Premiere Pro 2020 doesn't import mkv

[Guest]

I've been editing videos using a .mkv file format in CC 2019 on windows 10 but i noticed not only does CC 2019 on Mac OS not import .MKV but when i upgraded to CC 2020, my older projects and a new project I created doesn't let me import .mkv. I have no ideo how I got mkv to work on CC 2019 but any suggestions would be helpful!

[Peru Bob]

You will have to transcode them to a format that Premiere Pro supports.

[Ann Bens]

Mkv support has been discontinued.

Use Handbrake.

[JMKxyz]

We're talking about a container here, not codecs; chances are you can just rewrap the contents into an mov and it works fine.  I use ffmpeg for this and if you have fast ssd storage it's basically instantaneous, like copying and pasting a file.  I don't understand why so many people recommend lossy and time consuming transcoding with handbrake when the codecs are already compatible.

[donatob73406393]

Could you please specify the script to rewrap from mkv to mov with ffmpeg? I need it and I can't find it easily, would be much appreciated

[Guest]

simply execute this command: ffmpeg -i video.mkv -c copy video.mov

[Stan Jones · Accepted solution]

As indicated, mkv support was discontinued. It occurred with 2019.1.3 (final 2019 was 2019.1.5), so you must have been using a slightly earlier version.

If you kep your version of 2019, you can use it, but if you uninstalled it, you'll be unable to get back to a version that had mkv support.

Stan

[Maksat5EA4]

So, does that mean that I will have to use 2019.1.2 as the latest update that supported MKV? 

[Maksat5EA4]

Here it's said that "Since the release of Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2019 (13.1.3), Adobe has removed support for the MKV file format. Adobe has never offered support for encoding MKV."

Does it mean I will have to install Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2019 13.1.2?

[Klode82]

You can use MKV Toolnix as a tool for converting MKV to MP4 compatible format. This software does not make a transcoding, but extract all tracks from MKV container and put inside a new MP4 container. After that, on Premiere Pro you can substitute multimedia files with the new ones.

[Vetias]

Till now, MKV has not been added to the official supported format list. MKV was natively supported in Adobe Premiere Pro 2018 12.1 and later, but we can't find any official announcement about this improvement. 

Changes to MKV format support in Premiere Pro and Adobe Media Encoder | Adobe Blog

Our previous MKV file format was limited to decoding for playback. We have never offered support for encoding MKV, and overall usage of this format has been very low.

Users who need access to MKV files can consider third-party utilities. For rendering out video content for online platforms we encourage our users to take advantage of existing output options, such as H.264 and HEVC formats, which are widely used and supported.

Actually, the reason varies. You should know that codec format decides whether you can load a video or audio file successfully or not, while MKV is just a container format. So even though you are importing an .mkv video, the encoded file wrapped in the MKV box might not be supported, which leads to file import failure. Also it could be caused by an old-version Premiere Pro. Different Operating Systems have an impact on it as well.

MKV Import Failure in Adobe Premiere Pro is mainly due to incompatible file format or codec missing, You can try to rename the MKV as an MKV file. Or transcode MKV to other Premiere freindly formats with a software tool. I'm using currently easefab video converter, which allows to convert in almost all formats I think and it offers an optimized preset for Premiere Pro, or you can take a try at the free and open-source tool Handbrake.

[ronniediaz]

@CaptainForgee- feature request to bring back mkv support:

https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911233-premiere-pro/suggestions/38135902-restore-mkv-format...

[Media Editor]

Shutter Encoder can transcode your files.  It is a free program.