Premiere Elements 12 and HEVC codec

[David_B_Rose]

I'm currently using Premiere Elements 12 and until now it has satisfied my requirements.

I have been sent an MP4 file and when I open a new project it only plays the music without playing the video.  When I try and play the MP4 file outside of Premiere Elements I received a popup message saying it needs an HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) extension.

It there a file that can be installed on Premiere Elements 12 which will enable me to work with this MP4, or does this now mean I must upgrade to the latest version of Premiere Elements.

This also make me ask a secondard question.           Will the latest version already have this codec in the package?

Please forgive my lack of knowledge on this subject. I hope someone can help to steer me in the right direction.

Many thanks

Dave

[Bill Sprague · Accepted solution]

Dave,

The HEVC (aka H.265) codec was not supported until version 2020.  The code in 2020 is written to use the HEVC codec that is installed on your computer.   With a Mac, it is part of the operating system.  With a Windows PC it has to be installed.  Oddly you have to buy it for 99 cents from Microsoft!  

A less costly work around is to use the (free) program called Handbrake to convert the file to the more common H.264 codec that can be edited in your version. 

[David_B_Rose]

Thanks for the information.  I'll try Handbrake and see how that goes.

Failing that I guess it's finally time to spend some money and upgrade to the latest version of PE

[David_B_Rose]

Thanks again for your great advice.  I converted the MP4 file using Handbrake which created a M4V file.  I imported that into Premier Elements and then created a DVD and also an MP4.  Both worked perfectly, so yet again I'm able to continue using my old version of Premiere Elements.  I'm sure atsome point I will upgrade to the latest version, but the version I have does everything I need, at least for now it does.  🙂

Thanks again for your help

Kind regards

Dave

[tomek398]

AP2020 can import HEVC files but I have a plenty of isses with them. For that reason I always transcode to H264

[dan5E6C]

I have PE 2020 and still get an error message opening a video file sent from person with iPhone.  Why hasn't 2020 been updated for PhotoShop Elements 2020 and Premier Elements 2020 to support these iPhone formats.