Years and years later, and still no MKV support?

[dorraj]

CC 2017 just came out, and I was majorly disappointed to find out that MKV (Matroska) files are still not supported. There are posts dating back to 2012 about this. A lot of high-quality online videos are shared as MKV files, as the container is only getting more and more popular. Windows 10 even announced that they will support MKV right out of the box in 2014. Here it is, 2017, and somehow, Adobe Premiere Pro still does not support MKV. How? The most basic of video players out there nowadays support MKV, how does the best video editor software still not support it??

[Admiral_Cook]

mp4 and mov - this is true, but avi, wmv, and flv are not commonly used by the professionals.

Anyway, support for mkv in Adobe products would be great. Why not?

[Jim_Simon]

support for mkv in Adobe products would be great. Why not?

A fair question to ask.

My answer is, limited resources.  Adobe just doesn't have the manpower to develop every single feature request.  They have to pick and choose.  It is my belief that this feature isn't as needed by professionals as soooo many other features are.  It is my belief that this feature would be more appropriate for Premiere Elements, whose intended market uses the format far more than the market for PP.

[EuroSiti]

Perhaps it's easier just to draw a conclusion from the list of supported audio/video/container formats: Premiere Pro CC supported file formats ... Notice the total absence of open standards on the list.

There is only one good explanation if you apply a commercial perspective: The industry make extra money from software patents (the idea that you can patent maths and thereby simply prevent others from using similar algorithms for image or audio compression).

As long as this dubious source of passive income & market control is legally acknowledged (in the USA but not in the EU or Asia as far as I know), we aren't going to see any support for (technically superior) open standards in any commercial piece of software that relies on close collaboration with the photo, music & film industry.

[Jim_Simon]

The problem with the "patent" argument is that OpenEXR and CinemaDNG are both open standards, free of licensing fees.  Support is included in Premiere Pro because professionals use them.  (Though support for CinemaDNG is so very limited that PP is largely useless with the format.)

I'm also not aware of any licensing fees for using the DV codec, nor the AVI, MOV or MXF containers (though the codecs used in those containers might be licensed).

MKV is just not used by professionals in any great quantity.  It's target market is primarily the consumer market, for which Premiere Elements is designed.

[Ann Bens]

Elements does not support mkv either.

[Jim_Simon]

Understood.  My point was that if MKV support is ever added, it makes more sense to spend those limited development resources on adding it to Premiere Elements, which is designed for the crowd that uses MKV, rather than in Premiere Pro, which is designed for a crowd that doesn't.

[james2ue]

Dear Noiz and Sim Son,

It does not matter about the adobe premier has designed for professional extension such as mov, mp4 or else. The Adobe Premier still supports extinct video extension like 3gp, rm.. and well.. not for mkv.

MKV is not an extinct extention as it's very high video and audio quality; it's quite popular for movies, anime sharing. So MKV is so famous, and who care it's for professional or not.

I frequently use Logic Pro X or iMovies to open the mkv because sometime I may need a nice music track from the movies. Adobe Premier still play 3gp, rm which I rarely found from the internet sources. So that's why we're asking about why an expensive tool like Premier is not supporting much of video files? even add-on purchase?

Thx, I'm not trying to argue here. Just rise a very popular problem when I work on video files.

[Kevin-Monahan · Accepted solution]

Hi dorraj,

File a feature request here.

Thanks!

Kevin

[Zac Lam]

This could be an opportunity for a third-party developer, who could also potentially build an importer plug-in for the .mkv format, using the Premiere Pro plug-in SDK.

[DigitalSoju]

Is there still no plugin for it? I tried to google but all I saw were video conversion apps.

[WebOfWebs]

Many of the replies here are just simply wrong.

Its also reveals the naiveity and ignorance of the self proclaimed professionals

Real professionals use whatever is available, and what their clients demand (even if your own opinion is different).

Now, MKV is slowly but steadily becoming more popular. The reason being: its technically superiour to all the rest.

Secondly - its only a container. Meaning the video (and audio) codecs inside are still whatever you want.

