What does generating peak file means ?

[ryan_khoo]

Hi there,

I did some importing into Premiere Pro CC 2015.

As far as I was given to understand, whenever we do an import, Premiere Pro will establish & only create a link to that file ... meaning it does not copy the whole file and eats up the memory.

Now I noticed that sometimes when I did an import, on the bottom right, there is a running message which says "Generating peak file for filename.mov" and for AVCHD, it says "Conforming filename.mts".

So what does this "Generating peak file for filename.mov" means ? And most importantly, will it copy a file and eats up my memory ?

Thank you.

Cheers

[Jim_Simon · Accepted solution]

The .pek files allow the display of a waveform for audio.  You can turn this off in the Preferences, but then you won't see any waveforms for any of your audio files.

Conforming, in this case, means the creation of 32 bit floating-point audio files for use inside of PP, which will use these .cfa files for all audio processing, rather than the original audio.  This one can't be turned off.

Both take up space on the hard drive (not the same thing as 'memory'), but very little in comparison to video files.  You can also change where these files are stored with Cache settings.

[ryan_khoo]

J. Simon wrote:

The .pek files allow the display of a waveform for audio.  You can turn this off in the Preferences, but then you won't see any waveforms for any of your audio files.

Conforming, in this case, means the creation of 32 bit floating-point audio files for use inside of PP, which will use these .cfa files for all audio processing, rather than the original audio.  This one can't be turned off.

Both take up space on the hard drive (not the same thing as 'memory'), but very little in comparison to video files.  You can also change where these files are stored with Cache settings.

Thanks Simon for the answer, really appreciate it.

Thanks again ... and cheers

[Filmorus]

I don't need a sound wave either, I've been working by ear all my life and have never switch on in other programs. Now that I have to work in Premiere Pro, even disabling the sound wave does not stop this process. I'm not worried about performance, I just want to turn it off to free up the network channel to work, instead of waiting forever. Any hint...

[Peru Bob]

 disabling the sound wave does not stop this process.

By @Filmorus

If the audio files aren't conformed, Premiere Pro won't play the audio.

[Filmorus]

It's sad. In fact, I used to be in a situation where Avid did not have an AMA tool and any imported file had to be transcoded. Then AMA plugins from the creators of the formats appeared and all formats began to be read correctly without transformations. Adobe Premiere initially seemed to allow you to work with files directly, but in fact it turns out not to be so.