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Wiktoria5E66
Participant
October 10, 2022
Answered

A low level exception occurred in: ImporterMPEG (Importer:39) and (Importer:81)

  • October 10, 2022
  • 17 replies
  • 44049 views

I have had a problem for a while with importing video files to Premiere Pro. When importing more files, most of them have no problems except a few. All files are from the same camera, same codec, same framerate. I've been getting this error for a while now, there weren't any issues before (meaning couple updates back). I am using the latest version of Premiere Pro.

Here are the suggested solutions that I have tried so far:

  • Deleting all Media Cache files

  • Unchecking "Enable accelerated H.264 Decoding" function

  • Switching off GPU acceleration (CUDA)

Thanks in advance for any help 🙂

    Correct answer teet68487352

    I solved it using the solution Kevin posted of another thread. 

     

    https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro-discussions/a-low-level-exception-occurred-in-importermpeg-importer-39-and-importer-81/td-p/13257470/page/2#M479923

     

    This worked for me.

    17 replies

    Randune23
    Randune23
    Inspiring
    April 18, 2025

    Well, I spoke too soon.  Mr. Adobe PP just can't get rid of this stupid error (which does not allow me to render out my videos).  So that's really handy.  🙄😣😫🙎

    I even tried to use some of my own tips listed below:
    1.   Delete cache...NOPE, didn't work.

    2.  Update Drivers...NOPE.

    3.  Use Media encoder...NOPE.

     

    Any ideas Kevin???

     

    Randy

    W
    Will N
    Participating Frequently
    August 13, 2024

    The latest version of Premiere (Version 24.5.0 - Build 57)) decided to stop importing certain .mp4 files. I did a little digging and saw a few posts discuss that this problem has occurred before. The following recommendations have not worked:

     

    • Going to the “Media” section of “Preferences” and unchecking the H264/HEVC hardware accelerated decoding option.
    • Clearing the cache
    • Setting the Renderer to “Mercury Playback Engine Software Only”
    • Update GPU driver

     

    The files that Premiere isn't importing now have worked in Premiere before and currently work in both Adobe After Effects and DaVinci Resolve so I think it is definitely an issue with Premiere.

     

    A work around  is using Adobe Media Encoder to change footage format but this is a hindrance since I want to keep my source files only without having to double up on footage.

     

    I’m on Windows 10 with 64GB of Ram with plenty of hard drive space to speak to another recommendation I read. 

     

    Thanks

      R
      Community Expert
      RobShultzCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      August 13, 2024

      Is your machine compatible with Windows 11? That might help.

      teet68487352
      teet68487352
      Participating Frequently
      June 3, 2024

      Hi all,

      Recently, I've been experiencing A low-level exception occured in: ImporterMPEG (Importer:81) & (Importer:39) bug upon opening my Adobe Premiere Pro project. This bug started occuring a couple weeks ago then it stopped & now its back every single time i open premiere pro. It prevents me from doing any edits then Premiere crashes within seconds. My RAM does go up to max 90% upon opening premiere pro project which I think was normal back then before errors started happening. I am seeking some solutions that can resolve this please.

       

      I've tried a lot of different methods after the problem occured:

      • Deleting all Media Cache files

      • Unchecking "Enable accelerated H.264 Decoding" function

      • Switching off GPU acceleration (CUDA)
      • Downgrading Adobe Premiere pro by atleast 3 versions.
      • Unistalling adobe premiere pro (Resetting preferences, deleting cahces)
      • Deleted video previews
      • Updated GPU & BIOS to latest updates
      • Updated all crucial windows updates
      • Ran the adobe diagnostic (Recommended me to reset preferences which I did)

       

       

       

      My PC specs:

      ProcessorAMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core Processor
      Video CardNVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090
      Operating SystemWindows 10
      RAM64 GB
        teet68487352
        teet68487352
        Participating Frequently
        June 3, 2024

        I also forgot to mention that all of my footages are also shot in 4k (Tho i do believe it shouldn't matter because I've always been shooting in 4k before the errors happened).

