MP3 Validator : Fix and Repair Corrupt MP3 Files

Sometimes when you copy files from one storage device to another or download them from the internet, they might get corrupted owing to many reasons like incomplete downloads, faulty data cable or erratic power supply unit in your computer. I recently got my MP3 files corrupted due to a faulty cable. Fortunately, there is a program called MP3 Validator which can help you fix and repair the corrupted MP3 files.

MP3 Validator is an open-source application that can be used to check the integrity of MPEG audio files integrity. It is also called MP3val. It is a small, high-speed, free software tool for finding corrupted files (e.g. incompletely downloaded, truncated, containing garbage). MP3val is also able to fix most of the problems. Being a multiplatform application, MP3val can be run both under Windows and under Linux (or BSD). The most common MPEG audio file type is MPEG 1 Layer III (popularly known as MP3), but MP3val supports also other MPEG versions and layers. The tool is also aware of the most common types of tags (ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv2).

You can download MP3val from its sourceforge website. It is an open-source application, so you can download its source code as well. For running the program in Windows, you need to download the Windows binary edition. The download is a portable program, so you do not have to install it and can start using it right-away.

MP3 Validator - Fix MP3 Files

The MP3val application is very easy to use. You can click on the add buttons in the toolbar to add a single MP3 file or an entire folder of MP3 files. Then click on the magnifying-glass icon in the toolbar to start scanning the added MP3 files. If an MP3 file is corrupt, you would see a Problem state for it, else it would show an OK state. If you find an MP3 file with problems, then just click on the gear like icon in the toolbar to start repairing/fixing them. The state of the repaired files should now change from Problem to Fixed. MP3val makes a backup of the original file before fixing it.

MP3 Validator (or MP3val in short) is a simple, small and very useful tool for MP3 collectors. You can easily scan, fix and repair all the MP3 files on your hard disk in a single click. You can download MP3 Validator from its web site at http://mp3val.sourceforge.net/.

11 comments

  1. Installed it, tested it on one file, didn’t fix anything. The mp3 that was skipping, messing up reported as “PROBLEM” – I ran the fix, played the backup and the regular file and they both still skip at the same part.

  2. April 2018- This is actually nothing. It says it scans, and finds problem.
    Then when you click problem, it say the mp3 file is wrong format! WTF!
    I’m like DUH, I already knew I had a problem that is why I download & installed this MP3 Validator because it claims to Fix and Repair Corrupt MP3 Files.

    What a blatant lie. IT DOES NOTHING EXCEPT TELL YOU WHAT YOU ALREADY KNOW, Now I have two problems,
    1. MP3 files are broken
    2. MP3 Validator is junkware

    1. If the files are not in MP3 format how can it fix them? You have to first change format to MP3. For this you can use ffmpeg tools.

  3. Was checking out this program and it seems to detect problems, however, it doesn’t seem to fix it. These songs play fine on my computer but the program says “unknown format” as the issue. What gives?

    1. It will give “OK” only if MP3 file is created perfect. Other media players often ignore a ton of things like null bytes in the beginning or garbage data in the start of file or improper truncation of the file or has no meta tags. MP3 Validator will show “problem” with these files. Unknown format could be because the files have been renamed as MP3 but are actually some other formats like OGG or FLAC.

  4. The software can’t handle non-ASCII (or non-exteded-ASCII) characters, and it’ll get stuck on that file until aborted. It prevents me from using it for some songs, and I can’t easily just drop a folder in it either.

  5. The program seems great! But I am missing something… How do I get the fixed files, back to my folders? I can’t seem to drag and drop them & I can’t save them. So how do I get the repaired files back? Thank you…

    1. The new fixed files have the same file name and path as original one. The old original files are backed up with a .bak in their file name. For example, if you fix C:MP3Steph.mp3, then repaired file would be C:MP3Steph.mp3 and original file’s backup would be C:MP3Steph.mp3.bak

      1. Thank you Trisha. What an awesome program! So simple to use. Thanks for the info.

  6. Ran the program on songs that were being skipped on my iPod. All of the songs were having a “OK” Status. I even did a repair on them yet THEY STILL SKIP ON MY iPod!!!

    1. Then the recording itself is skipping, and is missing saplings. But the file is functioning as it should

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