Is it safe to UNINSTALL old versions of Adobe Media Encoder?

[peaceprop]

I have three versions of AME installed on my Macbook Pro: 2019, 2018 and 2017. These three apps are 3 of the Top 4 largest apps on my system (2017 + 2018 are taking up nearly 7GB of space). I have scoured the web/forums trying to find the answer to this question. Is it okay to remove old versions of Media Encoder? One would assume that you can, but for some reason information on this is very ambiguous/non-existent.

Thanks

[Peru Bob · Accepted solution]

Yes, you can uninstall old versions if you do not need them to Dynamic Link to old versions of other apps.

[peaceprop]

Thanks. I guess my follow-up would be—what IS Adobe Media Encoder? I don't actually know if I have anything "Dynamically Linked". I only barely recognize the AEM interface...I'm not even sure what app would link to it? After Effects? Premiere Pro? Audition? I sincerely appreciate you answering my initial question, thank you. If you have any further insight regarding my follow-up I'd really appreciate it. I primarily am using Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, Acrobat Pro and InDesign (and Bridge, to some extent) daily/weekly but rarely the video/audio apps.

Thanks

[Peru Bob]

peaceprop  wrote

Thanks. I guess my follow-up would be—what IS Adobe Media Encoder? I don't actually know if I have anything "Dynamically Linked". I only barely recognize the AEM interface...I'm not even sure what app would link to it? After Effects? Premiere Pro?

see here:

Encode and export video and audio with Media Encoder

If you don't know what Adobe Media Encoder is, chances are that you don't use it and don't need it.  But leave the latest version installed just in case it has codecs you might need later.

[Shivangi_Gupta]

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. I agree with @Peru Bob. You can uninstall the application if you are not using it. Since you have the Creative Cloud desktop application, you can install the latest version of the application anytime. However, it is important for you to know that the CC 2017 version is not available to get downloaded anymore.

Thanks,

Shivangi