Windows 7 too old for Adobe Media Encoder ?

[Rémi5C95]

Hi there!

I'm a new user of Premiere Pro. I installed it on my computer wich runs on Windows 7.
The problem is that when I want to export my project, I want to have it in .mov, so I choose Quicktime, but the H264 video codec won't appear in the list and if I choose another video codec, VLC cannot play the video. I read somewhere that the absence of the H264 codec is due to the fact that Adobe Media Encoder is not installed. And I can't install it because I would have to upgrade to windows 10 (which would be too complicated for me).
Anyway I was wondering if there is a way to find an old version of Adobe Media Encoder for Windows 7, and if not, how I could export my project in .mov without it.

My english is not perfect but I hope I have explained the problem clearly.

Thanks a lot for your help, I'm kinda lost.

[John T Smith · Accepted solution]

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/system-requirements.html
-Win7 is dead https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-7-end-of-life-support-information
-Win8 is also no longer supported https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4580358/windows-8-1-update

[Rémi5C95]

Yes, thanks, I'm aware of that.
Could you think of another way to export my project in .mov without Media Encoder ?

[Jeff Bellune]

Is there any way you can use H.264 in an .mp4 wrapper instead of a .mov wrapper?

I'm on a Mac and even here, H.264 in a .mov wrapper is not an option. I have to choose H.264 and Pr creates an .mp4 file.

[Rémi5C95]

Thanks Jeff for your response.

I wish to have the best quality possible without having a super-heavy file (like I would have using AVI) and I was told that MOV was the best option. Like I said I'm new to all this, but I have the impression that my video would get better quality with MOV rather than MP4. But maybe I'm wrong ?

[Jeff Bellune]

One of the most important lessons a video editor can learn is the difference between a codec and a file format. 

• A codec determines how the video is stored digitally. All codecs compress video into smaller file sizes to store it. They have to discard some of the video information to do that. This compression starts in the camera or software that first captures the video.
• The best quality codecs are "lossless" because when their files are played back, the video is virtually indistinguishable from the original. The drawback is their file sizes are quite large. ProRes 4444 is an example. So is Cineform. 
• The most efficient codecs are ones like H.264. They throw away enough video information to make relatively small file sizes, but when they are decompressed and played back, the quality of the video is so close to the original that it appears no different to the eye. That involves a lot of number-crunching. The biggest drawback to high-efficiency codecs is the massive amount of computing power required to decompress the video on the fly for playback and editing.
• Those compressed videos have to be stored in a container that computers can recognize. That's where file format comes in. Just like this sentence  I'm writing could be copied and pasted into a Word document, it could also be pasted into a simple text editor. Now, Word can read a .txt file, but Notepad can't read a .doc file. They serve different purposes. Yet the actual words I used in the sentence are exactly the same in both. The .doc file and .txt file are only containers (or wrappers) for my words.
• The equivalent situation in video are the various file formats we all know: AVI, MOV, MP4, MXF, etc. They can all contain video in a variety of codecs, but they were designed for different purposes. It's not the file format that determines quality. It's the codec inside the wrapper. 

[Rémi5C95]

Thanks a lot for this explanation, it seems clearer now. 
So, just to be sure, H.264 in an .mp4 wrapper would be likely the same as a H.264 in a .mov wrapper in terms of quality, it would just be played by different players ?

I'm sorry if I insist, my english is not perfect and I want to be sure I understant what you wrote.

[Jeff Bellune]

 H.264 in an .mp4 wrapper would be likely the same as a H.264 in a .mov wrapper in terms of quality, it would just be played by different players ?

That is exactly correct. 😀👍🏻

PS - Mon Francais est plus mal que ton Anglais. 

[Rémi5C95]

Ahah, nice !

One last question : does the same logic apply concerning audio ? I mean, would it be different in terms of quality if I choose an MP4 wrapper over a MOV wrapper ? 

[Jeff Bellune]

The same logic applies to audio as well.

[Rémi5C95]

Great!
thanks a lot for your help Jeff.

Bonne journée ! 😉