Dolby Audio Decoder missing after Premiere CC 2018 (V12) update

[zeno303]

I just updated to the most recent version of Premiere: CC 2018 from Creative Cloud.

When I opened a project I had been working on earlier today that has some .ac3 tracks on some of the sequences, those tracks are redded out and I now get an error message "Missing Dolby Audio Encoder." I get the same message when I try to import .ac3 files into the updated Audition program.

I have been using Premiere CC for several years, have installed all the updates & never had this problem before.

I have an individual (not Enterprise) Subscription on Windows 7.  I ran CC Cleaner Registry check after the install.  It cleared up some paths, but didn't fix this issue.

Please help.  I am up against a deadline!

Wsquared

[attila71]

Hi DT-VPP.

Did this work for you?

[DT-VPP]

Hi attila71,

Yes, reverting back to ver.2017 works for me, for now. But this took a whole day of my time going back and forth. And it was a day of precious hours as I have a tight deadline with one project that I had booked the entire weekend to work on.

What I will say, and I hope Adobe is reading this, is that it would have taking little of their efforts to place a compatibility link for each app in the Create Cloud. Thus, we could have read the contents of that link and made an informed decision as to whether we want to upgrade at this time or not. Such a small act on their part would have eliminated this aggravation. It's called basic customer service.

Danielle

[Jadhav Chetan]

Hi,

You can try downloading Microsoft Media Feature Pack and check if it works.Just as a Test.

Please let us know the outcomes.

Regards,

Chetan Jadhav

[ProDesignTools]

Sorry for the folks impacted by this! The notice posted above by Trent does detail this change – but it's too bad, because Adobe does still list Windows 7 on the CC minimum system requirements pages (with no caveats given there)...

Adobe Premiere Pro System Requirements

System Requirements | Adobe Media Encoder

Adobe should definitely provide the capability to easily roll back to the previous version installed. They've made some headway on this with the most recent CC Desktop app, but for some reason, the 2017 versions of Premiere Pro and AME are not given there.

Windows 7 is an eight-year old operating system, but Windows usually does pretty well on maintaining application compatibility over time, certainly much better than macOS... But seems this is a case where it isn't working out.

Generally when upgrading, it's a good idea to keep the previous versions installed on your system – especially if you are trying to upgrade in the middle of a project. However, you have to explicitly tell the CC Desktop app to do this by unchecking the 'Remove old versions' box under the advanced settings of the update dialogue.

Some people are reporting that they are able to successfully reinstall the 2017 versions of Premiere Pro and Adobe Media Encoder using direct links. Here is how to do that:

Dolby Digital

(This is one big reason why direct links are still needed and important to have available!)

And some people are saying they are able to use Windows Restore to roll back their machines prior to the installation/overwrite of the CC 2018 apps.

In any event, and as another option and for those who can do it, it could be helpful to point out that an upgrade to Windows 10 might not necessarily cost anything:

Here's how you can still get a free Windows 10 upgrade | ZDNet

Windows 10 free upgrade for assistive technology users

Hope that helps!

[iconostar]

I've downloaded the file, and I'll try it soon.  I also have a global back up of my C drive from April.  So I'm backing up everything from C.  That way, if the file doesn't work, I can restore my C drive from April with the Premiere version I had then.

[iconostar]

Video conversions with movavi and wondershare create video files that work perfectly.

[redhaircrow]

Reverting back to an earlier version didn't help for some of us.

[Adrenaline Junkie]

It would work if the version that included it was available. They removed all the versions that included it. The joys of subscription service.

[redhaircrow]

I did uninstall newest, and reinstall a previous version. I could at least open my film files, but all audio is gone so it is still unuseable. Am finishing a documentary, so converting all my files, almost 200 hours of important speaking footage just isn't an option plus then having to cut all the film files again. Adobe support passes it off with "Sorry! We can't do anything about this. It's their fault" yet it is Adobe's responsibility to their users. They gave us no head-ups notice beforehand. They failed miserably and cost some of us so much. Critically important deadlines failing left and right.

