Premiere cannot import MP4 files after Windows 10 "Creators Update"

[mrfournames]

Has anyone experienced issues with Premiere handling MP4 files after the big Windows 10 "Creators Update" ? Along with other minor problems with DLL files, I can no longer import H.264 MP4 files or any MP4 file type. Premiere gives me an "Unsupported format or damaged file" warning and I cannot preview the clips in Media Browser either. This happens regardless of CODEC, be it H.264, H.265, MPEG-2, or MPEG-4. Any MP4 file cannot be imported in Premiere on Windows 10, but they work just fine on Apple.

My specifications:

Edition: Windows 10 Pro N

Version: 1703 ("Creators Update")

OS Build: 15063.502

[excited_Genie16B8]

What camera created the media?

[mrfournames]

Jim, it appears to be a problem with all MP4 files either from a camera or exported by Premiere itself. For instance, I am able to export a project to H.264 MP4 but then Premiere is unable to import that file back into the project whatsoever.

[Ann Bens]

Might want to reinstall Pr and use cleanertool in the process.

Use the Adobe Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool to solve installation problems

[mrfournames]

Unfortunately after uninstalling every single app, uninstalling the CC Suite app, and doing the Cloud Cleaner Tool there is no change whatsoever with the MP4 issue. I think I'm going to try to roll back my Windows 10 install to a version prior to the 1703 Creators Update. Or I might do a complete clean install of the OS again.

[mrfournames]

Falling back to Windows 10 with Version 1607 and OS Build 14393.1480 seems to have solved the MP4 problem for both camera footage and MP4s made in Adobe and other file conversion software.

I saw a few instances of: "A low level exception occurred in: Importer MPEG-2/Quicktime" upon launching a few projects again for the first time but that seems to have stopped now. Curiously, even though all other random MP4s I tried worked just fine, I needed to create a new project in order to get the MP4 files I had been testing on over-and-over to work as well, even after clearing Media Cache Files.

In any case, I've always had some weird issues with Adobe when I chose the Windows 10 "Pro N" version over the Windows 10 "Pro" install, as the "N" version does not bundle in the Windows Media Player features that Premiere needs to run. I got it to work via a weird but official Windows download package and it ran just fine for months afterward. But I suspect a clean install of Windows 10 Pro is necessary to work all the kinks out of the system if I want to move forward with the Creators Update.

[Ann Bens]

Premiere does need or use WMP.

[mrfournames · Accepted solution]

Just writing back to confirm that a clean install of Window 10 Pro did the trick and seems generally less buggy without needing to download and install the "Media Feature Pack for N and KN versions of Windows 10". Installed the Creators Update and things are working just fine. I guess the lesson is to avoid the N or KN versions of Windows.

[Ann Bens]

Glad you got it sorted.

Thank for letting us know.

Next time when there is a Windows upgrade might want to go for the Pro version.

[excited_Genie16B8]

Quite odd.

If Ann's suggestion above doesn't work, here are more things you can try.

Unofficial Premiere Pro Troubleshooting Guide

[Ann Bens]

I did a creator update a few days ago and no issues.

Delete all media cache as shown below

FAQ: How to clean media cache files |Adobe Community

Rename topfolder the mp4 are in and try again.

[mrfournames]

Tried this and unfortunately it didn't seem to work.

Went to C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Common\Media Cache Files

Manually deleted everything in "Media Cache Files" and emptied the Recycle Bin.

Moved the MP4 files I want to use to an entirely different folder with a different name on the same HDD.

Launched Premiere 2017.1.2, still getting the same issues with MP4. Can't import MP4 files and cannot preview their footage or thumbnails in Media Browser.

I also am discovering that Premiere is no longer able to open or preview MOV files either, which it could do prior to the Creators Update.

Any other things I might do to clean out old files and reset things back to baseline?

[Kristian Gabriel]

I would definitely re-install Premiere using the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool. I also have been working with Windows 10 Creators Update with the latest edition of Premiere. I've had no issues other than some WIFI connection issues and a few Media Encoder crashes. Everything seem fine now. I re-installed Premiere and it flys.