P: Audio "can't be read quickly enough" from storage

[tranhoangcalvin]

Just started getting this error window today while working on a very simple project that only has a couple After Effects motion graphics clips, and three tracks of audio: VO, music, and light SFX:

Event Details:

Can't access audio

the audio for _____.wav can't be read quickly enough from storage. Please check your storage and try again.

Build:

Windows 11 Pro 26100.3624

12th Gen Intel i7-12700K 3.60 GHz

32 GB of RAM

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 

The local C drive is an NVME SSD, but the file in question is stored on a Synology NAS with IronWolf HDDs. Both the computer and the NAS were built from new parts this year.

Premiere: 25.2, installed this week.

The same error happened on a second computer (same build, also connect to the NAS).

[hakankadioglu]

Yes, this is a software problem. Adobe manages to break something with every new version because the program Now it's a patch pile, the company knows this very well. Constantly breaking something, they don't get any efficient results from this code pile, freezing and delaying on the timeline They solved the problem but the result is the same again. Now I will say goodbye to this program after this project. We cannot do our job because of trying to solve the problems.

[defaultca40rqn4qf8x]

same problem here

[chris22090920psfr]

I have projects due like 99% of your users. Seeing how it's 4/15 and this issue still isn't fixed is bs.  I downgraded to 25.1 and will stay there so I don't get fired. Appreciate the big effort on Adobe's part to get this major bug fixed

[tranhoangcalvin]

OP here:

I first downgraded to Premiere 25.1 and this particular error stopped showing up.

However, I can't say if this is exactly the cause and effect, but since I was in the middle of a project, the downgrade, I believe, resulted in a project file completely corrupting. Since I save a new version every day, I was able to go back and continue from a previous save file, but it eventually happened again.

I have since upgraded to 25.2.1 -- the audio error sometimes shows up if I'm opening a new project or opening a project for the first time on this version, but not as frequently and randomly as it was on 25.2. Also, after editing for a little bit, the error doesn't seem to continue and it doesn't seem to affect the actual export at the end of the day.

This is still BS and I want Adobe to know I will be learning Davinci Resolve as a safety measure with how the past 4 years of instability has been. You are lucky that I paid for the year upfront.

[andyR10]

I can also report that since I first experienced this issue and posted about it in this thread, I have not seen it again. I've been able to work on multiple projects.

[Phil5C2D]

Add me the list. Downgrading to 25.1 as we speak.

[ashlayw]

I also got this error message in one of my projects even though the disk is a fast SSD

[Paul2971790848zl]

I'm with you! This is having a very negative effect on my work and putting me in really awkward situations of trying to blame software for missing deadlines. Which is a great way to kill someone's carreer. This reminds me of when Final Cut went from 7 to X and left a whole industry stranded. Which is how Adobe rose the the prominence it currently enjoys. I can't imagine they have much more of a runway on fixing this before this story gains traction and they lose a million customers. 
I also think that there's something more than meets the eye going on. The CPU usage I'm seeing when using Premiere is astronomical — which tells me they are trying to teach Firefly on MY TIME, with MY WORK, and MY MONEY. 

[Andrew251801670jel]

My suggestion to the team at Adobe:
(1) Re-name 25.1 as 25.3 and roll it out
(2) Issue an explanation and an apology
(3) Refund all active users of Premiere Pro a month's subscription

[lightstone1992]

Just updated and i have this issue. When will this be resolved?

[gordonw50483927]

Also having this issue...my audio is on very high speed NVME M.2 so speed is NOT an issue...when will this be fixed?

[gordonw50483927]

Just to add, I am a YouTube content creator and this is having a HUGE negative impact on my workflow. I cannot proceed because audio is not reliable...

[ThioJoe]

@gordonw50483927  @lightstone1992 @Paul2971790848zl @ashlayw 

Can you try using ffmpeg to see if the video file has any corruption? I have a particular video file that got corrupted when copying it off my SD card the first time. Then I have a 'good' copy of the same exact file. The corrupted one caused this issue same with the latest version of Premiere only, and the "good" copy of the file has no issues.

To check if a video file has any corruption even if it plays, you can use this ffmpeg command. I would be curious if it reveals a pattern. If the error.log file it outputs is empty, there aren't any issues.

ffmpeg -v error -i whatever_video.mp4 -f null - 2>error.log

Possible workaround 1, if the command above reveals file corruption:

I was able to get Premiere Pro to at least import the bad file by using this FFMPEG command to remux the video (just repackages it without re-encoding), which didn't fix the underlying stream corruption, but apparently fixed enough of the header stuff where Premiere imported it without causing the problem.

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c copy output.mp4

The output video still shows errors when doing the other ffmpeg error log command, but there are fewer and they are different. So it might be worth a try if you don't have access to a 'good' copy of the video.

