Adobe Premiere CC 2020 Audio Out of Sync After Export

[roycefilmwriter]

I have a project timeline where audio has been synced, but when I export to h.264 or other codecs, it goes in and out of sync at random areas. It doesn't just go out of sync, it comes back in sync again. But in the timeline it is all in sync. What could cause this and how to fix?

[Kevin-Monahan · Accepted solution]

Hi roycefilmmaker (and other),

I'm so sorry about your specific issue. These past months, I have found that Premiere Pro can play back most kinds of H.264 footage (especially with proxies). However, when exported to H.264 or HEVC at 4K or 8K quality, some computers might not be powerful enough to actually play back the resulting H.264 file. You can test it out a couple of different ways to make sure.

One way to test this: upload the file to video file sharing site. Any of them will do. If your audio is playing back in sync in the uploaded file, then indeed, your hardware is not powerful enough to simply playback your H.264 or HEVC source file.

Another test: It just may be that you need to export a somewhat smaller file, say in HD quality, in order to play the file back smoothly. If the resulting HD H.264 file plays back smoothly, your hardware isn't powerful enough to play the 4K version. You can still upload your 4K, though!

Let me know if that not having a powerful enough computer is, indeed, the case. 🙂

If you are still running into audio sync problems after uploading the file to YouTube, Google, Vimeo, or other such site, please create a separate post from this one. We will try and lend further advice.

Thanks,
Kevin

[JoshP1001]

I think my head just exploded haha. Thank you for your answer Kevin. My video isn't even 4K, just HD. It does play perfectly in premiere pro like you say, and I made sure I upgraded my Mac to be able to cope with Premiere pro stresses so I'm relieved at that. 

My problem fixed itself when I moved my file from my external hard drive to my Mac desktop and it played perfectly when stored on my Mac desktop rather than the usb drive. A big mistake from me that I just never thought of so I think I'll be changing how I use my hard drives now haha.

Thank you for your help

Josh

[starr3r]

I read your comment, moved my video from hard drive to my desktop and -- like you said-- working perfectly! Thank you Kevin and Josh! 

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi @starr3r,

Great point to add! Some hard drives are too slow to play back 4K H.264 files, especially those with spinning disks at 5400 RPM or less or if they are connected with a slow interface, like USB 2.0.

Thanks,
Kevin

[JoshP1001]

Thank you Kevin, I think my head just exploded haha. Thank you for your answer Kevin. My video isn't even 4K, just HD. It does play perfectly in premiere pro like you say, and I made sure I upgraded my Mac to be able to cope with Premiere pro stresses so I'm relieved at that. 

My problem fixed itself when I moved my file from my external hard drive to my Mac desktop and it played perfectly when stored on my Mac desktop rather than the usb drive. A big mistake from me that I just never thought of so I think I'll be changing how I use my hard drives now haha.

Thank you for your help

Josh

[Michael_K7]

Could this same problem be happening when viewing on a computer and on an iPhone? I recently exported a video in 4K that is in sync on my computer but when I transferred it to my iPhone the cuts to the beat of the music were out of sync. I haven't been able to find out which end is having the issues: my computer or my phone. 

[JoshP1001]

It's hard to tell. Do you have any other devices that you could try it on? What way are you watching on your iPhone?
A good test is to upload it to YouTube as a private video to see what everyone's viewing experience is like for the video.

[charlottec59583283]

Mine has just started doing this. This fix is so complicated and shouldn't be required. Premiere should not be exporting with an audio time lag.

[charlottec59583283]

Using a thunderbolt drive

[JoshP1001]

Hi Charlotte.
I agree it shouldn't be happening either.  

Try exporting to you actual Mac or PC documents folder rather than the hard drive and see if that works!!

thanks

Josh_preece100

[charlottec59583283]

So weirdly I've tried exporting it in pro res 422 without maximum render quality instead of H264 and it's fine.

A bit annoying though as many clients aren't able to watch pro res files so I'd have to export that as mp4 or .mov?

[JoshP1001]

So strange. I really don't understand why this is happening. 