The true reason Adobe refuses it, is because they are in cohoots with Apple - who want to charge us for the air we breath.

So read a book or two and dont just get your information from youtube echo chambers.

[Jim_Simon]

MKV is slowly but steadily becoming more popular.

In the consumer market perhaps.  But there aren't any pro/sumer cameras using it (that I know of).  And I'm not aware of any NLE using it for intermediate codecs.  So in the professional world which PP is designed for, it's a non-entity.

[WebOfWebs]

Something I find a little off...

Mr. Simon, and the above Mr Haugen, both criticize requests and are very disparaging of others opinions, as though you'all have to defend the honour of Adobe, as if it cant defend itself ???!!!

The impression is you're beating a dead horse that was itself grasping for straws...

From the research I've done you are no more "professional" nor "expert" than virtually all the people who have requested MKV container support. !!!!!!!!!!!!!

So why continue to quibble?

People more professional than you have requested MKV for YEARS.

Other features that have LESS requests (and cost more) have been implemented.

Clearly the discussion should be on the real reasons: maybe Licensing, Resistance to Open Standards, the general evilness and amorality of Apple, etc, etc ?

Personally I use VLC for conversion into desired formats, that clients pay for - making the process "professional"

[R Neil Haugen]

Puzzling post. Your assumptions are rather ... well, incomplete, would be polite. If you had any actual knowledge of either Jim or myself's participation on this forum (and the SpeedGrade one for myself) you wouldn't have written this. We've both got our areas we think are adequate to good, and areas we've excoriated "Adobe" over.''

So your "research" seems a bit suspect.

I'd have no problem with Adobe adding mkv ... though in checking around at NAB, this isn't a format that very many seem at all interested in. It's got many options that would be useful, sure. But I don't see any interest in either the engineers I've talked with nor most of the users there. Hence I've suggested people use the Feature Request form process.

I'd perhaps consider Apple more the spoiled kindergarten child ... what's yours is mine, what I got bored with yesterday becomes mine as soon as you pick it up ... I don't tell you nothin' ... if you touch my stuff I punch your nose ... and ... everything's my stuff if I say so.

As to the licensing things, well ... that's not something I've got any knowledge about, so wild speculation seems a bit of a waste.

[EuroSiti]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/R+Neil+Haugen  skrev

... though in checking around at NAB, this isn't a format that very many seem at all interested in.

It has often been mentioned that no cameras uses the MKV container. The newer HTC models do in fact use the MKV specifically for 4k video with "3D" audio. I haven't checked if other camera manufacturers have also begun using MKV for the same purpose, but this is definetely a very good reason to start changing the tune. This particular container limitation is nothing more than a pointless obstacle from a customer perspective... https://www.reddit.com/r/htc/comments/4ma8je/htc_10_4k_video_recording_using_mkv_files/?st=j5h9jzwp&...

Google's new AV1 video format is now backed by most of the big players in the software industry (even Adobe!) https://www.xda-developers.com/av1-future-video-codecs-google-hevc/  ... but not by Apple, of course.

[R Neil Haugen]

One ... leetle ... problem with your post. While the HTC10's "official" page leads off about the quality of the camera, it is by device type ... a ... phone.

And I'm guessing it's still in VFR like all other phones ... have you seen any info that would show otherwise?

The built-in problem here is that PrPro is NOT built to support VFR, and apparently they have no intention of doing so. As the HTC probably produces VFR, I doubt they would consider that a "camera" that they needed to support.

Now ... if Arri or RED came out using MKV in CFR, that would be the trigger to get support for MKV.

Neil

[Death2DRM]

Pat on the back for HTC for having some common sense.

Any "professional" who chooses inferior containers that have less features and support fewer codecs cannot call him/herself a professional at all.

What I'm suspecting is, the majority of these "professionals" go where the big software companies take them, like a bunch of sheep. It's the consumers who end up using the majority of this material who know the pain of using/working with certain containers but of course, it's their voices that remain unheard.

At the companies I've worked for, we've recruited many developers, most of the best of them were the self-taught, sometimes hobbyist, and some of the worst of them were the recent Comp Sci graduates. Yet it's the latter who are normally considered these... "professionals".

