I’ve analyzed the problems discussed in the Reddit r/VideoEditing and r/techsupport communities, and concluded that the most common reasons for video file corruption are:
Sudden power loss during recording (e.g., camera battery dying)
Interrupting the file transfer process (e.g., unplugging the SD card mid-transfer)
Storage media issues (e.g., faulty SD cards or hard drives)
Software glitches in the recording device or computer
Malware infections corrupting files
Interestingly, there are quite a few people who report issues with file corruption after their computer screen “turned blue.” I suspect that all these poor individuals have encountered the dreaded Blue Screen of Death.