I highly suspect the problem is down to an apparently new video engine/converter mentioned in the update: "Completely rewritten support for MKV (H.264/AAC) files to improve compatibility and performance"

--------

I also found that I was getting issues with Premiere using at on of CPU when loading media, and even more-so with the bad file. The high CPU usage at least seems to becaused by the new settings under Preferences > Media Analysis & Transcription. Disabling "Analyze all imported media to visually search your projects" and "Automatically transcribe clips", so you can try disabling those.

--------

Potential workaround 2 to try, for some issues  (like I couldn't get it to generate a waveform in the timeline) - We're basically going to use an old version of Premiere to just create the metadata files for the video clips:

1. Without a project open,  go to Preferences > Media Cache >  Enable "Save .cfa and .pek media cache files next to original media".
2. In the same menu next to "Remove media cache files" click "Delete", then select "Delete all media cache files" (this one is apparently only available if no project is open).
3.  It will restart Premiere. DO NOT open any projects, just close Premiere Pro 2025
4. Launch a previous version of Premiere Pro such as 2024 from last year - DO NOT open any projects yet 
5. Go immediately to Preferences > Media Cache > again Enable "Save .cfa and .pek media cache files next to original media" and hit OK. (You shouldn't have to delete the Media Cache files again since I believe they're shared)
6. Create a blank new project and import any clips that were causing problems, or just any clips you'll need. Let it create the .pek files, and any other metadata files, that should now appear next to the corresponding media files.

7. After Premiere Pro 2024 finishes generating the files, close it and re-open your project in Premiere Pro 2025.

[Paul_Gringo]

It is wonderful that you have time for experiments. But 99% of people here just need to work and not search for errors. We pay money for the product and we have no time to search for problems, we have deadlines

[crispacket]

SAME HERE

[ThioJoe]

It is wonderful that you have time for experiments. But 99% of people here just need to work and not search for errors. We pay money for the product and we have no time to search for problems, we have deadlines

By @Paul_Gringo 

I mean considering it's a bug in the app itself, your options are:

• Wait and do nothing until Adobe fixes it
• Use an older version of Premiere
• If you can't use an older version, try a workaround

I'm just offering the 3rd option. And they're not exactly experiments, they literally worked for me to fix it.

I'm trying to guage how successful the workarounds are to others with the same problem so I know whether I should suggest it to everyone or not.

[Emerrow]

I am having this same intermittent problem. I'm on a mac studio m1 max, 64gb ram, os 14.6.1 and a mac laptop with the m3 pro chip as well. I'm running PP2025 25.2.1 (build 2). Sometimes it happens more frequently than other times. Usually, I'm able to just stop playback and start again and it will play normally. 

[Phil5C2D]

The error hasn't reappeared for me since downgrading to 25.1 confirming at least on my end that this was a software problem and not an actual hardware issue like the error implies.

[tranhoangcalvin]

OP here.

I think I know what's going on. In 25.2, Adobe added the capability of Premiere to analyze all of the media that you're importing into your project so that you can search for assets based on what's in them. This is why you will now get a .prin file generated next to your premiere save file.

This suggests that your computer is, in the background, busy computing what is in your assets, and that, I think, is what is slowing down its ability to read the audio file (sounds ridiculous that it would slow down the read of files at all, but this is what I'm experiencing). I went into Preferences, under Media Analysis and Transcription, and deselected "Analyze all imported media to visually search your project"

[Paul2971790848zl]

Nope

[Paul2971790848zl]

Tried that. It didn't work

[Andrew251801670jel]

Could the Adode team tell us what hardware they are running Primiere Pro on? May we all need more powerful computers to run the latest two versions.

[Time_Bas]

Same problems here. Running really the latest of greatest computers with al NVME drives.

[AbieSilva]

Wow, your build is almost exactly as mine, except that I have 64GB of RAM. I'm having the same issue. I came here to start a thread about this and found this one.

[Kyle Kramb]

Beating the dead horse-
 
• Issue - Audio drops out durning playback with dialogue box poping up that reads "Can't Access Audio". 
• Steps to reproduce - make edit. hit play. 
• Expected result - sequence should playdown.
• Actual result -  Audio drops out diurning playback with dialogue box poping up that reads "Can't Access Audio"
• Adobe Premiere Pro version -25.2.1
• Operating system - Mac OS 15.3.2 (24D81) - iMac Pro - 3 GHz 10-Core Intel Xeon W, Radeon Pro Vega 64 16 GB, 128 GB 2666 MHz DDR4
• Video (and Audio) format - All sorts - but one specifically is Apple ProRes 422 Proxy UHD 23.98 with multitrack audio - these are transcodes made in Resolve from R3D RAW. Also happening with Stock footage downloaded from Filmsupply, wave audio files from Marmoset, mp3 files from unknown source (stereo music), and sfx wave files from Snoundsnap.
 
Screenshot from the last hour - and this is me working slow because I am reading a lot of notes and doing a lot of head scratching too.