Fixed: File Format Not Supported by Premiere Pro CC

"I often get the message 'file format not supported' when importing a video file into Premiere Pro. Anything I can download to allow Premiere Pro to import more file types? If not, what are the best programs that convert videos between .mp4, .mkv, .avi, and other common video formats?"

It is difficult to pin down what exactly went wrong if your video can't be imported into Premiere Pro or doesn't show up in the timeline. But your 1st step should always be to check if it is on the list of File Formats Not Supported by Premiere Pro. If yes, then converting video to Adobe Premiere Pro would solve the problem. Or you will be caught in a series of complex troubleshooting steps.

What Formats Are Supported by Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe Premiere natively supports many types of files including video formats like Apple ProRes, ASF, AVI, DNxHD, DNxHR, H.264 AVC, HEVC, MP4, MOV, and audio formats including AAC, MP3 and more. Go to Adobe Premiere Pro Supported File Format to see full lists.

1. What Audio Formats Are Supported by Adobe Premiere Pro

It supports 3GP, 3G2 (.3gp), AAC, AIFF, AIF, ASND, OMF, BWF, M4A, MP3, and WAV audio format.

2. What Video Formats Are Supported by Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe Premiere Pro supports popular multi-media format including AVI (Windows AVI and DV AVI), MXF, MP4, VOB, Windows Media (ASF, WMV), and DV, as well as the majority of MPEG-based formats, as like H.264 AVC, HEVC, M4V, M2V, MTS, M1V and M2T(S).

Apple ProRes, ProRes HDR, Panasonic AVI-Intra, DNxHD/DNxHR by Avid (capsulated in MXF/AVI), Rush, CRM, OpenEXR, R3D are also supported by Premiere Pro.

3. What Types of Images/Subtitles/Text Are supported by Premiere Pro

Premiere Pro supported still images (sequences): AI, EPS. BMP, DIB, RLE, DPX, EPS, GIF, ICO, JPEG, PNG, PSD, PTL, PRTL, TGA, ICB, VDA, VST, TIFF. As for text, captions and subtitles, it supports DFXP, MCC, SCC, SRT, STL, and XML.

What Formats Are Not Supported by Adobe Premiere Pro

We put formats that might not be supported by Premiere Pro, so that you can make sure in the very beginning if your "Premiere Pro can't import video" problem is caused by a format/codec problem. Check them out now!

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.

Sorenson, VP6, Screen Video, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC .flv

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.

Solution 1: Convert Video to Premiere Pro Supported Video Format

"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 by transcoding – for example, when you convert MKV (VC-1) to Adobe Premiere Pro supported MP4 (H.264), the process comes with the change in codec (from VC-1 to H.264).
• Convert without transcoding – for example, when you convert AVI (HEVC) to Adobe Premiere friendly MP4 (HEVC), the conversion doesn't bring up any data loss or change in codec (from HEVC to HEVC). In this case, you are just moving the whole intact video file from one container (AVI) to another (MP4).

You can easily convert MKV, MOV, iMovie file to Adobe Premiere Pro compatible formats by using the best video converter software, such as Handbrake, VideoProc Converter AI, 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 Converter AI would be a good option in both video decoding/encoding and video editing, for being easy and professional. It allows you to convert MP4, MOV, YouTube, iMovie and almost all types of files to Adobe Premiere supported file formats in one click.

Step 1. Open VideoProc Converter AI and click into Video module. Then click "+ Video" button in the top left corner to load your video. Or you can drag and drop to import the video files unsupported by Premiere Pro to the program.

Step 2. Since "File format not supported" happens a lot when importing MKV files, let's take converting MKV H.264 to Premiere Pro as an example. We would want the outcome to be premiere friendly formats like MP4 H.264. Move to the "Target Format" area, switch to the "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.

Solution 2: Install Codec to Fix File Format Not Supported Error

If there is an alert box like "HEVC Codec must be installed to use this feature. Clicking OK will install and enable this codec for immediate use", just click "OK" and the HEVC codec will be installed immediately. Till now, it seems only to be working for HEVC videos.

Download QuickTime. Adobe stopped support for QuickTime 7 era formats and codecs since Premiere Pro 12.1, as a result of which "File format not supported" or "codec missing or unavailable" issue happens when import some older codec videos. Installing QuickTime would solve the problem on Windows 7/8.1. But it doesn't work on Windows 11/10, according to user feedback. Download QuickTime 7.7.9 for Windows >

Download third-party codec pack. Search codec pack for Adobe Premiere Pro CC online and Google will give you millions of results. Choose a reliable source. Be aware that there might be codec conflicts, leading to chaos of most files unreadable.

