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Francis-Crossman17221443
Community Manager
Principal Product Manager
September 5, 2023

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

  • September 5, 2023
  • 172 replies
  • 20354 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 Non-Adobe apps and scripts are often outdated and may cause crashes and data loss.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. 

172 replies

Participant
November 20, 2025

Bonjour à toute la communauté Adobe,

Ce matin, en ouvrant Adobe Premiere Pro, aucun de mes projets récents ne parvient à s’ouvrir. À la place, un message d’erreur apparaît systématiquement. Ce problème est survenu juste après avoir effectué la dernière mise à jour.

 

Ce bug bloque totalement mon workflow et m’empêche littéralement de travailler.

Cela est d’autant plus dommage au vu des nouveaux tarifs qui viennent d’augmenter.


Serait-il possible qu’Adobe examine et corrige ce problème au plus vite ?

Merci d’avance pour votre aide.
Bien cordialement.

R Neil Haugen
Legend
November 20, 2025

Disagree all you want, but you cannot simply use a project with a 26.x file number in the header in 25.x ... so how are you proposing to do so?

 

That header has to be changed. It takes about a minute or so to do so. Far less time than posting here about it.

 

I'm simply suggesting there is an easy, totally safe and fast way to get all your projects usable again. Do what you want, of course.

Everyone's mileage always varies ...
MeKevinB
Known Participant
November 20, 2025

R Neil Haugen I'm going to respectfully disagree with you. By far the easiest solution to this absolute dumpster fire is to simply roll back to the most recent stable version -- 25.5. Extracting project files and editing XML code is niche.

R Neil Haugen
Legend
November 20, 2025

Unzip the prproj file. Change the version number, it'sin the header section. Re-zip the project file.

 

There are instructions online for this and it's more reliable and a TON faster and easier than tge rigamarole they told you to do.

 

 

Everyone's mileage always varies ...
MeKevinB
Known Participant
November 20, 2025

This has become THE most confusing bug/issue I have ever been through with Adobe. Are we now just sitting and waiting for a second fix? Adobe chat support just wasted an hour of my time telling me to install the Beta, open the project, export a Final Cut Pro XML file, then open 25.6.1, create a new project, and Import the XML file. The Export feature only exports individual sequences, from the experience I just had, so not really a workaround at all. This is all a joke.

Participant
November 20, 2025

I have updated premiere pro to V25.6 which converted my all projects to 2026, Now Premiere Pro released 25.6.1 which can't open those all projects. I loose all the work which I did in current project if I opened name_1.prproj file.

 

Such a bad and disgusting thing from developers that they released updates without verifying.

R Neil Haugen
Legend
November 20, 2025

That project thinks it is a 26.x version, not a 25.x. So that is why it won't open in the 25.6.1 update, but will in the current public beta.

 

Project files are actually a 'zipped' file, so if you look up online how to unzip a .prproj file, you can see how to fairly easily find and replace the version number. Or use the public beta with it as-is.

Everyone's mileage always varies ...
Participant
November 20, 2025

I have updated premiere pro to V25.6 which converted my all projects to 2026, Now Premiere Pro released 25.6.1 which can't open those all projects

Participant
November 20, 2025

 tried to open a old project file from 25.5 then updated to 25.6.1 and I get this messege. I don't understand why it says it was saved in a newer version when it was saved in a older. How do I fix this I have tried

- clearing cache

- re- downloading Premiere

- Tried going to the older version

- tried reseting premiere's prefences 

- I cant even import the old file into a new project

 

I don't know what to do if anyone can provide a fix that would be great thank you

MeKevinB
Known Participant
November 20, 2025

What is going on with this update? It is NOT solved. A project I started working on with yesterday's rolled back version will not open with 25.6.1. Someone please help.