Each file type uses different audio encoder, in this article we’re going to show you how to fix a corrupted WAV (.wav) and MPEG4(.m4a, .aac) files.

Fix Recording using audio-editing software

There are many ways to easily fix corrupted audio files using any audio-editing software programs like VLC, iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc.

Please note MPEG4 are more complex than standard WAV files, this is due to the use of lossy compression, however, they can be repaired in a similar way to WAV files if the file header is not damaged.

1. Download VLC Player and install it.
2. Start VLC Media Player.
3. Open the File section and click the Convert/Save option.
4. Click Add under the file selection.
5. Choose the damaged recording file and click Convert/Save from the bottom of the screen.
6. Choose the destination folder and file name
7. Click start to run the process

Fix Recording using FFmpeg:

1. Download FFmpeg: packages & executable files
2. Extract the archive and open the bin folder with ffmpeg file.
3. Copy damaged audio file to that folder
4. Start the command line app and navigate to that folder using cd command, ex. "cd C:\Users\John\Downloads\ffmpeg\bin"
5. Type in the console: ffmpeg -i damagedfile.m4a -c copy fixedfile.m4a

It is possible that the corrupted file has a damaged header, then you can try to use the below methods:

• How to fix corrupted voice memo (m4a) files.
• Fix a Corrupted m4A File
• How to recover audio from an incomplete or corrupted AAC/m4a file