Skip to main content
Z
zacharyg68268383
Participant
March 9, 2023
Question

4k Drone footage not playing back in Premiere Pro

  • March 9, 2023
  • 4 replies
  • 782 views

I have Premiere Pro's newest version 23.2.0 and iMac with 16 GB memory on Monterey 12.3.1.

I have 995GB of storage in total, out of which I still have 190GB available.

Up until two weeks ago the 4k footage from my DJI Mavic 2 Pro played back smoothly, even without the proxies.

Then suddenly one day around 2 weeks ago, Premiere Pro lost all ability to play back the same 4k drone footage whatsoever. Even when I  used proxies or tried to use 1/8 playback resolution. It just will not play, it gets stuck when I try to even touch it in Premiere Pro.

 

My set-up or the way I'm doing things has not changed so I'm very frustrated and clueless because I literally cannot preview/edit the drone footage.

I've noticed that the playback of 4k footage from a Sony has also worsened, however I'm still able to preview/edit it when I create proxies.

 

Any ideas about what may have happened?

    4 replies

    G
    Greenhouse_cam
    Participant
    September 25, 2025

    This now just started to happen to me.

    thisnis very frustrating, I don't want to be exporting all my drone footage in its own timeline moving forward, we pay enough monthly to not have issues like this! 

    Ann Bens
    Community Expert
    Ann BensCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 25, 2025

    Drone footage is a pita to edit, even if you have a powerful machine.

    Might want to consider using proxies.

    C
    Community Expert
    Carlos ZiadeCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 4, 2023

    try to change the video preview settings in sequence settings to QuickTime

    rather than H.264.

    What are your proxy ingests? better go for Cineform proxies.

    if you are applying any effects like Lumetri, finish your edit first, then apply the effects.

     

    C
    connor32702751u9v5
    Participant
    October 4, 2023

    Exported the drone clip in its own sequance through the media encoder and it fixed the lag and plays normal now 

      C
      connor32702751u9v5
      Participant
      October 4, 2023

      did you find a solution? im 19hrs deep on this edit and the drone footage is doing exactly what happend to you 

       

        Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
        Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices