FileFix vs ffmpeg for corrupted video repair.
Try ffmpeg first when your file can be remuxed or decoded. In our test of 90 real-world corrupted videos, FileFix fully repaired about half, while the two ffmpeg approaches produced different tradeoffs.
Try FileFix freeWhat the test found
| Approach | Full repair | Partial repair | Failed repair |
|---|---|---|---|
| FileFix | 53 | 3 | 34 |
| ffmpeg remux | 3 | 35 | 52 |
| ffmpeg re-encode | 42 | 5 | 43 |
Source: FileFix real_v4 comparison artifact, tested July 11, 2026, on 90 real-world corrupted videos. Counts are full repair / partial repair / failed repair.
Try the free tools first
Remux without re-encoding
ffmpeg -i broken.mp4 -c copy repaired.mp4Re-encode video and audio
ffmpeg -i broken.mp4 -c:v libx264 -c:a aac repaired.mp4When the free tool is the right answer
Try the free option when
- Use ffmpeg remux when it can read the input and the streams do not need to be rebuilt.
- Use ffmpeg re-encode when ffmpeg can decode the footage and changing the encoded streams is acceptable.
Try FileFix when
- Try FileFix when ffmpeg cannot open the file or when you want to inspect a free watermarked preview before deciding whether to pay.
- Neither option can recover footage that is not present in the file.
Repair guides
Questions
Yes. The commands above are free to run, and they are a sensible first step when ffmpeg can read your file.
Not necessarily. A tool can fail because it cannot interpret the damaged structure. A genuinely empty file, however, has no footage to recover.
See what's recoverable.
Preview the repaired video before you decide.