Frame substitution recursion attempt aborting after multiple attempts on file

[kbourg]

I'm a beginner at Premiere Pro, and I just updated it to v13.1.5. I've been working on this project for months, and now that I updated I keep getting these errors "Frame substitution recursion attempt aborting after multiple attempts on file" "Error retrieving frame" (see attached). It has affected about 90% of my footage making my file unusable. I was online with Adobe Support for 2 hours yesterday with no resolution. Does anyone have any ideas on if this can even be fixed? I tried replacing my footage with the orginal again and still no luck. I also attached my computer specs. Hopefully I'm explaining this correctly since I'm a beginner.

[Malabath]

Thanks for sharing this tip! This worked for me too!

[elyssarenae]

THANK YOU! I've been scratching my head about this problem for a while and this fix worked perfectly.

[defaulth09q3zt7e03m]

This worked for me. Thanks for the tip man.

[defaultz5yr8cu1t1xe]

This was extremely helpful. Worked for me after much time searching for a solution. Thank you!

[Darnus]

This worked for me. Thanks!

[jasonlyledrake]

This has not worked for me so I guess it doesn't solve it in every scenario. My problem is with files I'm exporting from Resolve. I'll use my normal process of exporting and importing files in one project with no problems and one hour later do the same process in a different project and get this error no matter what I do. I've used your suggestion. I've exported different file types. I've placed all files onto a different drive. I've started an entirely new project. I've cleared all cache. I've restarted everything. And it only gives me fits with the files from this particular project.

It happened to me one other time to only a handful of files that time and what solved it then was exporting as a single clip from Resolve rather than individual files. That isn't working this time. We had to just give up on this project and color the footage in Premiere which is unfortunate.

[Cezar5EEF]

huh? hello in the future, so, deleting render files is grayed out for me, is this assuming the whole project is finished? help

[Randune23]

I have NO IDEA why it worked but it did.  Thanks for making the Adobe Community a great resource.  I got kind of scared when PP told me, "This action cannot be undone."  But I saved the project as a new file, deleted the rendered files, shut down, opened PP back up and NO MORE ERRORS!!!  Thank you!!!

Randy

[Zulqarnain23864760rx39]

I can't select "Delete Render Files" option in "Sequence". Also got the same problem.

[Kaili98C6]

I am trying to fix this but when I go to sequence I can't click on it. It is not an option its faded....

[Pookyloo]

I had this problem with some of my png files, but after rotating them they worked? 

[tempeh69204614]

This worked! Thank you so much for your guidance. You saved me a huge headache.

[oxendaleliam]

Glad I could help 😀

[mattr88143237]

I came accross this too today on a wedding film I'm editing. Sometimes I grab a few clips on my iphone if I see something but don't have my main camera's set up. I dropped them in a few days ago and when I came to continue editing this warning happened to me. I converted the .MOV files into MP4's using Handbrake and re-linked these new clips - hey presto, all is good with my file now.

[rolpos]

First I deleted all the preview files from my scratch disk. That did not help. Then i deleted all the rendered files from the sequence and the problem was gone. Hope this will help you also.

[bryan0D45]

Hey I just enouctered this problem with an AMV im making. I went to my sequence settings and changed the fps in timebase to a higher rate(60fps). If your footage is processed at a higer frame rate this should do the trick. No errors now =D. Hope it works out for you guys!

[Kyra5E1F]

This worked for me, thank you for the suggestion, my project is saved!! Had this error after updating Premiere (from 14.4 to 14.5), and half of my video files weren't working. Changed sequence settings from 59.94fps to 60.00fps and all seems well again!

[madison5CFC]

Hi I was wondering if anyone can help me, I'm a beginner too and have been receiving this message for one of my video clips. It's an mpg file. Ive tried resetting preferences and plugin cache. Ive tried going preferences "video rendering and playback" changing to Mercury Playback Engine software only and it hasnt worked. Ive tried deleting rendered files and rendering selected files. I feel like ive tried all the solutions everyone has found to work for them and nothings working. Does anyone have any advice I would appreciate it a lot thanks x

[Dwight5EEA]

I had a similar problem with my film which I have been working on for 2 years. Now in prepping the file for Bluray/DVD replication, I noticed increasing "Frame recursion" errors rendering most of my archival material unusable. I tried everything, but what worked for me was to completely delete my "Media Cache Files". The entire project had to re-process all the files, but once finished, it was once aain error free.

[rolpos]

Just what I did: not only media cache but also all preview and rendered
files.

[stevenm4802044]

I know what I did wrong.. Recording a 4k capture on a SD card with a speed rating of 1.   Duh!

[Kerfuffle2019]

Try clearing out your media cache in library/application support/adobe/common

that did it for me.

[Stauffer Studios]

I have tried the higher framerate, clearing cache, new project and nothing works for me other than going back to Premiere 2019.  My question is, why does this happen so often, where an upgrade totally breaks things that used to work?  This is not cheap software and especially for those hobbiests like myself who don't use this continusously but yet pay full price, it is very frustrating.  I suppose if i did this for a living it would be even more frustrating but at least I would be making money doing it.

[jones1351]

I'm having/have had this and other problems with Adobe updates since 2015. Like you, I'm a hobbyist - if my living depended on this I'd probably be ready to burn the place down. Anyway...

This guy, ‘Barnacules’ may have a clue or two towards the answer to your question. I know he’s talking about Microsoft, but I suspect it may also apply to Adobe. Makes me think of how medicines/vaccines help 90+% of patients but for some they can cause allergic reations. Thus many clinical trials before release.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9kn8_oztsA

[Pat Finnegan]

None of the suggestions in this thread worked for me. In my case, I think there was something wrong with one clip in the timelines. It played fine in VLC and in the timeline, but it marked the point at which the render failed. I noticed this by watching the preview windows in Media Encoder as it rendered. My solution was to click on that clip and do a Render and Replace." Then the timeline rendered without error.