MIUI Decrypt illustration: visualizing the moment an LSAV file opener splits the encrypted container and releases the video stream inside.
You found an .lsav file — maybe while backing up your Xiaomi phone, recovering from a factory reset, or extracting files via ADB — and no media player will touch it. VLC throws an error. Windows Media Player says the format is unsupported. QuickTime ignores it entirely. That is expected behavior, not a sign that the video is damaged. An .lsav file is not a video file in the conventional sense. It is an encrypted container produced by Xiaomi's MIUI Gallery Secret Album feature, and opening it requires a dedicated LSAV file opener that understands the encryption stack inside.
This guide explains what lives inside an .lsav container, why media players cannot parse it, and exactly how to open and play the video using LSA Decrypt — from any computer, without needing a working Xiaomi device.
What is an .lsav file?
LSAV stands for Local Storage Archive (Video). It is the video counterpart to the .lsa photo container that MIUI Gallery uses for its Secret Album feature. Whenever you move a video clip into the Secret Album vault on a Xiaomi, Redmi, or POCO device running MIUI or HyperOS, the gallery app wraps the video in an .lsav container and stores it in MIUI/Gallery/cloud/secretAlbum/ on internal storage.
Like its photo sibling, an .lsav container is a ZIP-style archive with two entries: an encrypted binary payload (.bin) and a JSON metadata block (.meta). The binary payload is the raw video bytes — H.264 or H.265 encoded — locked behind AES-256-GCM encryption. The metadata block records the salt, initialization vector (IV), key identifier, original filename, duration, resolution, MIME type, and an HMAC-SHA256 integrity signature.
LSAV containers also carry additional FFmpeg-specific metadata that MIUI uses to reconstruct accurate timestamps and frame rates after decryption. This makes them slightly more complex to process than .lsa photo containers. Our .lsa and .lsav format guide covers both container structures in full detail.
Why VLC and media players can't open .lsav files
Every video player identifies a file by probing the first bytes for a recognizable container signature. MP4 files contain an ftyp atom within the first 12 bytes. MKV files start with the EBML header 1A 45 DF A3. MOV files carry a moov atom early in the stream. An .lsav file starts with none of these. Its first bytes are the ZIP-style container header, which looks like 50 4B 03 04 — the local file header signature for a ZIP entry — before transitioning immediately into AES ciphertext.
Even if a media player correctly identifies the outer ZIP wrapper and tries to extract the.bin payload, the extracted bytes are still random-looking ciphertext with no detectable video structure. AES-256-GCM in authenticated encryption mode produces output that is computationally indistinguishable from random data until the correct key is applied. There are no NAL units to parse, no keyframes to seek, and no audio synchronization markers to find.
This is by design. The encryption is meant to ensure that even someone who copies the physical storage cannot view the content without the correct key. The detailed explanation of how MIUI builds that key is in our Secret Album encryption explainer.
Approaches that will not work:
- Renaming to .mp4, .mkv, or .mov — the bytes inside do not change; the player will still fail to find a valid container header.
- Opening with a hex editor — useful for inspecting the raw container structure, but the payload remains encrypted until the AES key is applied.
- Running ffprobe or ffmpeg directly — FFmpeg cannot decode AES-256-GCM. It will report an invalid data error or attempt to parse the ZIP header as a video stream and fail.
- Online video converters — these services expect a valid video container as input. They will reject the file or return an empty output.
How to open and play an .lsav video
The process below works on any computer with a modern browser. There is no software to install and no Xiaomi account is required.
