always give sufficient time for the drone to complete writing and closing the file and yet have still suffered this precise issue. It can depend on many factors.

Well, that was 3 minutes of my life wasted. To begin with 'deathsquad' is absolutely correct, it is caused when the file is started but not finalised or finished. And the 'repair' feature has been in the aircraft since way back in the P3 series. Nothing 'shocking' about it.

That’s old hat, it’s no ureaka moment there.

Well now, I did have some corrupted videos on my Mini at first due to the failure to stop recording and the method described here did not fix them. I tried many times. I did find a free app that would fix them. So...... weeks later I did try the method here on subsequent flights and it did work. Why did that not work for me at first? And yes, I am old and senile so flame away ;-)

Thanks for this, I lost some footage the other day, hopefully no longer!

Thanks for the info!

hallmark007 Posted at 5-14 14:35
That’s old hat, it’s no ureaka moment there.

Odd then isn't it, just how few know about it....therefore a useful video/tip for the majority.

Montfrooij Posted at 5-14 23:30
Thanks for the info!

Pleasure!! Having experienced this issue with the Anafi and recently with the Mavic Mini, not because of the drone being 'turned off' too early but simply through either bad luck or a poor SD card, it has saved my footage!

Thanks for the information. I face this issue only with the Hyperlapse raw images in my M2P. I hope this method will fix it for me.

sergeant Posted at 5-14 23:53
Pleasure!! Having experienced this issue with the Anafi and recently with the Mavic Mini, not because of the drone being 'turned off' too early but simply through either bad luck or a poor SD card, it has saved my footage!

I have not had these experiences yet, but when I will I'm sure it will be helpful!

sergeant Posted at 5-14 23:51
Odd then isn't it, just how few know about it....therefore a useful video/tip for the majority.

You’re very touchy relax.......

hallmark007 Posted at 5-15 01:11
You’re very touchy relax.......

Haha, not 'touchy' at all and incredibly relaxed, unsure why you're reading it in that way, perhaps you need to chill its Friday after-all!

For corrupt drone videos there are many scenario :

.Accidentally turned off drone’s camera while it was recording/ saving the video
.Interruption during transfer of video files from drone’s memory card
.Sudden power loss while watching the recorded video on DJI or computer
.Recording videos at low drone camera battery
.Saving videos in slow SD cards of below Class 10
.DJI crashed due to loss of control by operator
.Exposure of drones to extreme temperatures (the operating temperature range of DJI Phantom drones is usually 32°F to 104°F)

Others you repair corrupt videos:
.Use ‘djifix’ software to repair DJI video file
.Use VLC Media Player
.Repair DJI videos with Stellar Repair for Video

I hope this information useful for everyone. Thanks!

Hey…Your video file can be corrupted due to several unexpected reasons like virus or malware attack, loss of internet connectivity while moving the video file, unexpected power failure, unfinished or disturbed multimedia file transfer, compression Issues or many more. So, it’s very important to know the exact issue and then repair the corrupt video file as soon as you can. However, to know how to fix this issue, visit: http://www.rescuedigitalmedia.com/repair-corrupt-video-files

It hapened to me once and I put it back in the drone and started it and the video file was ok after that. I had shut off the drone before the video file finished saving and I could not read it on the computer, but putting it back when starting the drone saved it.

dronespilot Posted at 2020-5-15 00:10
Thanks for the information. I face this issue only with the Hyperlapse raw images in my M2P. I hope this method will fix it for me.

Hi exactly the same with me .. hyperlapse raw and cannot access the footage .. did you find a fix for it ?