File Format Not Supported by Premiere Pro CC - Adobe Help

File Formats Not Supported by Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Instead of a long list of accepted file types, we put formats that might not be supported by Premiere Pro in the first place, so that you can make sure in the very beginning if your "Premiere Pro can't import video" problem is caused by format/codec missing or not. Check now!

Most Premiere Pro can't import media error is caused by "File format not supported"/codec missing The Key: Convert video to a format accepted by Adobe Premiere Pro. The Easiest Solution

Analysis: "File format not supported" message denotes that the video decoding fails, and of course your video can't be imported. To solve the problem, just convert video to a Premiere Pro compatible format in two ways: convert with or without transcoding. Convert with transcoding - for example, transcode MKV (VC-1) to MP4 (H.264). Convert without transcoding - for example, convert MOV wrapped HEVC to HEVC in MP4. No data loss at all. Just move the whole intact video file from one container (MOV) to another (MP4).

The video transcoding can be easily done with video converter software, such as VideoProc, HandBrake, FormatFactory, Freemake Video Converter, etc. If you prefer freeware, try HandBrake. But to use HandBrake, you need to be very skilled at video parameter adjusting to some extent. All considered, VideoProc would be a good option in both video decoding/encoding and video editing, for being easy and professional.

Steps to Convert Video to Adobe Premiere Pro Supported Video Format with VideoProc

Step 1. Open VideoProc and click into Video module. Then click "+ Video" button at the top left corner to load your video. Or you can import files by dragging and droppping.

Step 2. Since "File format not supported" happens a lot when importing MKV files, let's take converting MKV H.264 to MP4 H.264 as an example. Move to the "Target Format" area, switch to "Video" tab, and then select "MP4 H.264".

Step 3. For there is no need of transcoding, check "Auto Copy" box, so that the video conversion can be done in a flash. To convert video with transcoding, such as MKV HEVC to MP4 H.264, Check "Nvidia/Intel/AMD" to use GPU acceleration. Press button RUN and start the video conversion. Later you should import your new MP4 H.264 into Adobe Premiere Pro CC without any problem.

Video is not on the Formats Not Supported list, but still can't be imported?

Remember that whether your video can be imported or not depends on video codec format, not video container format. Yes, they are not the same thing. H.264 ≠ MP4 is a case in point. The problem can be solved by converting video with transcoding. The following two examples will make it clearer.

• Example 1 - Premiere Pro supports MP4, but not all MP4 can be imported MP4, a container format, is natively supported for import by Premiere Pro. But it comes with the details "QuickTime Movie, XDCAM EX". An educated guess is if your video is not QuickTime (MPEG-4 Part 12) but the extended part MPEG-4 Part 14 (.mj2, .dvb. .dcf. .m21, .f4v), or the video is recorded by XDCAM SD, XDCAM HD/HD 422, it might not be loaded correctly even if it is MP4.
• Example 2 - MKV seems to be not supported, but can be imported sometimes MKV is not on the official supported file format list, but actually it has been natively supported in Premiere Pro 2018 12.1 and later, although there still are loading errors. Our test shows that some MKV videos can be loaded, while some others cannot. The reason might be that MKV is a container format, but video codec format is the linchpin in decoding.

Possible solution 2: Install codec to fix File format not supported error. +

Possible solution 3: Upgrade Premiere Pro, buy license, etc to fix File format not supported error. +

Final Words:

Besides converting videos, VideoProc is also able to perform some video editing tasks, including cutting, trimming, merging, splitting, deshaking, denoising, adding special effects, and more. The operation is really beginner-friendly. Moreover, it can digitize DVDs, convert audios, download videos and music from 1000+ sites, and record screen and webcam.

"File format not supported" in Premiere Pro can be solved in various ways. Hope one of the solutions mentioned above can help you out.