Reinstalling codecs

Question

I’m using Adobe Premiere Elements 15, and I’m facing a problem with the sound of a converted movie file. I have sound, but no voice or dialogue when I put a video on a timeline.

Everything is working great with the file itself, but when I try to edit on a timeline - I barely can hear voices, only background sounds and music. It's like the program automatically doing that. But in some parts the voices are heard fine, but most of the time not. The program's player doesn't have that issue, It happens only if I try to edit video (put it on timeline)

I converted the file from MKV to MP4.

In a previous forum topic, another user with the same problem solved it. He wrote:

“I fixed the problem by reinstalling my codecs.

Video: 1920x1032, 18,7 Mb/sec, 59.940 frame rate, AVC, x264,

Audio: AC-3, 448 Kb/sec, 6 channels, 48,0 Ghz

When I play the video on a timeline I do hear audio - but voices sound are very low (dialogues, screams, speeches and etc).

I don't mix several tracks, only two - video and it's sound.”

Unfortunately, I don’t understand what this means. Anyone who can explain?

Steve Grisetti · Answer

Codecs are compression/recompression systems that video and audio files use. MP4s, for instance, usually use the H.264 codec, so you need to have this codec on your computer in order to view the file.

It's usually not a good idea to try to install codecs on your system. Doing so can overwrite good codecs with bad and then you're really in trouble.

Your operating system has a number of codecs pre-installed. When you add a video editing program, it may add a few more. You SHOULD install the VLC Media Player as it may give you a few more useful ones. And, as it says on your system requirements, Premiere Elements, prior to version 2018, required you to install Quicktime so that you could have other necessary codecs.

QuickTime 7.6 for Windows

Beyond that, you shouldn't go playing with codecs unless you're willing to take the risk.

But what you're describing doesn't sound like an audio codec issue. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to hear your audio at all. But just to make sure, open your problematic video in the free download MediaInfo. In MediaInfo, set View to Text and then copy the report it generates and paste it to this forum. Once we know what your video file is made of, we may better be able to tell what's going on.

Also, tell us your operating system, as pre-Windows 8 systems depended more heavily on software to provide support for some audio formats.

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