Guide · Recovery
Recover a Sony XAVC S file that won't open
A dead battery, a pulled card or a camera that switched off mid-take can leave a Sony XAVC S .MP4 that nothing will open. The picture and the sound are usually still in the file. Throughline gets them back and writes the result beside the original, never over it.
macOS 14 or later · Apple silicon · every feature runs twice on your own footage
What a broken XAVC S file looks like
When a Sony camera cannot finish a recording, the .MP4 is left on the card but it will not play. Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve and QuickTime refuse it, report it as damaged, or show it with no length. The size on the card looks right, which is the clue: the footage is there, in a form no editor reads.
Do this first
- Stop using the card. Do not record to it again and do not format it.
- Copy the card before you try anything. Work from the copy, and keep the original card untouched until you have the recovered file in hand.
- Keep the broken .MP4 as it is. Do not rename it or try to re-save it in another app.
What Throughline does with it
Throughline is a Mac app for video work, and recovery is one of its jobs. Point it at the broken .MP4 and it recovers the picture and the sound into a file that plays. The result is written next to the original. Your original file is never modified.
What you need
You need the broken .MP4, and one clip that plays, shot on the same camera in the same mode. Ten seconds is enough. If you shot anything else on that camera that day, in the same recording mode, you probably already have one.
What it cannot do
- The moment the power went is gone. A battery pull always loses the last instant of the recording. You get everything up to that point, not a promise about the final moments.
- It only handles the formats it has recovered. This page is about Sony XAVC S, and XAVC HS is proven too. For XAVC S-I, MXF from Sony FX cameras or anything else, send a sample clip to [email protected] and we will tell you honestly whether it is supported.
- Nothing without a matching clip. With no playable clip from the same camera in the same mode, there is nothing to recover from.
- Mac only. macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon.
Try it on your own file
The 14-day free trial runs every feature on your own footage, twice, with no card. Exports in the trial cover the first 60 seconds, and video it writes is a 720p proof with an overlay. That is enough to find out whether your file is one it can handle before you decide.
macOS 14 or later · Apple silicon · every feature runs twice on your own footage
Questions
Will Throughline overwrite my broken file?
No. The recovered file is written beside the original. The broken .MP4 is left exactly as it was.
Do I need another clip from the same camera?
Yes. You need one clip that plays, shot on the same camera in the same mode. Ten seconds is enough.
Will I get the whole recording back?
You get everything up to the point the camera lost power. The last moment before the power went is lost, so it is not a guarantee of the final seconds.
Does this work on other cameras?
Yes. Throughline is proven on real files from cameras by Panasonic, Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm and DJI, on Canon Cinema EOS, and on two consumer Canon EOS bodies (the 5D Mark IV and 7D), and the list keeps growing; the full list is on the homepage. Phones, action cameras and battery pulls on consumer Canon EOS R-series bodies are not tested yet.