Repair a Corrupted Blackmagic Pocket 6K Video

Repair a corrupted Blackmagic Pocket Cinema 6K video

When a Pocket 6K ProRes clip won't open, it's rarely lost footage — it's a recording the camera never got to finalize, usually because the media dropped out or the battery died. The frames are still there, and they don't have to leave your device to recover them.

The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K records Apple ProRes into QuickTime .MOV files — ProRes 422 HQ, 422, LT and Proxy — at up to 6K, to CFast 2.0 cards, SD UHS-II cards, or an external USB-C SSD. (Its other format, Blackmagic RAW, writes separate .braw files and is out of scope here — this page is about the ProRes .MOV clips.) A .MOV becomes playable only when the camera writes its moov atom — the index that maps every frame — at the end of the take. Interrupt that and you get a file full of real ProRes data with no map to it. Drop the clip above and the tool checks exactly that, in your browser, and rebuilds the container when the footage is recoverable.

Your file never leaves your device — repair runs in your browser. 0 bytes uploaded.

Fix it now

Drop the file
Repair runs locally
Download the result

Why media and power interruptions strand a clip

A QuickTime .MOV is written in two parts: the ProRes frames stream to the media as you record (the mdat), and the moov atom — the sample tables that index every frame plus the ProRes configuration — is written last, when recording stops cleanly. The Pocket 6K's flexibility about where it records is also where most interruptions come from:

An external USB-C SSD dropped out. Recording straight to an SSD is a headline Pocket-camera feature, but a wobbly USB-C connector, a bumped cable, or a bus-powered drive that browns out ends the write mid-clip — leaving the .MOV unfinalized.
The battery died. The Pocket 6K runs on a small LP-E6-style pack with famously short life; when it cuts out during a take, the finalization write never happens.
The card was pulled, or couldn't keep up. Removing a CFast 2.0 or SD card while it's still writing, or feeding a high-bitrate ProRes HQ 6K mode a card slower than it needs, truncates the recording.

The reassuring part is that these are the recoverable cases: the take you shot up to the moment of failure is sitting in the file as valid ProRes — only the small trailing index is missing, which is why a player reports the clip as corrupt, 0:00 long, or opens it to nothing.

How the container is rebuilt — and ProRes vs BRAW

When the moov is gone, it can be reconstructed by scanning the surviving ProRes stream and rebuilding the sample tables the camera would have written on a clean stop. For a faithful result the rebuild wants the exact stream configuration — which ProRes variant (422 HQ, 422, LT, Proxy), the resolution and frame rate — and the most reliable source of those is a healthy clip from the same Pocket 6K shot in the same mode. Because a media or power fault usually only strands the last file, the earlier takes on that card or SSD are typically intact and make a perfect reference. Keep one handy; you'll only be asked for it if the broken file needs it.

One important distinction: this repair targets ProRes .MOV files. If you were shooting Blackmagic RAW, your clips are .braw — a different container with its own structure, not a QuickTime MOV — and they're not covered here. And a CFast/SD card or SSD that's physically failing can return zeros for parts of a file; that's lost data, not a container problem, so copy the whole media to your computer first, and if the bytes are there, the rebuild does the rest.

What this can and can't fix

Can fix

The last ProRes clip when an SSD dropped out, the battery died, or the card was pulled before finalizing (unfinalized MOV, missing moov)
ProRes 422 HQ / 422 / LT / Proxy .MOV files that copied off the card or SSD but won't play
Container damage: broken index, wrong sample offsets, zero-length duration, when the ProRes data survived
Files a recovery tool returned unplayable, when the footage itself is intact

Can't fix

Blackmagic RAW .braw clips — a different format, not a QuickTime .MOV (out of scope here)
Footage physically lost to a failing CFast/SD card or SSD — recover the media first, then repair
A clip whose reference you can't match to the same ProRes variant and settings
Files that read as 0 bytes or mostly zeros

If a repair fails, we tell you why (missing data versus broken structure), and you are never charged for a failed repair.

FAQ

I was recording to an external SSD and it disconnected — is the clip gone?

Usually not. If the SSD dropped out mid-take, the ProRes frames already written are still on the drive; what's missing is the moov index the camera writes only on a clean stop. Rebuilding the container re-maps those frames and the clip typically plays again.

Can you repair my Blackmagic RAW (.braw) files too?

Not on this page. Blackmagic RAW writes .braw files, which use their own container rather than a QuickTime .MOV. This repair covers the Pocket 6K's ProRes .MOV clips.

Do I need another clip from the same camera to fix it?

Only if the index can't be rebuilt from the file alone. If prompted, use a healthy clip from the same Pocket 6K in the same ProRes variant, resolution and frame rate so the rebuild inherits the exact stream configuration.

Is my footage uploaded to fix it?

No. The file is read from your disk and rebuilt in your browser tab; nothing is transmitted. You can confirm 0 bytes leave your machine in the browser's Network tab — which also means a large ProRes clip never waits on an upload.