Wedding Video Broken — What to Do RIGHT NOW

A broken wedding video isn’t “just some” broken video. The moment was one of a kind, the couple is waiting, and every day you haven’t delivered the footage costs you trust. I’ve been through it twice myself, and both times the rational answer mattered more than the emotional panic. Here it is.

The first 60 minutes — what you have to do (and must not do)

Do this immediately

1. Card out, into a reader. If the broken clip is still in the camera, turn the camera off, take out the card, and move to a different machine. Every second you keep working on the card risks more corruption.
2. Back up the whole card as an image file. On the Mac: dd if=/dev/diskN of=~/hochzeit-backup.dmg (careful with the disk number!). On Windows: HDD Raw Copy Tool or similar. From now on, you only work on copies.
3. Write the client an email. Not “everything’s fine,” but not “total disaster” either. Something like: “One of the cards is showing a technical fault. I’m working on recovering it — I’ll have an update for you tomorrow midday.” That buys you 24 hours of calm — and it shows you’re a professional.

Whatever you do, don’t

• Don’t format. Even if the card looks “broken” and Windows asks, “Do you want to format?” — click “Cancel.”
• Don’t keep recording. If the card still holds other important files, every new write is a threat.
• Don’t panic-buy a recovery tool and turn it loose on the card directly. Image backup first, then run the tool on the image.

Day 1 — Diagnosis

Before you spend money or pour in hours, find out what’s actually broken.

Step 1: Look at the file

Copy the problem .MP4 or .MOV from the image backup into a working folder. Open it in VLC. Three possible outcomes:

• VLC says: “File is broken. Rebuild index?” → the classic loss of the moov header. Recovery probability: 90%+.
• VLC opens the video, but the picture and/or audio are broken → a codec-stream problem. Recovery probability: 70–85%.
• VLC can’t do anything at all, and MediaInfo shows no tracks → serious damage. Probability: 30–60%, and you’ll need a specialized tool.

Step 2: What was the camera?

Professional wedding video is typically shot with one of four camera classes:

• Sony FX3/A7S III with XAVC-I or XAVC-S — see Repair Sony video
• Canon R5/R6 with ALL-I H.265 or CLOG3 — see Repair Canon video
• Panasonic GH5/GH6 with V-Log L
• BlackMagic Pocket with ProRes or BRAW

For each class, the device-specific guides take you further. With Sony and Canon the success rate is especially high, because their container format is well understood.

Step 3: Look for reference material

This is the single biggest lever on your repair success rate. An intact recording from the same camera with identical settings (resolution, frame rate, codec, bitrate class) is worth its weight in gold. At a wedding, you almost always have one:

• Another broken clip? No — an intact one. Earlier clips, test shots, B-cam footage, other recordings from the same day.
• If there’s nothing: shoot a 30-second clip right now with the same camera and identical settings. That works as a reference — the codec header is identical as long as the settings match.

Day 1 — Repair

Attempt 1: The free stack (10 minutes)

1. VLC repair (see above) — if VLC asks, let it try.
2. ffmpeg: ffmpeg -err_detect ignore_err -i kaputt.mp4 -c copy result.mp4 — if the container isn’t completely destroyed.
3. untrunc: untrunc -n -s referenz.mp4 kaputt.mp4 — if moov is missing and you have a reference.

Success rate for this stack: 50–70% on simple damage. With modern professional codecs (XAVC-I, Canon’s 10-bit H.265, ProRes): more like 30%.

Attempt 2: Specialized tools (45 minutes)

If the free stack fails or produces audio drift (very common with professional codecs), you need a tool that knows the device-specific quirks.

Haven is built for exactly these use cases. You drag in the broken file and the reference, see the finished result in the preview after 1–3 minutes, and only pay if you want to keep it. With wedding footage from Sony or Canon, the success rate is around 94%.

recover_mp4 (Grau, USD 99) is the IT-forensics gold standard, but has no audio-drift correction — with XAVC it hands you a video with a 480 ms drift that you’ll have to fix up afterward.

Download Haven →

Attempt 3: Concierge when all else fails

For truly catastrophic damage (e.g. the card has NAND corruption), there are concierge services like Aeroquartet Treasured (USD 49–700, 48h turnaround). They do human, manual repair on your uploaded file. For a wedding where the footage is worth EUR 5,000+ in fees, that’s a legitimate option.

See the Aeroquartet review for realistic expectations.

Day 2 — Client update

If the repair worked on day 1: deliver as usual. Don’t mention the incident unless the client asks. They don’t want backstage drama — they want their video.

If day 1 didn’t produce a repair: be honest, but not alarmist. Something like:

“One of the cards had a technical fault. I’m working with a specialized service to get the footage back. Everything from the [ceremony / reception / first dance / …] is intact. For [the affected scene], I can’t guarantee the recovery — I’ll get back to you by [date] with the result.”

This wording shows you have a plan, you’re honest, and you’re taking responsibility. That’s exactly what clients want to hear in this situation.

What to do differently next time

Three workflow changes that prevent future disasters:

1. Dual-card recording, if your camera can do it (Canon R5, Sony FX9, Panasonic GH6). A second card writes in parallel — if one fails, you have the other.
2. Rotate cards every 2 years. SD cards have a finite lifespan. If your main card is 3+ years old, treat yourself to a fresh one for important shoots.
3. Offload to RAID early. As soon as the card is full (or at the end of a shooting day), copy the material onto a RAID system. Before you use the card again.

Related guides

• Sony FX3 after a card crash — if you shot with an FX3
• The moov atom is missing — the most common damage, generic solution
• Repair a corrupted video — the complete guide — a full overview of the methods

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