ERROR: The project appears to be damaged, it cannot be opened. HELP

[Jan de Laat]

Hey,

Whenever I open my project in premiere pro, I get the error message above. I have already been looking for solutions, but opening an auto-saved file or a save file from earlier, it still gives me the same error message. I cannot even get into the project screen to save it to another place.

PLEASE HELP.

[Steve Griffiths]

A few things to try.

Reset your Premiere Pro preferences.

With Premiere Pro closed, navigate to the preferences file and move it to another location. 

By default, the preferences files are located here:

• Windows: C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Adobe\Premiere Pro\<version>\Profile-<profilename>\Adobe Premiere Pro Prefs
• macOS: /Users/<username>/Documents/Adobe/Premiere Pro/<version>/Adobe Premiere Pro Prefs
  

The next time you open Premiere Pro, it creates a new preference file.

More details here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/reset-preferences.html 

Then launch Premiere Pro by launching from the app - not from any existing project. Basically you want to open a fresh new project and see if that works. 

If it does - clear your 'cache' files

https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro-discussions/faq-how-to-clear-your-media-cache-in-premier... 

now try launching one of your problem projects by using 'open project' from the file menu.

If that does not work try 'importing' one of your problem projects.

In a fresh Premiere Pro project go to the file menu and select 'import' - choose one of your old projects and follow the prompts to import 'entire project'.

All the best and good luck. If none of this works, others here may have suggestions - so report back

+ provide some details about your OS and the computer and the version of Premiere Pro you are using. 

[Jan de Laat]

Thanks for the thorough reply. I will take a look at it in detail in an hour or two. I will let you know if it works!

[Jan de Laat]

By the way, I am using a Windows 10 custom built PC with the latest version of Premiere Pro, so no issues there.

[RadamBrown]

None of this worked for me...I'm still getting the error...ugh! 😞

[Jacolinde298923037ddb]

i have the same problem as jan and i tried following Steve's steps.

when i came to the last step of importing one of my problem projects and following promts to import 'entire project', it does not import the project onto the timeline. and so i lose all the edit work i did on it????

[@mj]

Hi @Jan de Laat 

Seems like you have a corrupted project file.

Try the suggestions here. https://youtu.be/pvNtlXD5p7k

Let us know how you go

mj

[Jan de Laat]

I will try out deleting my preferences, but the other suggestion from that video I already tried, without succes. Thanks for your reply, I will let you know if it works.

[johnalmightyx]

Not sure why you'd share a video like that - that offers no solution to corrupt project files. Obviously if we had access to auto-saves, we would not be here right now.

[Carlos Ziade]

are you editing on an external drive? try moving everything locally.

did you try to start a fresh new project and import the damaged one into it?

reset premiere pro preferences.

Clean your media cache

I would try xml wrench but their website is http which is not secure

try what we ussually do to downgrade to previous premiere pro versions (maybe it works):

1. create a copy of your project file (DO NOT WORK ON THE ORIGINAL PROJECT FILE)

2. right click on it and open with 7zip(you can install it for free)

3. select open archive in 7zip

4. right click the file and click on Edit

5. go to line number 4 and change the last number in the line (version = x) to = 1

save the file and open

[Jan de Laat]

Thanks for your reply, I will take a look at your suggestions in detail in an hour or two. I will let you know if it works!

[Christian.Z]

Long shot, but try an online Premiere Pro Project Downgrader

[Jan de Laat]

That does not work for projects in Premiere Pro 2022, sadly.

[Jan de Laat]

Thanks everyone for the help, but nothing works. Does anyone have any other suggestion? Otherwise I'll be forced to start all over again which will cost me more than 10 hours of work.

[Peru Bob]

Does anyone have any other suggestion?

By @Jan de Laat

I don't know if he is still doing it, but this user has repaired corrupted project files for other users:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/12528724

Try sending him a PM.

[johnalmightyx]

I will message him

[leopold229168799d0e]

hello there1 I sadly have the same problem - did you find any solution in order to restore/repair a damaged premiere pro project. And also if you dont have any auto saves...?

[defaultky2rigpp0sss]

I had zero luck with everything else and legit the only reason anything worked for me was because of a random auto-save with a bunch of numbers on the end. It was the only one of my 10 autosaves that worked for some reason. In my case, something got messed up with my video memory/NVidia driver and somehow a bunch of temp files pertaining to the project must have been deleted or moved or I don't know. None of it makes sense to me, but somehow 1 out 10 autosaves worked. I'm so sorry you don't have autosave though -- I went into full panic mode and I can't imagine what you've had to deal with. 😞 

[Audrey BFP]

same problem here. 
things i tried:
- Auto save
- downgrade pr
- Clean import
- Hard reset pr (preferences etc)
- other pc (windows and mac)

- xlm wrench (error importing file)
- 7zip (crashed when clicking on edit file)

First time having this problem. i was using this project without any issue couple days ago. then i updated my Premiere Pro and my file just went damaged. any suggestions?

[@mj]

Try creating a new Pr project and importing this sequence into the new project @Audrey BFP 

Keep us posted ok?

Hope you win.

Best

mj

[Opus37591791wt8t]

I have opened up the project through one of the AutoSaves and it worked! 

[JonnyDSmitty]

This is the solution!!! Shoutout to those autosaves!! Thanks for pointing us in the right directionnnn!!!!!!!!

[Edit 14]

I have the same issue my guys, and I think i know the root of the problem, for me at least. This issue happened to me first at home for, lets call it "projectfile A", and then later the same day, on a 2nd computer - but this time on another projectfile (B). I knew both of these files were fine, as I had just worked on both of them the night before, and succesfully saved them with no issues. I then took projectfile A and opened it on a 3rd pc. It opened without issues. (before on PC 1 and 2, it gave me the "project appears damaged message), so why did it suddenly open on PC 3? Hmmm. After the wierd success on the 3rd pc, I took project A back on the original PC where the problem startet, and now it ALSO opened without issues. Somehow the fact that it swung by PC 3 and opened there, seemed to had magically fixed it.

This leaves only ONE suspect in my opinion. The harddrive. The harddrive is with some sort of error, im sure of it but with no "proof" more than the story above. Its the only constant. And I bet that all of you having this issue are working with files on an external harddive? I think some sort of harddrive error makes premiere THINK the profectfile is damaged. I am currently moving ALL files including projectfiles and auto-saves and all that jazz, onto a new harddrive. Ill let you know if it fixed it.

[nielsv44722277]

Did it got fixed moving it to diferent HD?

I have the same problem. Except, I haven't tried opening the projectfile on another computer yet.

[Milton26651716nzia]

idk if this is your case, but the same thing happened to me when recovering files from an external hard drive and the solution of opening another project and importing the timeline didn't work for me but I got a message that I didn't have administrator licenses, so I ran the PP in administrator mode and it let me import the original (corrupted) timeline.