"We were unable to open file on disk"

[elkalamar]

I have an error with two files in Premiere Pro CC 2019 (13.0), where they appear offline although they previously played fine in PPro.

When I try to relink the files or import them fresh into PPro, I get the error message "We were unable to open file on disk". When I look at details in the "Events" panel, I see: "File contains more than one image descriptor".

What does this mean?

The files (Pro Res Alpha 4444 1920 x 1080) play fine in Quicktime 7 and VLC player, but now won't open in either AE or Premiere Pro. What could be the issue?

[elkalamar]

So does anyone have any idea what the message "File contains more than one descriptor" means?

- and what I can do to get these files open in Premiere Pro? As mentioned previously, they open and play fine in Quicktime and VLC player. I'm rather desperate to use these files as I'm mid-edit but they won't open in the Adobe programs (hence it's not as if I can transcode them).

Thanks...

[defaultj3n3e44r5ydj]

In your fcpx timeline, add a gap (edit > insert generator > gap) for  a second or less. Your first frame should be a black screen.  

Export as prores, then import in premiere. Works with me 100%

[karma_koan]

"In your fcpx timeline, add a gap (edit > insert generator > gap) for  a second or less. Your first frame should be a black screen."

Excellent tip, and solved the issue for me, but I also wanted to point out that audio should not be exported with Prores 4444 with alpha files.  It never works for me when the file is exported with audio.  This was pointed out somewhere else but I wanted to put these two tips together in one message for future reference to those that might need it. 

[elkalamar]

And to emphasise, these files did open and play fine previously in my Adobe software.

[excited_Genie16B8]

I don't recall anything like this ever reported here.  The specific error message seems OS related.  As I'm not a mac guy, this one's difficult to help with.

Were the problem files created by yourself, or downloaded from some other creator?

[elkalamar]

They are Pro Res Alpha digital scans of super-8 films. They have worked fine in all software up until now, Adobe software now rejects them whilst other software has no problem opening them

[excited_Genie16B8]

OK.

One thing you might try is opening them in an earlier version of the software.  Sometimes new versions do introduce a bug.

[elkalamar]

Thanks. Have just tried opening in CC 2018 and files also fail to open there, only this time with a different error message: "File has no audio or video media stream"

(which is patently not true as they open in Quicktime and VLC)

[excited_Genie16B8]

Got it.

So my next thought is Step 2K below.

Unofficial Premiere Pro Troubleshooting Guide

[elkalamar]

thanks. that's a useful link...

in the meantime I've got Davinci Resolve downloaded and installed on my machine, it also opens the "offending" files fine so I'm re-exporting the Pro Res 4444 from there and hopefully these newly generated files will sidestep the issue in PPro

[excited_Genie16B8]

A good solution.

While you're in Resolve, try skipping a step and just editing the program there.  It's become quite a competent NLE, and still excels over Adobe for color work.

[SAFEHARBOR11]

Just as good practice, don't use punctuation in file names / paths as some symbols have special meaning to Windows and can mess with you. For instance the parentheses (1920x1080) in the file name. Also the space after Super-8

Thanks

Jeff

[elkalamar]

I haven't really had to worry about this as everything I'm doing is on Mac OS the minute, and I'm not collaborating with anyone on PC. But good to bear in mind though

[elkalamar]

thanks, good idea... it seems a nice platform. it also seems to do very nicely what Adobe has not managed to achieve in terms of interactivity between DAW and video edit timelines. looking deeper into it!

[jschroter]

I am having this same issue. The HD ProRes 4444 I exported will open in Premiere but the UHD ProRes 4444 I exported will not. Same error as you are seeing “file contains more than one image header”. I am sure it is a bug, as both files have an alpha embedded, even though I would rather not have the alpha channel. The only difference in my two files is the resolution. The codecs and audio channels are identical. Have you had any success when re-exporting from DaVinci Resolve? Maybe there is a way to remove the alpha channel from the original file without a re-export?

[Tadej_Droljc]

I got the same error message. I am on Win 10 and when I tried importing a 4K Prores4444 file that opens on Mac in Quicktime or FCPX I got this error message. However, some 4K Prores4444 files work and this one is not special in any way so it seems it's some bug

[technologyd83848706]

Using mediainfo we found the working files to be YUV and when they have alpha (YUVA) they import as audio and the error "File contains more than one image descriptor". *MAC10.14 & WIN10

[gdmsndmxr]

I am having the same exact issue. Any fixes yet?

[GreenMachine-3000]

Hi. I am having the same issue. "File contains more than one image descriptor"

Same setup Win 10. 4k ProRes4444. Did you find a solution?

[ashb89776577]

Multiple image descriptors usually means that more than one codec is contained within the QT atom. FCP can often be the culprit as you can load various codecs into a sequence and if you don't recompress all frames some of the image descriptors are retained. Frustratingly Adobe doesn't deal with this at all since they stopped supporting legacy QT 7 (Premiere Pro 11.1.x was the last one that did) - your best bet is to try and export out of FCP (if you have access to it!!) and tick the 'recompress all frames' box in the export window. 

[Dean358]

Ran into this same problem trying to take ProRes 4:4:4:4 files output from Apple FCP-X into Adobe AE or Premiere. I found that taking the problematic ProRes 4:4:4:4 files into Apple Compressor and re-outputting them as new ProRes 4:4:4:4 files solves the problem. Note that compressor has to be set to "ProRes 4:4:4:4" and NOT to "ProRes 4:4:4:4 with Alpha."  The "Preserve Alpha" button in the video setting must NOT be checked (this is the default setting).

This is, obviously, not the most elegant solution. But at least it works.

[Brian5EF5]

For Mac users, you can just change the file extention name from ".mov" to ".mp4" and Premiere will magically accept your file.

[Cal5FE4]

That's what I thought too. I've used that method before, but for this file it did not work.

If that doesn't work for anyone else and you're not worried about the quality too much...I just used QT and screen recorded and exported it as h.264 and replace it with that file. Then it will work fine when you pull it into premiere. 

[Michael Grenadier]

and if quality is an issue (it almost always is with me) you might want to purchase apple compressor which might be able to convert the clip another high quality format without any discernable loss.