        P
        PARTHMAKANI4
        Participant
        November 27, 2023

        I don't know how but i was working on my project i just needed to add the songs and suddenly premiere Stop and nothing works it makes my pc freeze after sometime suddenly it starts and make videos of my timeline MEDIA OFFLINE and if i try to relink it it says some generic error happened. And i have to send my client this project what do i do? Please adobe do something 🙏

          M
          Michael Grenadier
          Legend
          November 27, 2023

          PARTHMAKANI4, probably a good idea to start a new thread.  First, Never easy to troubleshoot premiere problems from a distance so please tell us your system specs: OS version, Premiere version, amount of RAM, Hardware specs including graphics card and if you have any 3rd party plugins installed for Premiere... Also, sequence settings and clip properties can also help. Although you can throw almost any format into premiere, some formats can be problematic, particularly on an underpowered system..  If you need help understanding any of this, post back (in the new thread created by going here

          https://community.adobe.com/t5/forums/postpage/board-id/premiere-pro

           

          And I found this with a quick google

          Adobe Customer Service Contacts
          1. Adobe Email Support. https://www.adobe.com/about-adobe/contact.html.
          2. Adobe Live Chat Support. N/A.
          3. Adobe Call Center Support. + 800-585-0774.
          4. Adobe Knowledge Base. https://www.adobe.com/about-adobe.html.
          5. Adobe Forum. https://community.adobe.com/

           

           

          janm8245782
          janm8245782
          Participant
          October 27, 2023

          U have not enough RAM. I went from 32 to 64 Gb and now both Errors are gone. 

            L
            larissah16689914
            Participant
            November 3, 2023

            Is this a new thing they have made mandtory/implemented in the most recent update? As I have 32GB Ram, a 2080, 8700k CPU and have had no issues with Premier Pro until right now with this error message, plus the error "low level memory" popping up and then black screening my PC for a few seconds before crashing Premier Pro. I was on support for 3 hours who could not really help. I just don't understand why it was all good until just now....

              D
              Dillon30997243fbw9
              Participant
              October 8, 2023

              Hoping this gets some traction, I'm also having the same issue and I've tried so many things and they just have not worked at all. I don't even fully understand it either, I'll be editing just fine but the second I import specific clips from my computer it gives me this error, my program freezes and it ruins the project entirely. Some clips have the exact same settings and they were perfectly fine, its just sometimes a clip will be put in and my adobe just kinda broke.  I tried to make a new project and again things were working just fine but the moment a specific clip goes in, project is ruined. I'm just at a loss here, and hopefully an answer shows up at some point.

                C
                Cookie327026421cfx
                Participant
                October 4, 2023

                I faced the same problem recently with Premiere Pro 2023. Changing Nvidia drivers from Game Ready to Studio Ready worked for me.

                  J
                  J Dante N29849487xvse
                  Participant
                  August 31, 2023

                  A mí sí me funcionó, gracias

                  R
                  RANIA_VITA
                  Participant
                  August 20, 2023

                  I use media encoder so far seems it is working. I hope that I won't have any more troubles. So tired of losing time just to fix issues like this. 

                  Randune23
                  Randune23
                  Inspiring
                  March 17, 2024

                  I tried rendering it through the media encoder and it still LOCKED UP and the red triangle of death (MPEG encoding error) still popped up.

                   

                   

                  Randune23
                  Randune23
                  Inspiring
                  March 18, 2024

                  Wow, talk about a weird workaround.  I ended up hiding all the captions, text, and graphics and just rendered the video.  Then I created a new sequence, deleted all the videos, and imported the video I just rendered.  I had to tweak it a little bit but that took FOREVER to finally render it.

                   

                   

                  All of the green were the edits I had to do ontop of the edits I had already completed earlier in the week.

                   

                  Not a legit fix but I was able to render the full video.

                   

                  Randy

                  B
                  BatCat Media Group
                  Participant
                  July 14, 2023

                  I've been using Premiere since 1994. It's always been unstable, but I love the program and its integrations with othe Adobe products. But the frustration of crash after crash has slowed me down on way too many projects. This importer issue has gotten even worse, as opposed to better. I just downloaded Resolve. It's going to take some getting used to, but if it is more stable than Premiere, I'll be jumping ship after 29 years of dealing with Premiere crashes.

                  MSI laptop

                  i7, 9th gen processor

                  16gb ddr4 RAM

                  6gb gpu

                  But recently, I'm finding it unusable on exporting hour long 4k videos. 
                  i have

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