Solution 3: Upgrade Premiere Pro

If you imported a video in both codec and container compatible with Premiere Pro, but failed with "File format not supported", try the following solutions.

Adobe only allows licensed Creative Cloud members to access to some codec, such as HEVC. So your problem might be solved simply by stopping using the trial version and purchasing a code.

There is no problem to import a Samsung HEVC clip, but when it comes to GoPro HERO HEVC video, it crashes. Upgrade your Premiere Pro, maybe from 2020 to 2022, to have a try. Sometimes it just doesn't add support for your file.

Solution 4: Try VideoProc Vlogger – A Free Alternative to Premiere Pro

If you imported a video in both codec and container compatible with Premiere Pro, but failed with "File format not supported", try the following solutions.

Still cannot fix the File Format not Supported by Adobe Premiere Pro error? Tired of checking the audio and video codecs of each media clip you need to handle? Don't want to bother yourself reading the long supported file format list of Adobe Premiere Pro over and over again?

That's where VideoProc Vlogger comes in. This free and powerful Premiere Pro alternative puts little limits on codec and container formats. It supports H.265/HEVC, H.264/AVC, VP8, VP9, HDR10, Apple ProRes, MOV, MKV, WebM, AV1, and more. Thus, you can easily edit the video files recorded by iPhones, GoPro, DJI, DSLR, iframe cameras, webcams, and hundreds of other prevalent devices without having to convert the formats in advance.

To speak of the editing features, this full feature yet free video editing software offers almost all common-used features available on Adobe Premiere Pro, including ripple edit, rotate, zoom in/out, rotate, split, and picture/video overlay, and green screen, etc. Even better, there are hundreds of transitions, LUTs, time remap effects, voice change presets. With them, you maximize your creativity without hassles.

Let's download this free tool to fix file format not supported by Premiere Pro now!

FAQs about File Format Not Supported by Premiere Pro

1. What does file format not supported mean in Premiere Pro?

File format not supported means that the file you are trying to import or export in Premiere Pro is not compatible with the software. This can happen because the file is corrupted, damaged, encrypted, or encoded with an unsupported codec.

2. How do I fix file format not supported error in Premiere Pro?

To fix file format not supported error in Premiere Pro, you can try the following solutions:

1. Check the file extension and make sure it matches the file format. For example, if you have a MOV file, make sure the file extension is .mov and not .mp4 or .avi.

2. Convert the file to a supported format using a third-party video converter tool, such as VLC media player, HandBrake, or VideoProcUpdate Premiere Pro to the latest version and install the latest codecs for your file format.

3. Rename the file and change the file extension to a supported format, such as .mp4, .mov, or .mxf. This may work for some files that are not actually corrupted or damaged, but have a wrong file extension.

4. Contact the source of the file and ask for a different format or a re-encoded version of the file.

3. What are the supported file formats for Premiere Pro?

Premiere Pro supports a wide range of file formats for video, audio, and still images. Some of the common file formats are:

Video: MP4, MOV, MXF, AVI, WMV, MTS, M2TS, FLV, WEBM, HEVC, DV, MPEG, M4V, GIF, and more.

Audio: MP3, WAV, AAC, M4A, AIFF, FLAC, OGG, AC3, and more.

Still images: JPG, PNG, TIFF, PSD, BMP, GIF, and more.

4. How do I change the file format of a video in Premiere Pro?

To change the file format of a video in Premiere Pro, you need to export the video using the Media Encoder. Here are the steps to export a video in Premiere Pro:

1. Open the video project in Premiere Pro and go to File > Export > Media or press Ctrl+M (Windows) or Command+M (Mac).

2. In the Export Settings window, choose the format and preset for your video from the Format and Preset menus. You can also customize the settings for your video, such as resolution, frame rate, bitrate, codec, and more.

3. Choose the output location and name for your video file from the Output Name and Export Location fields.

4. Click on the Export button to start the export process. You can also click on the Queue button to send the video to the Media Encoder queue and export it later.

5. How do I import a video file to Premiere Pro?

To import a video file to Premiere Pro, you can use one of the following methods:

1. Drag and drop the video file from your computer or external drive to the Project panel or the Timeline panel in Premiere Pro.

2. Go to File > Import or press Ctrl+I (Windows) or Command+I (Mac) and browse to the location of the video file. Select the video file and click on the Import button.

3. Use the Media Browser panel in Premiere Pro to navigate to the location of the video file. Right-click on the video file and choose Import from the context menu.