Error Compiling Movie, Unknown Error

I had a nightmare with this issue on a pop video I was working on, sometimes the video would playback fine in PP CC, other times it would say the source media was offline, even though it clearly wasn't, when I managed to get it to locate the media, it still wouldn't not export, crashing at different points each time, with the less than useless 'Unknown error'. Scoured forums for ideas, as an agitated client kept asking when they would have their video. Tried everything from changing the memory priority in the preferences menu, to using really low bitrates. 

Fortunately, I had kept identical versions of the original clips in a separate folder, using exactly the same naming convention for them. I deleted all the original clips out of the source folder and replaced them with the identical back-up versions. PP thought they were the original versions, although in doing so, I managed to alleviate whatever pesky bug was causing the problems.Moral of the story - always keep multiple copies of your source footage, named identically. That way, if the footage you're using is corrupted, you can replace it with a fresh version. This is particularly useful for something like a pop video where you've got hundreds of edits.

WDRx

error compiling movie on every clip in project

started off space bar wouldn't work to play in particular sequence within project.

scratch disk prefs kept reverting to documents on system drive although set to project folder on

project drive (connected via firewire 800 - imac)

solution after 2 1/2 down troubleshooting -

with project open, copied all files in project tab "command c"

closed project, then copied and open new project, actually barebones template we created and keep on desktop,

pasted files into this project and after some spinny wheel activity, we were back and rendering - scratch dick prefs keeping and all.

I will say that in the 4 months we have been using pp 2014cc, we have been on forums trying to solve mysteries way more than we ever did

in ten years on FCP1-7

I know I'm quite late to this thread, but I spent a few hours yesterday trying to figure out the cause of the error message 'Error Compiling Movie, Unknown Error', which I was getting every time I hit 'Render In to Out', and I found out what was causing it in my case. Since I didn't come across this cause anywhere on the internet in my research, I thought I'd post it here:

My directory tree was too long/deep. In other words, my project file was saved in a folder inside another folder inside another folder, etc., and by the end of it Premiere Pro simply wasn't able to save the preview files because Windows has a limited folder depth. It's extremely easy to test if this is what is causing the problem for you:

If (a) the error message occurs when you select 'Render In to Out', then copy the project file to the desktop, close any open projects in Premiere Pro, and open the version saved on the desktop. Then, click 'Render In to Out'. If it works, then you've found the source of your problem; you'll need to use fewer nested folders or save your projects somewhere else.

If (b) the error message occurs when you choose to render the output and save it somewhere, then choose to save it to the desktop. If it renders successfully, then you've found the source of your problem, and you'll need to save the rendered outputs somewhere else. You could always render to the desktop and just move them later.

I hope this helps at least one person. Best of luck to everybody with their troubleshooting and (hopefully) editing!

Hi, I had the same problem. A corner logo (on video layer 3) I was using seemed to be the issue, as when deleted the image, the video rendered fine. The file was a transparent PNG, I did try swapping this with a TIFF but it made no difference. The trick was all in the moving of the logo, it needed to be shifted a few frames slightly forward so that it didn't appear from the exact starting point of the footage, as soon as I did that, the video rendered perfectly. The same method also needs to be applied to the end of the footage i.e. logo needs to drop out a few frames before the end of the footage. Hope this helps. Cheers

TIFF file caused the error for me. Nothing seemed wrong with the file. Replaced with a jpg and no error on export.

I had same error- I turned off gpu rendering for playback engine and it fixed it.

I just came accross this issue as well, thought i'd update this with my findings to help some poor sap who runs into this vague error in the future.

My solution was to use the project manager and copy all of the assets to a new location.

Just had this happen to me, as well. Neither restarting or exporting with a different codec helped.

I had the Warp Stabilizer on a bunch of clips in a 3 minute 1080p24 video (at default settings), but for some reason the effect on one clip near the end was causing the crash (it always crashed near the same point, at the end of the offending clip). When I disabled Warp Stabilizer on that clip only, it exported fine.

if I select that section of footage with the work area bar it will export fine.

So do that, then bring it in and place that export in the timeline.

Some past links I've saved... may help (or, of course, may not... but free to read)

Error Compiling Movie http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/906/cpsid_90670.html

-and http://premierepro.wikia.com/wiki/Error:Error_compiling_movie

-and http://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/kb/error-compiling-movie-rendering-or.html