Try the camera's own recovery first
Many Sony cameras offer to recover an interrupted file. When you put the battery back and power on, a message such as "Recovering data" or an image database repair prompt can appear. Let it finish before you take the card out. If the clip plays afterwards, you're done.
When the camera can't fix it
- Copy the broken MP4 from the card's
PRIVATE/M4ROOT/CLIPfolder to your computer. - Copy one clip that plays too, recorded on the same camera with the same settings: resolution, frame rate, XAVC format and bit rate.
- Open the broken clip in the checker on this page. It runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
- If the checker asks for a clip, give it the one that plays. It reads its settings and copies nothing from it.
- Watch the free 15-second preview. Download the full video for $4.99, or with a plan. If it doesn't play, write to support@nasrtech.dev and we'll look at it with you.
What we can and can't promise for Sony
We haven't tested files from a Sony camera yet. The engine has been proven frame by frame on GoPro HERO5, 6, 7, 8 and 10, DJI Avata, RunCam, 70mai, Tesla and Samsung recordings, H.264 and H.265, and Sony's XAVC S is the same kind of file: MP4, H.264 or H.265 video, AAC or LPCM sound. Untrunc's README lists Sony XAVC as a format it handles, which is the same repair.
So the free check is the honest test. If it finds the pictures and the preview shows your footage moving, the full download will hold the same frames. If it doesn't, you have paid nothing.
XAVC S-I, S-Log and 4:2:2 10-bit recordings are less common, and the preview tells you whether yours came back. The Sony .XML file beside each clip holds metadata only; the video doesn't need it.
Other ways
- Untrunc (free, command line, needs a working clip): see Untrunc on Windows and Mac.
- Stellar Repair for Video lists MP4 and MOV, installs on Windows and Mac, and costs $49.99 for the Standard edition on an offer ending 16 November 2026 (stellarinfo.com, checked 2 November 2026).
