Android .pending video file: how to find and repair it

What a .pending file is

Since Android 10, apps that save photos and videos through Android’s media store can mark a new file as pending while they are still writing it. While the mark is set, only the app that created the file can open it, and the gallery and other apps don’t show it, so you never see a half-written video. When the camera app finishes the recording, it clears the mark and the video appears normally.

If the phone crashes, reboots or loses power during the recording, the camera app never gets to finish. The file stays on storage with its pending mark. On Android 11 and later its name starts with .pending-, followed by a number and the original file name, for example .pending-1792923300-VID_20261018_101500.mp4.

The number is the date Android has set for deleting the file, written as a Unix timestamp (seconds since 1 January 1970). By default it is seven days after the file was created: in the example, 25 October 2026 at 10:15 UTC for a recording started on 18 October. Any online “Unix timestamp converter” turns it into a date, so you know how much time you have.

Two things are usually missing from such a file: the pending mark was never cleared, so the gallery hides it, and the video’s index (the moov atom) was never written, so players can’t open it. The recorded frames, however, are usually there.

Find it and copy it first

Android deletes expired pending files on its own, typically during the maintenance it runs when the phone is idle and charging. With the default seven-day expiry, a leftover recording usually disappears about a week after it was made, so don’t wait.

1. Stop recording on the phone until you have copied the file, and don’t run storage clean-up apps.
2. From a computer (often the easiest way). Connect the phone with a USB cable, choose File transfer in the USB notification, and open DCIM/Camera on the phone’s storage, or on the SD card if you record to one. Look for a file starting with .pending- and copy it to the computer. On Windows the phone appears in File Explorer; on a Mac you may need an Android file transfer app.
3. Or on the phone. In Samsung My Files, tap the three dots, then Settings, and turn on Show hidden system files. Other file managers have a similar option to show hidden files. Then open DCIM/Camera.
4. Check the size. A file of several megabytes or more usually still holds the recording. A file of 0 bytes is empty.
5. Copy, don’t move or rename, and don’t open it in apps that might re-save it. Keep the original where it is until the repair has worked.

Repair the copy

A pending video is a classic interrupted recording: the frames are in the file but the index that tells players where they are was never written. Repair rebuilds that index.

1. Record a short healthy clip with the same phone and the same camera settings (resolution, frame rate, front or back camera, video stabilization or HDR if you used them). It helps the repair match how your phone writes files.
2. Upload the copied file to FrameRescue, with the healthy clip if you have one. The name doesn’t matter.
3. Check the result from beginning to end before you delete anything.

Each result is decoded and checked before it is offered, and you pay €5.00 only if a repaired file is ready. The last second or two before the phone shut down may be missing, because the phone had not finished writing them.

Samsung, Pixel and other Android phones

The pending mechanism is part of Android itself, so any camera app that saves through it can leave such a file behind, whatever the brand. People have reported them, for example, from Samsung Galaxy phones and from the Open Camera app, typically as a large file that won’t play or plays only the sound. Users of Open Camera have reported restoring such files with the free tool untrunc, sometimes with the sound out of sync.

If the phone shut down in an orderly way, the camera app may have saved the clip normally, so check the gallery first. Pending files are typically left after a crash, a sudden loss of power or a forced restart.

If the phone died while recording and you can’t find any pending file, see phone died while recording for other places to look.

Questions about .pending video files

What is a .pending MP4 file on Android?

It is a media file that an app was still writing when it stopped. Android marks such files as pending so that the gallery hides them until the app finishes. If the camera app never finishes, because the phone crashed or died, the file stays behind with .pending- at the start of its name.

Why can’t I see the .pending file in my gallery?

Gallery apps hide pending files on purpose, and because the name starts with a dot many file managers hide it too. Connect the phone to a computer and open DCIM/Camera, or turn on the option to show hidden files in your file manager.

Will Android delete the .pending file?

Yes. Android gives a pending file an expiry date, by default seven days after it was created, and deletes it during the routine maintenance it runs when the phone is idle and charging. The number in the file name is that expiry date as a Unix timestamp. Copy the file to a computer as soon as you find it.

Can I just rename the file to .mp4 to play it?

Renaming doesn’t make it play, because the problem is inside the file: the index a player needs was never written. Copy the file instead of renaming or moving it, then repair the copy.

My .pending file only plays audio, or shows 0:00. Is the video lost?

Usually not. Those are typical signs of a recording that stopped before it was finalized. If the file size roughly matches the length of what you recorded, the video frames are normally still inside and the file can usually be repaired.

Related repair guides

• Phone died while recording

  Does the video save? Where to look on iPhone, Android and cameras, and how to repair the unfinished file.

• Video shows 0 seconds

  0:00 with a large file size is usually repairable; 0 bytes is not. How to tell, free fixes and repair.

• Fix “moov atom not found”

  What the missing movie index means and why copy or faststart commands don’t rebuild it.

• Repair a corrupted MP4

  Phones, action cameras, drones and dashcams: what “corrupted” usually means and what can be recovered.