Exporting videos From Premiere Pro will not play or download to iPhone

[default24vaujr1d5ag]

I've recently been unable to download or play any videos I've exported from Premiere Pro on my iPhone that are over 1080x1920 and 10 bit. I've had this issue ever since I've begun using Premiere, I'm unable to download or play any videos rendered in H.264 that are above 1080p with a bit depth larger than 10 bits. The videos larger than 1080p will download and play fine on any apple or windows computer, or andriod phone but will not play on my iPhone. Every time my iPhone gets a "you can not download or view this type of video" message even though the vidoe file type is listed as supported according to apple's website. My clients are also having this issue. 

I've read another forum where people were having this issue and solved the problem by changing around the exporting settings but I've found no success with their advice. I'm beginning to think this has something to do with the fact that I'm exporting this from a Windows PC and trying to play it on an iPhone but who knows.

Very annoying and I still for the life of me can't figure this one out. 

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi,

Sorry for the frustration. You say that you are having trouble with H.264 10-bit. Are you sure you are not talking about HEVC? Many of these 10-bit codecs require specific hardware requirements for handling in Premiere Pro. Do you have a recent Intel CPU? If not, I suggest transcoding or creating proxies for this footage for smoother operation. Is that possible?

Thanks,
Kevin

[default24vaujr1d5ag]

No, 

I need to export the video I've edited in h.264 @ 4k with a high exporting bitrate and that same media is unable to be played or downloaded on my phone - it runs fine on any computer (windows or mac). This is weird because a 1080p video with the same codec and bitrate will download and play just fine on my iPhone but not anything above that. 

My computer specs are a AMD 5950x 16 core CPU. a Ryzen AMD 6900xt GPU and 64Gb of Ram @ 4200MHZ. I can easily edit 6k R3D RAW files or Pro Res 4444 without proxies with this computer.  

I was messaging customer support last night and still found no solution. The conclusion they gave me was this is a bug within the app itself. 

[Carlos Ziade]

if you are rendering at maximum bit depth or rendering try without them

can you share screenshots of your export settings? 

what iphone do you have?

[default24vaujr1d5ag]

The client I'm working with needs the files in:

H.264 

4096x2304 @ 23.976 fps 

Using Maximum Render Quality 

and a target bitrate between 40-45 Mbps

I've tried changing everything outsitde of those settings that does not compromise the image quality and I mean EVERYTHING. No luck. I've just switched over to Final Cut Pro for now and there's no issue there. Hopefully whatever is wrong with Preimere gets fixed soon. 

[Christian.Z]

what type of iphone do you have? and what ios version? maybe its an iphone issue?

[default24vaujr1d5ag]

I have an iPhone 12 Pro updated to IOS 15.4.1 

This issue also has been occuring on newer and older iPhones that my clients have as well. 

[Jessey25724714bp88]

I'm also having this issue with content creation.  Anytime I film something in 4k on my iPhone, edit on my PC, then export, my phone won't save the file.  It says that it is saved, but it doesn't appear on the camera roll or in my files.  I think you're onto something with the apple/windows conversion. 

[unique_Mountain5D34]

I am having the exact same problem! Please let me know if you find a solution!!!

[Rebekah266594908j2u]

Was a Solution for this found? 

[mateusotto]

same problem... ios 16, premiere 22.2.0

[Richard27085017umeo]

I'm having the same issue, any 4k(2160x3840) video exported out of Premeire Pro is not showing up on my iphone photos app from GDrive or iCloud. I've tried exporting the video in all the presets avaible on Premiere Pro..

[umut_editor]

One way to solve it is to re-export it through QuickTime player, export as 4k and that version plays on iPhone and goes straight to your gallery rather than files.

[bennie5C13]

Im glad im not the only one.

So far what ive been doing when i export from my pc and uploading to google drive -

I cant download any videos from my iphone, so i download them from my macbook.

After that i put that same video back into my macbook's premier pro because i cant even airdrop to my iphone unless i export again.

I keep forgetting to look at the export settings to see if they differ, but i am able to download  and airdrop once i do that. 

[Phillip Harvey]

I'd have to do some further tests on my side, but from what I remember if you want to play 4k on the iPhone it wants it in the HEVC codec. 

Even if the phone didn't want to play 4k H264 it shouldn't necessarily impact the delivery of a file, like if you were just sending clips over to a client for upload on their side. I know things like IG or TikTok don't even support 4k video. I'm curious why the delivery requirement is 4k for something that's meant to be on a phone? Not that you can't attempt to do that, just curious.

Another thought would be Profile and Level preferences on the phone. These kinds of things used to be more common, and certain devices would have limitations on what they would support. Compatibility is less of an issue these days, but it still jumps to mind as a possibility.

[ryannealcordwell]

This is correct! Selecting HEVC (H.265) over Quicktime or H.264, will ensure compatability. Good flag!

[Nick Weaver]

Still having the same problem a year later. Totally unacceptable that this is not solved. I'll be switching to Davinci Resolve. It's time for someone at Adobe to come to terms with the fact that the same issues that thousands are struggling with have been ignored for years--just look in the forums. Thank you! 

[Nick Weaver]

P.S. Check out the top YouTube creators in the world with millions of followers. They have all made videos stating they are fed up and will be switching, too. This will catch up to Adobe soon if something is not done. Signed, a very annoyed customer--Tired of it!

[Lewis29007195w68k]

!!PROBLEM SOLVED!!! 

I had faced this same issue and after reading this last night I almost gave up I've 13 projects currently needing finished because of this issue.. 

anyway to FIX!... instead of using H.264 like I was trying I couldn't get the videos saved onto my phone from any sort of transfer software my phone just wouldn't save.. it would let me preview on site like google drive but no saving option.. I'm shooting 4k 50fps & my export is 4k 24fps & I've chosen to try H.265 (HEVC) & this has allowed me to transfer and save the video onto my phone 

HOPE THIS HELPED 🙏

[default24vaujr1d5ag]

As mentioned in my previous comments, 

The client needed the final product to be in a specific resoulition & codec, when the client requires H.264 you can't send them HEVC files lol. The real soloution is to use anything but Premiere Pro. 

[Evrim5FAC]

Hi Have you found any solutions? I have the same problem with iphone 14 pro max. 

[drg57]

I'm having this problem as well. Seems to happen when I shoot in 4k 60fps on the iphone. After exporting in Premiere Pro in H.264, I then edit it in windows photos and re-save it which the saved copy does work on an iPhone. I've just tried one of the solutions here to save as HEVC and that worked fine and was able to open in iPhone, Android and my Windows PC (but I've loaded the HEVC codec before).

[kents79264720]

I recently encountered similar issues.  The problem I faced was I used a more recent Panasonic camcorder to record a videos, and they were then brought into Premiere Pro just to combine with the sound tracks from a digital audio recorder.  The rendered output MP4's were not playable on iPhones, iPads, even iMacs.  They were playing just fine on Android devices and Windows PC's.  Changing the CODEC to HEVC DID solve the problem!  Thank God!

[ggdafool · Accepted solution]

Problem Fixed :high_voltage:

If you're experiencing encoding quality issues or compatibility problems with iPhones, make sure to check your Encoding Profile.

By default, it might be set to "Main", which can limit the bitrate and cause incompatibility with iOS devices.

Simply changing it to "High" improves quality and ensures better device compatibility.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Thanks for this solution. I will post it as a correct answer.

Kevin