[ProDesignTools]

Sorry for the difficulty! Try one of these suggestions if you've lost Dolby functionality:

1. Your simplest and best bet is to recover your CC 2017 apps as they were before you installed CC 2018. See if you can use Windows Restore to roll back the state of applications on your computer to before that time. On a Mac, you'd use Apple's Time Machine.

2. If you can't do that, then do you have a system backup or image from when you had CC 2017 installed, or perhaps it's installed on another machine? You could possibly use that backup together with the CC 2017 direct download links to get back to where you were before. At  a minimum, you'll need both the Premiere Pro and Adobe Media Encoder apps.

3. If neither of those strategies recover a working CC 2017 for you, then you could try moving forward with CC 2018. You could use a third-party utility like Handbrake (a free open-source video transcoder) to convert your MTS/ACS files. Rename the files and reimport them into Premiere Pro. Then clear your media cache.

4. If none of the above work, then maybe consider upgrading to Windows 10 while it's still free, and press ahead with CC 2018 (if you're concerned about Windows telemetry, that's easily handled). Meanwhile, for Mac users, macOS upgrades are always free... Windows 8.1 or above and macOS 10.11 or above contain native support for Dolby decoding functions. Again, rename the applicable files and reimport them on your new setup. Then clear your media cache.

5. If you can't upgrade your operating system, can't move forward with CC 2018, can't go back to CC 2017, and are genuinely stuck with a project caught in the middle – and none of the above solutions work for you – then you could try contacting Adobe Customer Care to let them know and see if they can help.

6. Moving forward, when upgrading Creative Cloud apps, use 'Advanced Options' in the Desktop app to retain older CC versions rather than the default behavior, which is to remove them.

Hope that helps!

[Adrenaline Junkie]

None of this should be necessary. First and foremost, a downgrade should not be advertised as an upgrade; I'm referring to the latest version of 2017 that does nothing but remove the Dolby feature. Second, all previous versions should always be made available. Not doing so goes against promises made by Adobe when switching to the subscription service. Discontinuing perpetual licenses is an Adobe benefit, not a customer benefit; and this is yet more proof that Adobe doesn't care about customer service.

You can have a profitable software company without giving up customer service; and without being evil by doing things that harm your customers. Apple is a perfect example; Adobe should take note.

[ProDesignTools]

Adrenaline Junkie  wrote:

Second, all previous versions should always be made available. Not doing so goes against promises made by Adobe when switching to the subscription service.

Agreed. Please see this related Forums thread:

Prior major releases of Premiere, Audition, Prelude and AME have been removed

[McBuff]

Adobe. . .this is outrageous. . absolutely outrageous. . .If there is no solution soon. . .I'm just going back to the basic Photographers plan and pray to God you don't screw up those apps. No excuse for this. . .none!

[Jennifergala]

I cancelled mine today. Try using Da Vinci Resolve for 0$ it is amazing and for photography myself I am using Affinity way better than Photoshop.

[MarkusEker]

Don't expect this to be solved by Adobe anytime soon. This change happened years ago already.

Apparently Adobe has been sued by Dolby for avoiding licensing fees.

Dolby sues Adobe for dodging license fees • The Register

You can install older versions of Premiere CC and get Dolby support (or at least you used to be able to do that), but now Adobe is telling people you risk getting sued by a third party if you install an older version. I think the best solution if you want to keep using Adobe CC on Windows is to Upgrade to Windows 10. That way you get Dolby support (decoding but not encoding) through the OS. Some of the latest versions of the CC Apps only supports Windows 10 anyway, so you are forced to upgrade if you want to use them.

