importing mp4 videos only imports the audio and no video

Report · Oct 14, 2023

I want to add .mp4 file types as a video, i dont care about the audio but all i get is audio. Help!!!

Report · Oct 14, 2023

You could give the good folks here who will try to help you a few clues..

Which version of Premiere Elements?

Windows or MAC (& which version)

The source of your .mp4 files that you are trying to import.

Report · Oct 17, 2023

added some context in reply to John's message. THANKS!

Report · Oct 18, 2023

Please explain more about "google photo downloads". Premiere Elements is normally used to edit video from common consumer cameras. Beyond that can sometimes be a challenge. With more about your source, someone might be able to duplicate what you are doing and figure it out.

In the mediainfo file it lists the codec as "VP09". Wikipedia explains what it is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VP9

Report · Oct 18, 2023

Hey Bill, basically I am using the google photos storage solution for my videos and selecting download. I feel like this is a very common media storage solution so im shocked that the codec VP09 isnt supported. I dont expect anyone to know google side of a solution but is there something I can do on Adobe side to be able to support different codecs?

Report · Oct 18, 2023

"I feel like this is a very common media storage solution"

I tried to duplicate your workflow. I uploaded a video to Google Photos and then downloaded it. It came back with a different codec than what I uploaded, but not VP09. The process was slow up and down. I don't know what Google's compression does to quality.

I don't see how that Google photos makes a good storage solution for video. I much prefer a local drive on my computer.

Report · Oct 14, 2023

MP4 is a wrapper, what is inside YOUR wrapper - Exactly what is INSIDE the video you are editing?
Report back with the codec details of your file, use the program below
Free program to get file information for PC/Mac http://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo/Download
- a MediaInfo tutorial https://youtu.be/Ivy9ckSX1M0
- when you analyze your file in MediaInfo and post a screen shot in the forum, do so in TREE view
- post your information IN your message, not as an attachment that someone would have to download

Report · Oct 17, 2023

ok hopefully this means something to someone who knows what they are doing... some more context using PE 2023 for windows and .mp4 are google photo downloads. maybe its the codec im using? I just dont get it because ive had .mp4s work before

Report · Oct 18, 2023

See if https://handbrake.fr/ open source transcoder/converter will create a new file that works
Handbrake tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlvxgVREX-Y&t=34s

Report · Oct 18, 2023

If Handbrake doesn't work, I found this in a search: "Vlc Media Player from videolan.org can convert vp9 to h264. Under the Media menu, choose Convert/Save. One of the convert options is mp4 container with h264/mp3."

If I could figure out how the OP got his file, I would try it.

Report · Oct 18, 2023

Handbrake does in fact work (so first off thank you a bunch!) but is less than ideal having to convert every file from such a common source like google photos....

Report · Dec 10, 2023

This is a big problem, since millions (billions?) of people who tell phone videos have them automatically saved to Google Photos. Thanks to everyone for the help – but I hope Adobe fixes this ASAP!

Report · Dec 10, 2023

This is not an Adobe issue rather the way google saves its videos.

Put your videos on a local drive and import from there.

Report · Dec 10, 2023

I get the sense that my comment has provoked defensiveness. I like Adobe
too, but that isn't productive. What matters is the issue itself.
(1) Premiere Elements is designed for non-professionals. Many of those
people will use it to edit videos they shot on their phones and which were
saved to Google Photos.
If they can't do that, they will have a bad customer experience with
Elements. By adjusting the import codec (as they do all the time when a new
format becomes popular), Adobe could solve this problem - to its benefit.

(2) In the software business, what happens most of the time when there is a
format conflict is that the less powerful player adjusts. In this case,
that's Adobe – Google Photos is used by well over 1 billion people, while
Elements has nowhere near that many users.

Report · Dec 10, 2023

I don't think this is about being defensive. More likely it is about trying to help make quality video.

No question that Google Photos is a big system. What I think I see is that Google has invested in some specialized techniques, including codecs, to make it all work as a sharing system that works across multiple platforms. Editing is not sharing. For editing to work well I think I need original clips, not clips that have been processed for efficient viewing. Google even offers us Google Drive to deliver unprocessed files.

On top of all that, my guess is that Google is not likely to give Adobe their specialized codecs to be included in Adobe's editing systems.

Report · Dec 10, 2023

I appreciate your response, Bill. You're right about Google Drive and you might be right about specialized sharing technology, as these files don't work with some other programs as well.

However, Windows media player opens them fine and the free Clipchamp editor (by Microsoft) edits them without difficulty. As you noted, the free and open source VLC media player for Mac also opens them without a problem (as does Handbrake, as John T. Smith noted earlier).

Respectfully, I would suggest that if Adobe wants home users to purchase Elements, rendering them unable to edit videos downloaded from Google Photos is not the way to do it. They could license some conversion technology (or perhaps use the same libraries as VLC and Handbrake).

I hope they choose to act rather than leave a hole in the program's capabilities that a substantial number of the target users may fall into.

Report · Dec 11, 2023

This is a public forum with "some" Adobe staff participation, use a link below for a report or request
-The Adobe employees who read here are support staff, not the programmers who make changes

-https://www.adobe.com/products/wishform.html may help
--click the SELECT PRODUCT box at the lower left to select a program

Report · Dec 11, 2023

John mentioned this many times to you: wish form does not exist any more MAKE A NOTE.

Report · Dec 11, 2023

Oh really? I just clicked that link and this is what I see

Report · Dec 11, 2023

Now try and make a request..................

Report · Dec 11, 2023

Elements is not designed to download from the cloud.

See import options.

Report · Dec 11, 2023

It's true that Elements doesn't download from the cloud. The original poster, William, had downloaded the files already and was trying to open them from his computer hard drive. (As he eventually did using Handbrake.)

FWIW, while Microsoft Clipchamp (free) does integrate with several cloud services, it does not appear that Handbrake or VLC do. My guess is that most people will be fine doing what William did and downloading the files before trying to edit them.

Separately: as I said in an earlier post, thank you to everyone who provided suggestions for getting the videos into Elements so they could be edited.