AVI File not playing

[justasiam]

I have a bunch of AVI video files that were working a week or so ago. I was able to play them using DivX, VLC, Windows Media Player, etc.

Now, all these pieces of software are saying that they are not a valid avi file. I have no idea what happened.

I tried running some avi repair programs on the files, but they are not recognizing the files as AVI.

Suggestions?

[admin]

Hi. Welcome to the forum!

The other players may indicate a problem with the codec, but VLC should be standalone and if it can't play it, then it does sound like the AVI file has become corrupted somehow (malware? bad HDD?).

You could try installing MediaInfo, run the file through it, and attach the media file information (copy/paste or screenshot) here.

If the file isn't too big and it isn't a copyrighted file, you could also upload it somewhere (eg. Dropbox, then share the link here or PM me the link if the file is sensitive) so I can download and have a look, at the very least to see if I can play it on my systems or not.

[justasiam]

Admin, thank you for your reply.

I don't understand what I am looking at when running the file through MediaInfo.

However, I have uploaded one of the 28 files in questions to a folder on one of my sites; it is 650MB. Here is the link. Maybe you can figure something out.

And thank you for your time.

This system will not let me post links yet, please decipher this a a link.

http[colon][slashx2]www[dot]jcitech[dot]net[slash]WorkProduct[slash]DSCF2299.AVI

[admin]

I can confirm that it's not your system that's the problem, it's the file themselves, which appears to be corrupt and is not being recognised as an AVI file by any of the tools I used.

Did something happen to these files or the storage unit that these files were stored on?

[justasiam]

No. I moved them from the camera to the flash drive and from the flash drive to my hard drive.

Nothing unusual.

[admin]

When you moved from the camera to the flash drive, did you play the files on the flash drive after moving? Transferring files from the camera/phone to another storage device can sometimes corrupt the file I've found, and I've had many photos and videos made unusable this way. I think it has to do with the camera's storage being accessed when it was suddenly turned off - after this, the files are still accessible on the camera, but when you transfer them, they become corrupt (usually part of the file, especially the header, going missing).

Here's a thread on another forum that has some tips on how to repair such a file:

http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/234499-Steps-to-repair-a-partially-downloaded-avi-that-has-a-missing-header

But I think at best, you're looking at a partial restoration, with a lot of playback anomalies.

[justasiam]

I played them on the computer, then moved them to the flash drive, then moved them to another computer. However, I never tried to play the videos after the initial move tot he flash drive.

I also just noticed that all images that I had on that flash drive are inaccessible as well. Maybe this is a bigger problem than just corrupted videos.

[admin]

Sounds like something went wrong when you made the copy from the camera to the flash drive. Do you have any sort of encryption software on your computer that may be encrypting the files as you copy them (and when you copy back, they're still in the encrypted, and unplayable form).

[justasiam]

No, I just may have to face the fact that the files are gone.

TY for your help anyway.