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Francis-Crossman17221443
Community Manager
Community Manager
September 5, 2023

Premiere projects saved in v25.6.0 cannot be opened in other v25.x versions

  • September 5, 2023
  • 168 replies
  • 12054 views

We are aware that customers who saved projects in Premiere v25.6.0 may find that those files now open only in v26 (beta) and cannot be opened in v25 versions. We know this is disruptive, and we’re working on a fix. 

 

What you need to know: 

  • Projects saved in v25.6.0 save in the v26 version format. 
  • Because of this, they can’t be opened in earlier versions, including v25.6.1 (even though it is the current generally available release) 
  • We’re developing a tool that will let you convert affected projects back to a v25-compatible file.  

 

Our Solution 

We’re building a small app that will convert a v25.6.0-saved project back to the v25 format. We’ll share more information, including availability and instructions, as soon as the tool is ready in the coming days.  

 

We know that there is nothing more important than the reliability of a project file, so we’re working with urgency to get this downgrade tool in your hands as quickly as possible. 

 

We know there are a number of downgrading apps available online, but we strongly recommend utilizing our tool when it becomes available. Non-Adobe apps and scripts are often outdated and may cause crashes and data loss.  

 

Further Details 

A bug caused Premiere v25.6.0 to prompt customers to enable Object Masking even though it is not yet in full release. Object Masking (and our yearly major version update) changes the Premiere project file structure such that it can only be opened in v26, which is only available in public beta. Turning this on caused projects to save in the newer v26 project format, even though users were still technically on the v25 release line. 

 

Opening an older project in v25.6.0 triggered a prompt to save a copy of the project with “_1” appended. We know that many customers upgraded the project and continued working in the new copy, potentially also deleting the original. This means the only active version became the file saved in v26 format. 

 

Premiere 25.6.0 was only available briefly before being replaced by 25.6.1 and is no longer available to reinstall. This means impacted users who auto updated to 25.6.1 cannot open v26 formatted projects. 

168 replies

Participating Frequently
November 18, 2025

I am not seeing 25.6.1 update anywhere

Francis-Crossman17221443
Community Manager
Community Manager
November 18, 2025

UPDATE: 25.6.1 is available now, which solves the masking dialog problem described below.  It is safe to update to 25.6.1.  We have pulled 25.6 from Creative Cloud Desktop.

R Neil Haugen
Legend
November 18, 2025

I just installed 25.6.1, and opened up my Production of 25.x, and all works fine and normal ... yea!

Everyone's mileage always varies ...
Kevin-Monahan
Community Manager
Community Manager
November 18, 2025

Hey All,

Thanhks for all your input. We have another workaround to get going again if you have Auto Save enabled. Let me know if this works for you.

  1. Install 25.6.1
  2. Go to the Auto Save folder and find your most recent backup project file.
  3. Open the backup project file in the new version.
  4. Verify that the latest Auto Save version of the project file has all the latest edits intact.
  5. Delete the project file you were working on.

    I hope this workaround will help get you back on track. Sorry for the frustration. 

    Thanks,
    Kevin

 

Kevin Monahan - Sr. Community & Engagement Strategist – Pro Video and Audio
R Neil Haugen
Legend
November 18, 2025

Was that in 25.6 or 25.6.1?

 

They just dropped the replacement for 25.6.0 in their new 'sequential release' pattern starting yesterday morning US Pacific time. So which version were you in?

 

They had posted that there was an issue with 25.6.0 and unfortunately, not to use it. 25.6.1 is the replacement that should fix this ... so I'm very interested in whether you are on 25.6.1 or not.

Everyone's mileage always varies ...
Participant
November 18, 2025

This seems to have bricked all the projects I was working on yesterday. I am unable open any project file, autosave or other that I touched with the new version yesterday. There goes a days work down the drain.

Participating Frequently
November 18, 2025

I have another issue I have not seen here and I severely need help. I created a project in 25.5, I finished the project and then I upgraded to 25.6, I then realized the issues and downgraded back to 25.5, now I can't open that old project that was created in 25.5 to begin with? It says there's 8 KB on disk on all of the autosaves from this project. I don't understand, I never opened this project in 25.6 either. My timeline is gone. Can anyone please help me.

Participant
November 18, 2025

I Got that tab on 25.6.1 and after clicking on it I can't now use replace with after effects composition, it shows up empty on AE.  I downgraded and now is neither working

Participant
November 18, 2025

For this situation (as I was) the solution is to follow the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJO4PlHASIs with only one change: the version number did not work when changed to '1' - instead I used '39' ans it opened in 25.6.1.

Remember to do backups on originals before changing!! 

Participant
November 18, 2025

Having the same problem as @CUAV1025575852ed05 and currently in a huge rush for a project. We can't open PP projects from the 7th of november up to today.