Data Recovery by File Type: Recover Documents, Photos, Videos, Audio, Archives & Email Files

Document files — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF — are the most commonly recovered file category. Whether you're a student who lost a term paper, a professional who accidentally deleted a critical spreadsheet, or someone who formatted a drive containing years of work documents, document recovery has the highest success rate of any file type because these formats have well-defined internal structures that recovery software can reliably identify.

Supported Document Formats

Microsoft Office Formats

Document-Specific Recovery Tips

• Unsaved documents: Microsoft Office applications save temporary copies (AutoRecover files) every few minutes. These are stored in C:\Users\[Name]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\[App]\ and often have .asd, .tmp, or ~$ prefixes. Recovery software can retrieve these temp files even if you never saved the document.
• Modern DOCX/XLSX/PPTX formats: These are actually ZIP archives containing XML files internally. If a DOCX file is partially corrupted, you can sometimes rename it to .zip, extract the XML content, and recover the text. XRecovery handles this automatically.
• PDF recovery: PDF files have a distinct header (%PDF-) and trailer (%%EOF), making them highly recoverable even from deeply corrupted drives.

Photo recovery is one of the most emotionally significant data recovery tasks — these aren't just files, they're memories. XRecovery supports all common image formats including everyday formats like JPEG and PNG, professional formats like PSD and TIFF, and — crucially — camera RAW formats from every major camera manufacturer.

Everyday Image Formats

Camera RAW Formats — By Manufacturer

Additional Supported Image Types

Photo-Specific Recovery Tips

• RAW files are large: A single RAW file can be 30–100 MB. On high-capacity cards (256 GB+), deep scans may take several hours. Be patient — the preview feature lets you verify files in real-time as they're found.
• JPEG fragmentation: JPEG files that are partially overwritten may display visual artifacts (gray blocks, color banding). If a recovered JPEG looks incomplete, try a deeper scan — the remaining fragments may be on a different part of the drive.
• SD card photo recovery: For photos deleted from camera memory cards, stop using the card immediately. Every new photo taken permanently overwrites recoverable data. See our complete SD card recovery strategy guide.
• HEIC/HEIF from iPhones: If you transferred iPhone photos to a Windows PC, they may be in HEIC format. XRecovery fully supports HEIC recovery.

Video files are among the most challenging file types to recover because they're typically large (often gigabytes in size) and frequently stored in fragmented form across the storage device. When a video spans multiple non-contiguous clusters, a quick scan may only recover part of the file, resulting in an unplayable video. XRecovery's Deep Scan engine includes specialized video reconstruction logic to locate and reassemble fragmented video files.

Supported Video Formats

Video Recovery by Source

Video-Specific Recovery Tips

• Fragmented video: If a recovered MP4 or MOV file won't play, it's almost certainly fragmented. Run a Deep Scan specifically targeting video signatures. XRecovery's video reconstruction algorithm can often rebuild fragmented files by locating and joining scattered data clusters.
• GoPro chaptered files: GoPro cameras split long recordings into ~4 GB or ~12-minute chapters (e.g., GOPR0001.MP4, GP010001.MP4). If you lose a chapter, recover all adjacent chapters — they form a continuous recording and you'll need them all.
• 4K/8K video files: Ensure your recovery destination drive has at least twice the free space of the largest video file you're trying to recover. High-resolution video files are enormous.
• Corrupted video repair: If recovery produces a file that won't play at all, some tools can repair damaged video containers (MOOV atom repair for MP4, index repair for AVI). XRecovery's Deep Scan attempts this reconstruction automatically.

Audio files range from compressed formats like MP3 and AAC (used by music players and streaming services) to lossless formats like FLAC and ALAC (used by audiophiles and audio professionals) to uncompressed formats like WAV and AIFF (used in professional recording and editing). XRecovery supports all of them, plus specialized formats from music production software and portable recorders.

Supported Audio Formats

Audio Format Comparison

Audio Recovery Tips

• Voice memos and recordings: These are often stored as M4A (iPhone), AMR (Android), or WAV (dedicated recorders). Check the specific folder these apps use — most save to a dedicated app folder rather than the general Music directory.
• iTunes / Apple Music libraries: iTunes uses M4A (purchased/imported) and M4P (protected). XRecovery can recover both, but DRM-protected M4P files may only play on authorized devices.
• DAW project files: If you use FL Studio, Ableton, Logic, Cubase, or Pro Tools, look for project files (.flp, .als, .logicx, .cpr, .ptx) in addition to audio samples (.wav, .aif). Recovering the project file is essential to preserve your arrangement and edits.

Archive files present a unique recovery challenge: they're containers within containers. A single ZIP or RAR file can hold hundreds of individual files inside it. If the archive file itself is deleted, you need to recover the container first, then extract its contents. If the archive is corrupted after recovery, specialized repair tools may be needed to salvage the files inside.

Supported Archive Formats

Archive Types by Use Case

Archive Recovery Tips

• ZIP is the most recoverable archive format: The ZIP format stores a central directory at the end of the file. Even if the beginning of a ZIP file is partially overwritten, recovery tools can often rebuild the archive from the central directory. XRecovery's ZIP signature detection recognizes both the local header (PK\x03\x04) and the central directory (PK\x01\x02).
• RAR recovery parity: If your RAR archive was created with recovery records enabled, WinRAR can repair minor corruption. Always enable recovery records when creating important RAR archives.
• Recovering files from inside an archive: If only the archive itself is damaged but the drive is otherwise intact, recovery software can sometimes find the individual files that were inside the archive scattered across the drive — but this requires Deep Scan and the original files were extracted at some point.

This category covers email data files, eBooks, 3D models, database files, system logs, and other specialized formats that don't fit neatly into the previous five categories. Some of these — particularly Outlook PST/OST files and email message files — are among the most critical files users need to recover, as they often contain years of business correspondence and irreplaceable communication history.

Email & Messaging Formats

eBook & Publication Formats

3D, CAD & Design Formats

Other Supported Specialized Formats

Email Recovery — PST & OST Deep Dive

Outlook PST (Personal Storage Table) and OST (Offline Storage Table) files are the most critical email recovery targets. A single PST file can contain years of emails, contacts, calendars, tasks, and notes — making it one of the most valuable files on a user's computer.

Recovery Tips for Other File Types

• Database files (MDB, ACCDB, SQLITE, DB): These are complex structured files. If recovered but corrupted, try the database application's built-in compact/repair function (e.g., Access: Compact and Repair Database).
• eBooks (EPUB, MOBI, AZW): EPUB files are actually ZIP archives containing HTML/CSS. If recovered but won't open, try renaming to .zip to inspect and extract the content.
• 3D/CAD files (STL, OBJ, DWG, STEP): These have well-defined binary structures. XRecovery's Deep Scan recognizes their unique headers and can reliably recover them even after formatting.
• Log files (LOG, TXT, CSV): Plain text files are trivially recoverable — they have no internal structure to corrupt. The only risk is overwriting.