So could you try export in h264 without max render quality? 

or could you put the pro res file into media encoder and switch it to mp4? I don't know if that's possible

Cheers

IG josh_preece100

[defaultflok5b7388k1]

I am having this same problem.  Is appears that it is because of the new operating systems. How do we fix this? 

Thank You

Jack

[JoshP1001]

Hi Jack, it's a real nightmare isn't it! 

It's not just you having issues. Many people are having these problems at the minute!

If you are exporting to an external hard drive, try exporting your desktop.

If that doesn't work try exporting through Premiere Pro rather than Media Encoder or vice versa. 

cheers

Josh

IG josh_preece100

[cullenp53360153]

I am having this same problem and am trying to determine if it is my new computer. I have an Apple Mini with the m1 chip. I have the base model with 8gb Ram and I know this is a light weight. But,  I'm editing sony xavc files pretty flawlessly. I can render edits of 7 minutes or so long in encoder and or directly from premiere and there is no audio sync issues. But, when I go to render an hour and a half program that I filmed, I just can't get it to render a synced audio and video.  I've uploaded to Youtube (h.264 4K) and the sync issue stays with it, so I feel like this rules out a preview or quicktime playback issue. At any rate, main question: Is anyone else using the M1 chip from apple and is this a contributor. Or am I likely in the realm of OS not playing well with others? Thank you for any help. 

-Cullen

[Michael Grenadier]

so what is the frame rate of your source files and does that match the frame rate of the sequence?  Does an hour and a half long sequence play in synch within premiere, or is this just an export issue?  What happens if you export a prores file of about an hour and a half, is there still a synch issue?   And just to make sure, are all your source files sony xavc files?  by any chance are any source files from a smart phone or screen recording?   

[cullenp53360153]

Thank you for your reply!

Frame Rate of footage and sequence are both 23.976.

Hour and a half sequence plays in sync within premiere. It appears to only be an export issue.

I will test a prores export but have not yet.

All source files are the same camera (Sony z-90...xavc)

The sony footage is essentially 4K and my premiere sequence matches and I have exported h.264 to match the source. I have also exported with the youtube 4k setting all with no success. I also tried to export to 1080p and sync is still of in export.

I had thought that just a week ago as I set up my new mac mini that I had downloaded the most current Creative Cloud, but went back into CC and saw updates which included native support for the M1 chip. I have updated Premiere and Media Ecncoder and am currently waiting on a new render of the hour and a half sequence to see if this helps.

I know these things have a way of working out eventually, sometimes with clear reasons and often not. Thanks for any help from anyone!

Cullen

[I5C23]

I got the audio and video to sync by disabling hardware acceleration. It's much slower to export, but at least it exports correctly now:  Edit -> Preferences -> Media -> H264/HVEC hardware accelerated encoding [uncheck] -> OK [restart]

[Tern Team]

Thank you for this solution.  I took a screenshot to try in the future.  I've been using Final Cut Pro since my sync issue with Premiere started, wasted too much time trying to figure out a fix and missed an important deadline;  I almost lost my job over this nonsense.  I wish I had made the switch sooner. Final Cut Pro has been working perfectly but in case I need to use Premiere again, I will try this fix and see if it works.

[GCustom]

What ended up working for me was to use the render and replace function since everything was great on the timeline, I also did the 2-pass on export because I was getting frustrated with all the re-tries, but it was a combo of the VBR media and a sneaky 2x framerate clip when someone bumped the camera settings from an old clip with the same camera the A-roll was shot with.

[A7iiishoota]

I've had the same issue recently since the newest update. The playback of fine everywhere else, accept on iPhones. I've tried everything.  I'm going to start using another program. 

[Michael Grenadier]

you can always revert to the previous version of premiere that was working properly...  And if you want to take a closer look at your workflow, we might be able to find out what's going on...    First thing, Please tell us your system specs: OS version, Premiere version (yeah, I know you say the newest update, but someone may find this thread when there's a newer update available), amount of RAM, Hardware specs including graphics card (which is probably not the problem, but worth answering cause ya never know).