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whamalamaboom
whamalamaboom
Inspiring
August 30, 2026
Answered

Media Analysis & Transcription disabled but still runs.

  • August 30, 2026
  • 9 replies
  • 62 views

I’m on version 25.6.6. I won’t need assistance with this because this version is problematic enough after updating that I’m reverting back to version 2024. I still wanted to mention that after updating to this version, it now seems to include this AI driven media intelligence analysis, which I didn’t know was a thing until I opened the progress window and saw it running.

When I went into preferences to find a way to disable it, it was already turned off, so I’m not sure why it ran. Mentioning because if it’s disabled, it shouldn’t be running anyway. Thanks!

 

 

Correct answer mattchristensen1

​@whamalamaboom Sorry for the confusion here – but I can explain what’s happening. The short version is that if you import media that was previously analyzed and the analysis was cached, Premiere will index that analysis no matter what. The indexing is a very quick step and means you’ll be able to search against that analysis that already existed.

 

The long answer:

The Media Intelligence process is really two steps. The first step is that each imported media file is analyzed. This is what the “Analyze all imported media...” checkbox controls. If you turn off the checkbox, no new analysis will happen. Premiere by default will cache this analysis in the Media Cache, though you can choose to instead have it written next to the media file as a sidecar .prmi file, or you can set it to not cache at all. This part of the process is more taxing on your system as it uses CPU, GPU, and potentially your NPU or Neural Engine if your system has one.

The second step is then the analysis for each file is put into a single index database for your project. This is what Premiere actually searches when you use the Search panel to find visuals or audio. This is the .prin file next to your project file.

So, what you’re likely seeing is that second step happening, when you import media the already has a cached analysis. The second step is very fast, isn’t taxing on your system, and there is no way to turn it off.

9 replies

Stan Jones
Community Expert
Stan JonesCommunity Expert
Community Expert
September 7, 2026

​@whamalamaboom,

I understand that you have moved on, but other users may see this report, so I’ll add what I am seeing. As ​@mattchristensen1 describes, this can be confusing, even when it is working correctly. And what you described is not correct.

Your description makes perfect sense, except that your screenshot shows that media analysis was off and it was a new project. The default setting (I looked at PR 26.3.2 and PR Beta 27.0.0 Build 36), is ON. So my question would be whether there is any way for it to be turned off other than to go into settings. I see a keyboard shortcut, but it just opens preferences to that page and makes no change.

I tested in the Beta version, but I don’t think it has changed. I created a new project, turned off media analysis, and added a file. It did not run media analysis.

Stan

 

mattchristensen1
Community Manager
mattchristensen1Community Manager
Community Manager
September 7, 2026

​@Stan Jones there is another way to turn off analysis - that is to cancel an in-progress analysis in the Progress panel. If you click the cancel button there, it turns off the preference for analysis, and stops all the remaining work. Any files that were already analyzed will still be added to the index and searchable, as I described.

Stan Jones
Community Expert
Stan JonesCommunity Expert
Community Expert
September 7, 2026

​@mattchristensen1,

Thanks!

Stan

 

mattchristensen1
Community Manager
mattchristensen1Community ManagerCorrect answer
Community Manager
September 1, 2026

​@whamalamaboom Sorry for the confusion here – but I can explain what’s happening. The short version is that if you import media that was previously analyzed and the analysis was cached, Premiere will index that analysis no matter what. The indexing is a very quick step and means you’ll be able to search against that analysis that already existed.

 

The long answer:

The Media Intelligence process is really two steps. The first step is that each imported media file is analyzed. This is what the “Analyze all imported media...” checkbox controls. If you turn off the checkbox, no new analysis will happen. Premiere by default will cache this analysis in the Media Cache, though you can choose to instead have it written next to the media file as a sidecar .prmi file, or you can set it to not cache at all. This part of the process is more taxing on your system as it uses CPU, GPU, and potentially your NPU or Neural Engine if your system has one.

The second step is then the analysis for each file is put into a single index database for your project. This is what Premiere actually searches when you use the Search panel to find visuals or audio. This is the .prin file next to your project file.

So, what you’re likely seeing is that second step happening, when you import media the already has a cached analysis. The second step is very fast, isn’t taxing on your system, and there is no way to turn it off.

whamalamaboom
whamalamaboomAuthor
Inspiring
September 5, 2026

To clarify, nothing would’ve been previously analyzed and cached.

I was using an older version of Premiere Pro that didn’t have that media intelligence feature yet. I finished whatever project I was working on and deleted all of the media because I no longer needed it, and deleted all files in Adobe’s common folder, which I always do when I’m done with projects to keep things clean instead of only deleting media cache from inside Premiere’s menu.

I later updated to the version of Premiere I mentioned, which does have media intelligence, created a new project, and imported a new video file that didn’t exist before. It was something I had finished recording earlier in the day.

When I noticed it was taking ages to generate a peak file for the audio compared to the older version, I opened the progress window and saw the media intelligence thing scanning my footage. I didn’t see a way to stop it, so it finished while I was googling what that is and how to disable it. 

After seeing where the setting should be, I went into preferences only to find that setting was already unchecked. So it shouldn’t have been analyzing the footage I imported, and there was no cache and nothing to compare it to because the footage was new.

I took a screenshot of the settings and the progress window to post here after. That’s why the analysis one says complete. The only thing different in the other one was that the top option said “in the media cache”, and I forgot to take the screenshot before I changed it to “do not cache”.

But I decided to uninstall that version anyway and go back to an earlier version from before media analysis was introduced. I just posted this to let someone know that analysis ran despite that setting being disabled, which seems like a bug.

Community Manager
Kevin-MonahanCommunity Manager
Community Manager
September 1, 2026

Hi there,

Thanks for reporting this. If Media Analysis is disabled in Preferences, but you're still seeing Media Intelligence analysis actively running in the Progress panel, that doesn't sound like the expected behavior.

We've seen some similar reports, so I'll ask the team to take a closer look.

If you happen to test 25.6.6 again, please let us know whether this occurs with a new project as well as projects created in an earlier version.

Thanks,
Kevin

whamalamaboom
whamalamaboomAuthor
Inspiring
September 1, 2026

Thank you!

Community Manager
Kevin-MonahanCommunity Manager
Community Manager
September 1, 2026

Hi ​@whamalamaboom,

The team asked if you tried restarting the application? Preferences will undergo the changes after doing so. Let me know.

 

Thanks,
Kevin

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