Where to get codecs for Premiere Elements?

Report · May 03, 2013

i just bought Premiere Elements 11 and would like to edit some video produced by a screen capture program. The capture program is called Bandicam, and according to the VLC video player, the video codec is "mpeg 1/2". The actual file type is AVI. When i try to import this file, Premiere Elements says that the file type is not supported, and the codec is missing. The thing is, I am able to use these same files in Windows Movie Maker without any problem. How do I get around this issue? Thanks in advance for any help!

Report · May 10, 2014

nitrostreet

Thanks for the reply and the further details of the troubleshooting situation with which you had to deal in Premiere Elements.

My view on all this is that you ran into the classical MotionJPEG.avi problems with Premiere Elements (any version). QuickTime uninstall reinstall is not a usual fix for this. In this situation the question becomes "Is the video codec MotionJPEG installed on your computer or is Premiere Elements just not recognizing it?"

The remedies for this matter have included

a. installing a utility that may have come with the camera in order to install MotionJPEG codec needed

or

b. download and install the Morgan MotionJPEG video codec (it is not free, but it does come with tryout possibility)

or

c. convert the MotionJPEG.avi into another format that would be compatible with Premiere Elements....if SD project, then something like DV AVI.

As for Xvid and Dvid.avi files. Best keep away from them, especially Xvid. Some have downloaded the Dvid codec and used it with some success. Once the Dvid is installed, it presents in the list of codec choices in the AVI export area.

I am not sure wha the key factor was in your success. Lots of things going on.

But, the bottom line is that your issue is resolved and you are moving forward in your Premiere Elements projects.

Best wishes

ATR

Report · Jul 29, 2020

I've experienced something very similar recently with m4a files (seem to be when sent from iPhones and iPads, but have also had it with videos downloaded from online video making progs). Adobe support team still cannot get to the bottom of it. The videos and audio files work absolutely fine on all playback software and in Premier Elements timeline when editing, but when I come to export it says "Unknown error compiling". The only way to get round this is by exporting the videos from Windows Movie Maker - SO frustrating. I never had this issue prior to Jan 2020 either so no idea what has changed.

I don't know too much about Codecs (this forum has been insightful though!) so if it's to do with that I'm a little in the dark, particularly if it's something I can fix myself. If anyone knows of a way to help further or has any advice, it would be much appreciated.

Report · Jul 29, 2020

This is a very old and very long thread. It was started in 2013. So if you want to discuss this further, it might be best to start a new topic.

That said, the problem sounds like it could be related to the files. You don't say if these are iTunes music files, but iTunes music has copy protection built into it to prevent your using them in a video editing project. Any attempt to will throw up an error like you describe.