Missing Renderer Options in Project Settings + Consistent Export Error

[Ali Kerem21973796bkpq]

Hello Adobe Community,

I'm consistently encountering a render/export failure in Premiere Pro and suspect it may be related to GPU rendering settings. In previous versions or configurations, navigating to File > Project Settings > General presented two renderer options:

• Mercury Playback Engine GPU Acceleration (CUDA)

• Mercury Playback Engine Software Only

Currently, only one renderer option appears in that dropdown (screenshot attached), and the GPU acceleration option seems to be missing entirely—even though my system has a compatible NVIDIA GPU and the necessary drivers are installed.

Additionally, I'm attaching a screenshot of the export error message I receive. The error is persistent regardless of sequence settings, media codec, or export preset.

System Info:

• OS: Windows 11 Pro

• GPU: 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-12900KS 3.40 GHz

• Premiere Pro Version: Premiere Pro 2025 (Version 25.2.3 - Build 4)

• NVIDIA Driver Version: GeForce RTX 4080 - 32.0.15.7602

So far, I’ve tried:

• Updating GPU drivers

• Resetting Premiere Pro preferences

• Switching encoding options  Hardware or Software Encoding

• Switching Video Rendering and Playback options (but only one is visible)

• Clearing media cache

• Testing with a new project and sequence

I'd appreciate any insight into why the CUDA option might be missing from the renderer dropdown, and whether that could be related to the export failure. Is there a known issue with certain Premiere Pro versions and GPU detection?

Thanks in advance for your support.

Best regards,
[Tufan C]

[Ann Bens · Accepted solution]

No, not missing: Adobe changed the settings. They removed the option Software only.

The graphics card is automatically selected.

If you want to use Software only you will have to open Premiere while holding down shift.

[Ali Kerem21973796bkpq]

Thank you. 

[jamieclarke]

Hi @Ali Kerem21973796bkpq - Thank you so much I will be in touch.

[Ali Kerem21973796bkpq]

Hi Ann Bens,

Thank you so much for the clarification regarding the “Software Only” option in Premiere Pro. I wasn’t aware that Adobe had removed the manual selection and that holding down Shift while launching the program was now required.

I really appreciate you taking the time to share this—it saved me a lot of troubleshooting.

Best regards,

[jamieclarke]

Hi @Ali Kerem21973796bkpq -  Your GPU is working correctly, even though the option appears greyed out. This is expected behavior in version 25.2, where the software rendering option has been removed.  You can read more about it in this article Learn more about the removal of software rendering options.

We’re working to address these kinds of render failures that are typically resolved by switching to software rendering. Would you be able to send me just your project file so we can take a closer look and help troubleshoot? You can email it to jamiec@adobe.com

[Ali Kerem21973796bkpq]

Hi Jamie,

Thank you for the clarification and the helpful information regarding version 25.2.

I've just sent the project file to your email address as requested. Please let me know if you need any additional files or details to assist with troubleshooting.

Looking forward to your feedback.

Best regards,