Repairing Damaged Files

SequenceSuite can repair common file damage in XML, EDL, FCPXML, and OTIO imports. Repair is conservative: the original file is never changed, and a repaired import shows a notice so you can review what was fixed before trusting the report.

When repair appears

If a file looks like a supported format but won’t open, the import error sheet may show Attempt Repair. Use it when the file came from a known editorial export but appears cut short, contains unreadable characters, or has broken line endings - the classic signs of an interrupted transfer or a copy that went wrong.

SequenceSuite does not offer repair for unrelated files or format mix-ups. For example, a PDF renamed to .xml is treated as the wrong file, not a damaged sequence.

A supported file that merely has the wrong extension doesn’t need repair at all: an EDL renamed to .xml, an OTIO renamed to .fcpxml, and similar mix-ups are recognised by their content and opened as their real format, with a notice telling you what happened.

Caution

Repair can make a damaged interchange file readable again, but it cannot recover timeline information that was never written to disk. Always review repaired reports against the original sequence.

Standalone repair window

Choose File → Repair File… to inspect a file before importing it. You can also drag a file into the repair window.

The window shows whether the file already opens normally, whether repair is available, and what SequenceSuite expects to change. From there you can:

• Open a healthy file normally.
• Repair & Open a damaged file using a repaired copy - the original stays untouched.
• Save Repaired Copy… to write a repaired file beside your job materials.

What repair changes

For XML and FCPXML, SequenceSuite removes unreadable characters, fixes line endings, corrects stray ampersands, and rebuilds the end of a cut-off file when enough of the sequence survives.

For EDL, SequenceSuite removes unreadable characters, fixes line endings, skips damaged lines it cannot read, and recovers text saved in encodings other systems sometimes use.

For OTIO, SequenceSuite removes unreadable characters and rebuilds the end of a cut-off file when it still contains recognisable OTIO sequence data.

When a repair skips lines or drops damaged sections, the notice says how much was left out - treat that as your cue to spot-check the report against the original cut.

Saving repaired copies

After a repaired import succeeds, the notice sheet includes Save Repaired Copy…. This writes the repaired file to a location you choose; it does not overwrite the source unless you deliberately choose the same path in macOS’s save panel.

Use saved repaired copies when you need to hand the repaired interchange file to another editor, archive the cleaned export with your report, or avoid repeating the repair step on a future import.