<p>Try to extract header from other file (e.g. create a new one with that recording software) and prepend it to your stream.</p>

<p>On Windows you can use that command to concatenate files: </p>

<pre><code>copy /b header.hdr + stream.mov outputFile.mov
</code></pre>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-02T22:35:52.383Z
The problem in this case was that the recording software doesn't store the headers as part of the files. Parameters are hard-coded into the software.
Perkins
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-03T12:12:41.413Z
Is it possible to reinstall that recording software? A few months has passed since the question was asked - have you found a solution?
Vladislav
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-29T19:16:53.693Z
Alas, it doesn't seem like there's going to be a solution.  The recording software in question is incapable of reading past the damaged bits in the files, and further study indicates that it may be multiplexing multiple video streams into a single file, which makes attempts to repair it pretty well futile. I'm afraid it's beyond my ability to recover, and I haven't found any software designed to extract video frames from such files.
Perkins
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-02T09:35:25.583Z
2014-10-02T09:35:25.583Z
Vladislav
<p>There are no such tools to my knowledge. You will probably have to make these headers yourself. Usually you don't have all that much parameters to set in a format header. If all the streams have the same origin you will be able to use the same header for all streams.</p>

<p>Just look into the format specification and edit a sample header in a way it could fit your stream data.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-06-27T16:41:23.597Z
Alas, that is the conclusion I was coming to myself.  Unfortunately, little details like what format the video is in are considered proprietary by the company that wrote the recording software.  Hence why I was looking for something capable of doing its own analysis.
Perkins
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-06-03T22:52:34.007Z
2014-06-03T22:52:34.007Z
timonsku
<p>I have some video files which were stored with the format headers in separate files.  Unfortunately, the disk crashed, and the header information has been lost.  I still have large chunks of stream data though.  Before I start writing brute-force code to figure out the parameters, are there any tools available for recovering this sort of thing?</p>

<p>update:  Further research and analysis indicates that this is multiple video streams multiplexed into a single file, with codec data hard-coded into the recording software.  As such, repair is likely impossible.  Software capable of scrounging such a file and extracting likely video frames might have some success, but I do not find any such software available. If anyone knows of any I would be happy to test it out and review it.  If this moves the question beyond the scope of this site, feel free to close it.</p>

<video><codec>
How does one recover a multiplexed video stream with missing headers?
Perkins
# How does one recover a multiplexed video stream with missing headers?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-05-07)

I have some video files which were stored with the format headers in separate files. Unfortunately, the disk crashed, and the header information has been lost. I still have large chunks of stream data though. Before I start writing brute-force code to figure out the parameters, are there any tools available for recovering this sort of thing?

update: Further research and analysis indicates that this is multiple video streams multiplexed into a single file, with codec data hard-coded into the recording software. As such, repair is likely impossible. Software capable of scrounging such a file and extracting likely video frames might have some success, but I do not find any such software available. If anyone knows of any I would be happy to test it out and review it. If this moves the question beyond the scope of this site, feel free to close it.

**Tags:** video, codec


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-10-02. Score: 2

Try to extract header from other file (e.g. create a new one with that recording software) and prepend it to your stream.
On Windows you can use that command to concatenate files: 
copy /b header.hdr + stream.mov outputFile.mov

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: The problem in this case was that the recording software doesn't store the headers as part of the files. Parameters are hard-coded into the software.  
> **username_1**: Is it possible to reinstall that recording software? A few months has passed since the question was asked - have you found a solution?  
> **username_0**: Alas, it doesn't seem like there's going to be a solution.  The recording software in question is incapable of reading past the damaged bits in the files, and further study indicates that it may be multiplexing multiple video streams into a single file, which makes attempts to repair it pretty well futile. I'm afraid it's beyond my ability to recover, and I haven't found any software designed to extract video frames from such files.  

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### Answer by username_2 on 2014-06-03. Score: 1

There are no such tools to my knowledge. You will probably have to make these headers yourself. Usually you don't have all that much parameters to set in a format header. If all the streams have the same origin you will be able to use the same header for all streams.

Just look into the format specification and edit a sample header in a way it could fit your stream data.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Alas, that is the conclusion I was coming to myself.  Unfortunately, little details like what format the video is in are considered proprietary by the company that wrote the recording software.  Hence why I was looking for something capable of doing its own analysis.  

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