Media Encoder - Extremely slow exporting after updating to 2025 version

Report · Dec 29, 2024

Over the past couple years I've exported dozens of long (1-2 hr) 4K 60fps videos with both Premiere Pro and Media Encoder. Rendering times were basically the same (about 3 hours per hour of video), so I usually exported with Media Encoder because it was easier to run in the background while doing other things (including working on new projects in Premiere Pro).

After Abobe updated Premiere Pro and Media Encoder to the 2025 version, Media Encoder has become ridiculously slow. Exporting a 2hr 4K60 directly from Premiere Pro takes about 6 hours, but exporting that same video with Media Encoder is estimated to take 320 hours!!! And no, that's not just a time estimation bug; I once let it run for a few hours and come back to confirm that it had only rendered a minute or two of video.

I've read that other people are having the same problem with the 2025 version, and that for now the only "solution" is to roll back Media Encoder and Premiere Pro to their 2024 versions.

Unfortunately, I created my latest project using Premiere Pro 2025 (before I knew about Media Encoder's extremely slow rendering), and I cannot load it in Premiere Pro 2024. So, I have to stick with Premiere Pro 2025 for now, but that needs Media Encoder 2025 installed as well. So, rolling back is not an option.

For now, I'm having to export using Premiere Pro (since Media Encoder is ridiculously slow). So I'm not completely halted. However, I would like Media Encoder to be fixed, so that I can go back to using it.

Here are some details about my project and system; I'm curious if other people have a similar setup:

1) My video is 4K @ 60 fps and more than 2 hours long. (It's a continuous walk)

2) It uses Premiere Pro only; I never use After Effects.

3) It uses some titles, fades, background music, and an Adjustment Layer for color correction; nothing fancy.

4) I'm exporting at 200 CBR with the TMPGEnc H.264 plugin for Premiere Pro. I use that plugin because I found it looks better than Adobe's own H.264 @ 200 CBR.

I've always been able to use the TMPGEnc plugin with Media Encoder with no problems, well, at least until the 2025 update. Is anyone else who is having slow performance also using TMPGEnc? What about 4K60?

Report · Feb 12, 2025

As of 13 February 2025, Media Encoder is still extremely slow. It's running version 25.1 and still takes about 10 minutes to render 5 seconds of video. I'm trying to render a 2 hour video, so at that rate it will take about 240 hours to render.

Meanwhile, Premiere Pro can render the same video in about 6 hours.

Has anyone found out how to get Media Encoder running normally again (at least as fast as Premiere Pro)?

Report · Mar 06, 2025

@travise38589766,

I am also having this problem with Media Encoder and created a fairly detailed post here: https://community.adobe.com/t5/adobe-media-encoder-bugs/no-3d-gpu-utilization-in-media-encoder-2025/...

I have noticed that the GPU utilization gets pegged and drops to virtually nothing when accelerated effects are present.

The only workaround at this point is to export from Premiere or AE directly.

- Tyler S.