Question 1

Does AerialRestore work with GoPro's chaptered .MP4 files?

Accepted Answer

Yes — that's exactly what we built it for. GoPro splits long recordings into 4 GB chapters: GH010001.MP4, GH020001.MP4, GH030001.MP4, etc. If one chapter is corrupt or missing, Quik and Premiere refuse to open the entire clip. AerialRestore reconstructs the missing chapter from raw H.264/H.265 stream data so the rest of the sequence imports normally.

Question 2

Will it recover the LRV and THM proxy files too?

Accepted Answer

Yes. LRV (low-res preview) and THM (thumbnail) files are recovered alongside the main MP4 — useful for previewing in Quik and Premiere proxy workflows.

Question 3

What about HiLight tags and GPS / sensor metadata?

Accepted Answer

We recover the GPMF metadata stream embedded in the MP4 — that's where GoPro stores GPS, gyro, and HiLight tags. After recovery, GoPro Player and Premiere read your tags and telemetry as if nothing happened.

Question 4

My GoPro got too hot and shut down mid-record. Recoverable?

Accepted Answer

Yes, almost always. Thermal shutdowns kill the moov atom write but leave the actual H.265 data intact. We rebuild the moov from the NAL stream. We see this several times a day on Hero 11 and Hero 12.

Question 5

Hero MAX 360 — can you recover both fisheye streams?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The MAX writes two .360 files (front and back fisheye) plus a stitched preview. We recover both fisheye streams; you restitch in GoPro Player. If only one stream survived (rare), you can still get a usable hemisphere.

Question 6

What about underwater housings — does flooding break recovery?

Accepted Answer

If the housing flooded and the camera shorted, the card itself is usually fine — extract it within 24 hours, dry it, and run AerialRestore. We've recovered footage from cards pulled out of a drowned Hero 11 multiple times.

Question 7

Can I use AerialRestore on Hero footage from before Hero 5?

Accepted Answer

Yes — Hero 4 / Session / Hero 3+ wrote H.264 .MP4 files which carve cleanly. The recovery rate is actually higher on these older cameras because the bitrate is lower and the files are smaller.

GoPro Footage Recovery