Exported video stuck on first frame of each clip!

Report · Jun 08, 2020

Hello everyone,

Probably a fairly noob question on this forum since I'm a bit of a novice at this. I have a short 2.5 minute video that I am trying to export from Premiere Pro 2020. Inside Premiere Pro, the clips play smoothly. After I export and try to view the video on Quicktime, each clip is stuck on the very first frame. There is no motion whatsoever. The track along with the sound effects are playing smoothly, just no motion in the clips.

The entire video was shot on a DJI Mavic Air 2. 60fps 4k with a h.265 codec.

I've exported many other videos on this new 2020 MacBook Pro. This is the only one I'm stuck and puzzled with.

If anybody has any insight on this, I'd love to hear it!

Thank you.

Report · Jul 01, 2025

did u ever find a concrete solution?

Report · Jan 26, 2023

I've just run into the same problem. Freezes on the first frame of DJI Mavic 2 Pro clips, but plays music, title animations & Sony a7siii clips without issue. Tried to render is Media Encoder and straight from Premiere, neither worked. Tried this suggested "smart render" but that also didn't work.

I only recently updated to Premiere v23 and was concerned that this might have been part of the problem, so I went through the process of downgrading my project file and opening it in Premiere v22, which rendered with zero errors.

Computer Specs:

2019 MacBook Pro 16"
2.4GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9
AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8GB & Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536MB
32GB Ram
Ventura 13.0 OS

Does Premiere v23 have issues working with an Intel Mac? Or are there any other thoughts as to why this was able to render as usual on v22, but freezes every time on v23?

Report · Feb 08, 2023

Update - Found that the solution was to change the settings in my Mavic from recording H.265 to .MOV - at the moment everything is rendering fine from v23.

Report · Feb 07, 2023

I had the same issue happening to me on only one specific project over and over. My DJI Mavic Pro 2 footage (4K, 29,97fps, h264) just didn't render properly using a 2021 MacBookPro M1 and the latest versions of Premiere and macOS. Even after trying every suggestion from this forum it wouldn't work.

My solution was finaly to export it directly in Premiere Pro and not through Media Encoder. So it really seems to be like a bug in the Adobe programs. Now it works but with a 2,5h timeline I can't do any work in Premiere for the next couple of hours.

I hope they'll take it serously and will fix this problem!

Report · Jun 01, 2023

I Have The Solution!

I edited a long video with drone footage, screen captures, iphone video (H2.65) and even nested sequences. It had many effects and audio & video tracks. It all worked seemlessly in premiere pro but once I exported it in 4k H2.65, The two picture in pictures and all the effects and audio worked fine but the drone footage was frozen on the first fram of each clip.

I tried everything, including all the solutions mentioned here and nothing worked. I was so frustrated because I had spent hours editing this footage. I have had things happen in the past so every so often, I save a copy of my work as it progresses just in case I make a some fatal error like this happens. I went to several of the saved premiere files and tried exporting them. They all did the same thing.

I tried making a new project file with just some drone footage. I am using a DJI Mini 3 Pro and recording 4K30 H2.65 .mp4 I can tell you confidently that it is an issue with adobe and DJI footage. I'm sure everyone on this thread with this problem has a DJI drone.

So here is finally what I did that worked:

I uninstalled Premiere Pro and reinstalled it.
Then I held the alt/control button to bring up a reset menu upon opening. I chekced all four options. You may not have to check all four but I did in my frustration and desperation. At the very least check the two that say "clear media cache files" and "reset plugin loading cache".

Once Premeiere opened back up, I also deleted the media cache files. To do this you launch premiere but don't open any files. Open Preferrences/media cache. Click the delete button next to the phrase "Remove media cache files". When the option box opens up, choose the option that says "Delete all media cache files from the system" and click OK.

Once you have dont all that, close and open Premier again. You can now open your saved project file and export it in Premier Pro. It will work! However, if you want to use Media Encoder, threre are a couple more steps you must take.

Uninstall Media Encoder. and reinstall it.
Then open it up and go to Edit/preferrences/Media/Media Cache Database and click clean. Then click OK and close Media Encoder.

Here is the important part. Don't leave Media Encoder open and just send projects there to export. Media Encoder has to be opened a new time for each project that includes DJI drone footage. If it is open from your last export, close it. Then don't open Media Encoder, click file/export/Send to Adobe Media Encoder in Premier Pro.

You can batch export in Media Encoder, just don't forget to close it after that session and re-open it through Premier Pro again next time.

I know it's a lot but At least it will work now. I hope this helps anyone else who is having this trouble.

Report · Jun 24, 2023

The solution above worked for me!! I too was editing DJI Mini 3 Pro footage using the same specs as above and with the walkthrough above, it FINALLY exported as expected!

Report · Aug 22, 2023

Had exactly the same problem with footage from DJI Air 2S. Half of the clips were frozen and half working. I did not re-install anyting. Simply restarted Adobe Premiere Pro with full reset like suggested and removed the media cache files from the systesm. Export immediately started working as expected. Now it is fine!
Thank you for your solution!!!

Report · Mar 14, 2024

Thank you. After 2 days of editing a video I was extremely frustrated and disappointed with this issue. Thanks to you everything appears to be exporting as normal!

Report · Jan 18, 2025

Had the same problem with my DJI Air 3 footage. The Alt+Ctrl solution worked like a charm - all I had to do was to restart Premiere Pro, keep Alt+Ctrl pressed and clear cache (videos and effects) - didn't even have to clear my prefs.

Report · Jul 01, 2025

Thank you for finding a solution. i will try this moving forward. It is a lot to add to a workflow, hell just rechecking every video to make sure the drone footage didnt freeze is gonna be a pain in the ass.

ADOBE PLEASE WORK ON THIS ISSUE. Seems to happen with DJI drone footage mostly. there must be thousands of people out there running into this problem. And its 2025! years after this thread was created and I'm still having this issue pop up.

Filming with a mini 4 pro. D logm H265

Report · Jul 01, 2023

I was having the same issue but this worked for me. I just simply took the footage off the timeline and then put it back in and it worked.

also you probably try as deleting it from your media bin and then add it back.. The only other think I can think of as maybe you have a bad SD card in your drone and it is creating issues with your footage. I know another solution that you can try is directly throwing the footage into media coder and render it out through media encoder without using premiere and then add it to your timeline..
But the first option worked for me simply took it off my timeline and put it back in.

Report · Jan 04, 2024

I'm currently using version 24.10 and can attest that uninstalling and re-installing Premiere resolves the problem.

Report · Mar 27, 2025

Using Handbrake to recode the DJI Video worked for me. (reinstalling premiere didn't help).

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First Photoshop 2.5 (1994)

Report · Jul 01, 2025

its 2025 and I'm still having this issue. h.265 footage from DJI mini 4 pro. Playback is fine in premiere, slight stutter.

in the exported final product all the shots from the drone are frozen, like a still image. The rest of the video is completely fine.

Exporting in media encoder seems to work but it doesnt work every time.

Had this issue with a mavic air 2s as well years ago. I thought they fixed this problem.

Seems like a pretty serious issue if we cannot export h.265 from an entire brand of cameras. whats going on adobe? Can you guys work on this issue? I really dread problems like this - they kill my workflow.

Report · Jul 15, 2025

Seems Adobe doesn't care. They just want you to pay the subscription fee. Really disappointing. In my case, the Ctrl+Alt solution works, but I have to apply it for each project, which is pretty frustrating and time-consuming. Doesn't seem like rocket science to fix this once and for all to me.