Steps to repair a partially downloaded .avi that has a missing header.

[torrentcrazy]

Are you stuck with a partially downloaded .avi file that neither AviPreview nor your favorite bad a#% media players will open? A missing header is probably the cause. Seriously sucks . The following steps may make it so that you can play the partially downloaded .avi that has a missing or corrupt header.

Tools needed:
AviRepair - http://www.pk3.org/Astro/Downloads/AVIRepair.zip
DivFix - http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=DivFix
SlideShowMovieMaker - http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=...ow_Movie_Maker

You need to know the specs of the video you tried to download.
Resolution - It may still work if you guess a resolution that is larger than the one of your partial .avi: explanation in Step 1 below
Codec - Either Divx or Xvid. I haven't tried it with other codecs.
Framerate - If you don't know the framerate, you might get lucky by guessing with standard framerates e.g. NTSC(29.97fps) or PAL(25fps) depending on which Country the movie is from.

Important: Before you do anything to the file, make a backup of it (copy and paste). If the .avi is a partial file from emule, make a copy of the .part file corresponding to your download. You can then change the extension on the copy from .part to .avi and perform the following steps on that file.

Alright here it goes:

1) Use SlideShowMovieMaker to create a .avi with the same specs as the movie you tried to download.

Other .avi creaters will work also, but SSMM is free and easy.
Note: If you already have another .avi file with the same specs as your partially downloaded file, you can skip this 1st step and use that .avi in the next step

-Open SSMM and go to the Wizard
-You can select multiple .jpegs for your slideshow or use only one
-Set the the time to show each pic so that the video will be at least 20 sec.
-Choose a place to save the output
-Click Finish instead of creating the file (you do want to change settings).
-Go to Project -> Project Settings
-For Project Settings, you only need to change the framerate & resolution
-Set framerate and resolution to match your partially downloaded .avi
-Making a guess of a resolution larger than the partially downloaded
avi MIGHT be watchable(it would add black borders but still work).
-Making a guess of a framerate for NTSC or Pal might get you a match
-Outputting the slide show will not take long so you can test different
values if you don't know the specs of your partially downloaded avi.
-Close Project Settings and click Start Creation on the main screen.
-Choose the codec to match the codec of your partially downloaded file
-Choose the audio codec to match also.(I've only tried with .mp3 audio)
-Click Start Creation. SSMM will create the .avi slideshow of your jpegs.

2) Use AviRepair and your slideshow .avi file to patch the missing header in your partially downloaded .avi file.

-Open AviRepair and select your slideshow .avi as the source.
-Be careful that you open it as the source.
-Select your partially downloaded .avi as the corrupted file.
-The patching is instant. But the .avi is not quite ready for viewing yet.

3)Use DivFix to make your newly patched .avi file viewable. This is the last step. After DivFix rebuilds the index, your .avi file should work.

-Open DivFix
-Click Add Files to add the partially downloaded .avi that you just patched.
-You could drag n drop the file instead.
-Check the box for Keep original file (in case of a mishaps)
-Check the box for Cut out bad parts (this is what fixes the file)
-Where you see the disk icon at the top, choose a place to save the output
-Click on Rebuild Index and wait for it to churn out a working .avi file.
-That's it

If your media player will open the .avi, but it plays garbled, then run it through DivFix to rebuild the index again. This shouldn't be neccessary though.

The above steps should work for partial .avi files dowloaded from emule, bittorrent, etc. Why did I mess around with this? Cuz I'm not only torrent crazy, but also addicted to downloading "rare" files from emule. Some of those files are never gonna show up as complete.

Keywords: .avi with missing header, no header in .avi

[mkumar_20xx]

Awesome technique , this steps really works for me.

Thanks
good work.

[guns1inger]

If the original file source was a DVD movie then the framerate for NTSC is more likely to be 23.976

[Leo Reiss]

Thank you very much!
After some trys, I did it!
The video was encoded with vc-1 wmv3. The only solution that worked was to create a file with about the same duration of the original avi using the SlideShowMovieMaker. With files of diferent durations it didn't work.
Luckly I had some informations about the file because it's an episode of anime and was encoded like the previous episodes (but to use the header of the other episodes didn't work)
And SSMovieMaker has a bug. The time you put in the Wizard is calculated like you were using 25 fps. In my case the file was 119.880 fps, so I'd to divide 119.880 by 25 and multiplicate the result by the duration.
But thanks, thanks, thanks!!
*and sorry by my bad english*

[videoquestion]

Is there a similar process for repairing a truncated mp4 video file?

[dtrieb]

hi,
i've found out a way that's more easier and should work with all types of video files:
You need 1. the corrupted file 2. a second, similar, correct working videofile which might have the same spec's as header (e.g. another episode of the same anime series encoded equal..).
now take a simple file splitter/merger like 'Split Files 1.5': http://www.altarsoft.com/split_files...ction=download or 'JR Split File': http://www.convertjunction.com/download/jsplit.zip (both freeware, thx!) and split both files in parts of e.g. 2 MB (even at least the lenght of the appropriated new header so not too short!).
Replace the first part of the corrupted file with the first of the working file by changing the filename of this part.
Merge the corrupted file parts (with the first part of the working file instead of the corrupted file's first part as new replaced header), now cut out more missing videoparts with divFix++ and that's it! (I've tried it out with 'split files 1,5' several times now and it always works fine...)
Caution: You only can do it with a 'simple' file splitter/merger, a normal video splitter puts a new header at the beginning of each splitted part so it does not work...

ps: recovering missing video information by opening videofiles/parts and replacing lost data in an normal editor like windows notepad also might be a procedure in case of really severe bugs without success by using previously written methods, but i have'nt tried it out yet...

gr33+z ;D}-{

[bolinboy]

If you are unsure of the details of your corrupted AVI, then I suggest you use GSpot, as it seems to still correctly identify framerate/aspect and audio information, even when the header is missing.

[pmoreira]

Hello,

I have an avi that I made using Speedy video capture. For some reason this video did not opened with WMP but I followed the steps here and I sort of got it to work. It works but It's very zoomed in and a bit low quality but that's ok, I can see only top 1/4 of the screen, I've tried many options with SSMM37 but to now effect. I've also tried using AVI repair with a good file created using the same program, but the image stays garbled in the diagonal.

In SSMM37 if I change the size from any other than 640x480 the image stays garbled in the diagonal.

I've also tried the technique of splitting the files, replacing the first 1/2 of a good file saved using also speedy and the bad one. It works but after the first few seconds of good film it goes garbled just like the in the result above.

I've also tried having VirtualDub fixing the index, also garbled.

I'm out of options here, the fact that I manage to get 1/4 of the screen area in a avi that I can see tells me that the damaged file has the data there, but I am unable to fix it.

I would appreciate any help, as this is a very important file that I cannot replicate.

Thanks