"I'm just a professional. I'm just a professional. Getting sick and tired of hearing that." (Sorry couldn't resist.)

[Jim_Simon]

Any "professional" who chooses inferior containers

We don't always have a choice.  I'd love to use MXF for Cineform and UT, for example, rather than QuickTime and AVI.  But Adobe doesn't offer it.

[DigitalSoju]

I actually found a great solution. Download a program called "Box4" (free) and it will demux it and it will become an mp4 file. From there, you can import it into Premiere. No loss of quality and it's the same file size as before.

[Yogamreet]

Box4 is Windows only (

[wernerd99167060]

First, mkv is no codec but a container format. Hence supporting it is no problem. It contains the normal mp4 video and normal PCM audio in my case. Only that a .mp4 file does not allow for that combination.

Second, Windows supports it out of the box, hence it is odd to not support it in Adobe.

Third, a professional software aligns to the user needs, not vice versa. There is the need to edit mkv files obviously.

It is Adobe's decision to balance cost versus benefit. Given it is a ***** container for codecs already supported, the costs are essentially zero.

[EuroSiti]

The problem with the "patent" argument is that OpenEXR and CinemaDNG are both open standards, free of licensing fees.

Some fair points there, but a difference between these open standards and the others mentioned here (in this thread and several other similar threads posted in here during the past 8 years) is that these particular ones were developed by Adobe - or by partners that Adobe are used to collaborate with. Despite being well technically specified and/or recommended long-term storage formats, both Google's WebM container, VP9 video, Opus audio, FLAC audio, FFV1 lossless video, AV1 lossless video, and the MKV container were all developed outside the normal industry community of camera/hardware suppliers.

Of course, Adobe is fully aware that a large number of their customer base would appreciate the option to import and export video in these particular formats. You don't see any of these formats officially supported/implemented in any of the socalled 'professional' tools, not even in the more consumer-oriented software tools like PSE. This can only be explained by a certain level of 'cultural' resistance.

I once again have to stress that formats like MKV, FLAC and FFV1 are professionally recommended formats for long term video and audio storage. The 'there's just no demand among the professionals' argument makes me wonder why these 'professionals' are even relevant in this discussion? A professional photographer or a media bureau probably just uses whatever formats that are supported by the hardware and software they work with. If Adobe only pays attention to the quite closed eco system of hardware manufacturers (who definetely don't care about open standards) and their primary buyers, namely industry professionals (but not the large market of amateurs, professional archivists, small entrepreneurs or hobby users who are also paying Adobe customers as far as I'm aware), then there will obviously never be any 'relevant demand' for long term storage formats... A closed eco system / food chain.

[cybermancer]

What I don't get is why it can support exporting webm - an open container based on matroska - but not regular matroska. This even comes with support for open audio codecs (vorbis, opus), and adobe media encoder already supported the open vpx.  Why hasn't anyone made a similar free plugin for mkv,  or better yet both?

[cbenci]

I too would like support for MKV and while we are at it FLAC, in Media Encoder at the very least so I can convert it to another codec.

All the arguments that it's not a "professional" codec is my opinion making excuses for it's lack of support by Adobe.

Sure, as a day to day codec I wouldn't use it but at times I am supplied footage that is in the mkv format. To be able to work with that footage directly in Premier or After Effects would remove a couple of steps.

[Jim_Simon]

All the arguments that it's not a "professional" codec is my opinion making excuses for it's lack of support by Adobe.

It's not an excuse, it's an explanation.  Adobe can't add every feature people ask for.  They have to pick and choose.  It's entirely rational for them to choose features that will benefit the majority of editors, rather than a few outliers.  At the moment, MKV has no significant usage in the professional world, the market segment Premiere Pro is designed for.

Although, that does seem to be changing.  (The market segment, not the usage of MKV.)  Adobe does at least seem to be veering away from pro use and more into YouTuber territory, with the addition of VR and failure to properly support professional formats like CinemaDNG, RED and Alexa ProRes.

So who knows, they may add MKV support before it's truly warranted.