[zeno303]

I still have the last Dolby supported v 11 version on my Windows 7 work station where it coexists with the newest V12 version, so I can still work on old projects that have Dolby. Initially, Adobe let you download the old v11 version if you lost it when you installed v12, but that option has gone away. Adobe handled this SNAFU very poorly. They didn’t warn anyone about this big and potentially damaging change in the initial v12 release notes. The users had to figure it out for themselves.

Sent from my iPhone

[attila71]

Hi guys.

I'm having the same issue. My workstation is at service getting a Windows 10 upgrade. They're having problems with that at the moment and I'm missing my deadlines. I can't risk taking on new work. I really hope we're not falling back to the CS4 days because I will be opting for a new editing program!

Adobe, we need a solution straight away.

[BradMpls]

I get the disturbing feeling that Adobe is 1) Not reading this and not caring -and- 2) Letting the wave of anger slowly disappear with time.

I'm guessing they know they will win this battle. (Edited for content).  This little forum is probably a minuscule representation of pissed-off customers.

I went to the link that provided the CC 2017 reinstall; PrePro, AE, Media Encoder and Audition for me.  It would seem now that I can't move beyond CC2017 until I move to Windows 10 -- and I won't be doing that until Microsoft drops its extended support for Windows 7 January 2020.  As I previously posted, Windows 10 is no longer a free upgrade.  I have Windows 7 Pro and the upgrade to 10 is $199 frickin' dollars!

So I am paying the monthly Creative Cloud "lease" for dead end Adobe software (by my choice it would seem).

My personal rant aside, again, Adobe seems to be letting us vent and throw a few tantrums, but they don't give a —

Moderator Warning: Do not discuss legal issues on these forums. Please do no use profanity, even if implied. There are people under 18 reading these forums. Thank you.

[attila71]

That's disappointing. Maybe if Adobe starts loosing some key clients, which I believe they will, they may pay attention to this issue everyone is faced with (other than a lawsuit).

The support side seems to consist of people who read scripts and not professionally trained individuals who know the software inside out.

This screw-up by Adobe has so far costed me $380.00AUD. It may cost more because the technician is having issues (trying to go to W10).

Was there a news letter or something to advise everyone months before these critical changes (W7 being incompatible with the new update) were taking place?

[BradyHall1]

This is a NIGHTMARE. As if any given working video professional has the time to install a completely new OS, get all the hardware working right with it, get all the software working right with it, deal with software that works differently on later generation OSes, etc etc. The reason we stick with W7 is because it's MF-ing stable and we know it works the way we want it to work. At least I can re-install CC2017 and have that work for me, but dear god what a —.

UPDATE: as others have said, downloading and installing CC2017 does not fix this. The codec is seemingly gone forever from my machine. SWEET. GREAT. THANKS. I have active jobs right now and cannot risk upgrading to Windows 10 with all the potential operational pitfalls associated with that. I reiterate: THIS IS A NIGHTMARE.

Moderator Warning: Please do not use profanity, even if implied. There are people under 18 reading these forums. Thanks.

[MarkusEker]

Hi, I just updated to Premiere 2018. I checked the what's new section and didn't see any warning that you would remove Audio Codec support, but now I don't get Audio from my files, even though the camera is an old Sony Camera! How can I resolve this? Upgrading from windows 7 to Windows 10 is not an option at this moment. I am on a corporate network running Windows 7 and upgrading the OS is not something that can be done on a whim.

Please Adobe, give us a solution here!

[MarkusEker]

I'm trying to revert back to 2017, but all I can find when I right click Premiere is CC v. 7 and CS6. How do I get cc 2017? And also why does some people claim that installing CC 2017 doesn't resolve the issue? Is the removal also affecting previous versions?

[MarkusEker]

Also, how can I save a project from 2018 back to 2017?

I started my project in 2018 before I discovered the lack of support for Audio from one camera. Now I need to go back to 2017 and continue editing. Can I save my project backwards?

[Ann Bens]

Download Creative Cloud apps

Projects are not backward compatible.

Use the last one saved in 2017.

[dellmelo]

Same here.

Im VERY disappointed.