- Locate the .lsav file on your device. Connect your Xiaomi phone to a computer via USB in File Transfer (MTP) mode. Navigate to
Internal Storage > MIUI > Gallery > cloud > secretAlbum. Copy the .lsav file (or files) to a folder on your computer. Do not rename or modify the files before uploading — any change to the bytes can invalidate the HMAC signature and prevent decryption. - Check the file is intact. Compare the file size to roughly what you would expect for the video's length and quality. A one-minute 1080p clip is typically 40–150 MB. If the size is suspiciously small (under 1 MB), the file may have been truncated during a backup. Partially truncated
.lsav files are recoverable up to the point where the data was cut, but frames at the end will be missing. - Upload to LSA Decrypt. Go to lsadecrypt.online/en/decrypt and drag the
.lsav file into the upload zone. For multiple files, compress them into a ZIP archive first. Your file is sent over HTTPS and kept in an isolated processing session. - Monitor the decryption progress. The real-time status panel shows each stage: container parsing, HMAC verification, AES-256-GCM decryption, and FFmpeg container re-assembly. Video jobs take longer than photo jobs because of the additional audio and timestamp reconstruction step. A typical 100 MB clip processes in under two minutes.
- Download the MP4 and play it. Once the job completes, download the resulting MP4 file. Open it in VLC, Windows Media Player, QuickTime, or any video app. The download link remains active for 12 hours before the server cleans up the session.
If you cannot access the phone to copy the files — for example because the device will not boot — follow the extraction steps in our guide for recovering files from a non-booting Xiaomi phone. ADB and TWRP can both pull .lsav files from a device that won't start normally.
What quality to expect after opening
LSA Decrypt is a decryption service, not a transcoder. The quality of the output video is determined entirely by what MIUI stored inside the container — we do not re-encode or compress the video stream. What you get back is the original recording at its original resolution, frame rate, and bitrate.
Here is what the output typically looks like:
- Resolution: Whatever the camera captured — 1080p, 4K, or lower for older devices. MIUI does not downscale videos when moving them into Secret Album.
- Codec: H.264 (AVC) on older MIUI versions; H.265 (HEVC) on newer devices and MIUI 13+. Both are wrapped in a standard MP4 container after decryption.
- Audio: AAC stereo, same bitrate as the original. The FFmpeg re-assembly step realigns audio/video timestamps based on the metadata block MIUI stored, so sync should be accurate.
- Metadata: Creation date, duration, and camera model are restored from the
.meta JSON block. EXIF-style tags are embedded in the output MP4 where the format supports them. - HDR and slow-motion: HDR10 and HLG tone maps are preserved. Slow-motion clips retain their variable frame rate (VFR) metadata so they play back correctly in VLC and modern mobile players. Some older desktop players may not handle VFR streams natively.
If the output video has visible artifacts or audio sync problems, the most common cause is a partially truncated .lsav container. See our MIUI Gallery troubleshooting guide for guidance on partial recovery scenarios.
After opening: manage and store your videos
Once you have a working MP4, the file is no longer protected by MIUI's encryption. Treat it like any other sensitive video file and make deliberate choices about where it lives.
Practical steps after you open the video:
- Rename and organize immediately. The output filename matches the original name MIUI stored in the metadata — often a camera-generated name like
VID_20240315_143022.mp4. Rename it to something meaningful before it gets lost in a downloads folder. - Copy to a permanent archive before the download link expires. LSA Decrypt's download links expire after 12 hours for video files. Move the file to your local storage or a cloud service immediately after downloading.
- Use an encrypted cloud service or local encrypted drive. The video is no longer protected by the MIUI container, so if privacy matters, store it in an end-to-end encrypted service or encrypt the local drive partition. Our Xiaomi privacy and security guide outlines suitable storage options.
- Re-import to Secret Album if you only needed to verify the file. If the goal was to confirm the video was intact rather than to migrate it, you can drag the decrypted MP4 back into MIUI Gallery's Secret Album. The app will re-encrypt it and create a new
.lsav container automatically. - Back up before the next factory reset. Now that you know where the
.lsav files live, consider scheduling regular backups of the secretAlbum directory. Our guide to backing up Secret Album before a factory reset explains the exact steps.
MIUI Decrypt Support publishes practical guidance for MIUI Secret Album recovery, Xiaomi privacy, and .lsa/.lsav troubleshooting so users can make informed decisions before they upload.
Every blog article is designed to match the product experience: clear explanations, realistic recovery expectations, and a direct path back to the decrypt workflow.
