Import HEVC x265 to Premiere: “codec missing or unavailable” error


Can’t import HEVC x265 MOV videos into Premiere Pro CC? You need to upgrade to PPro CC 2018 to get HEVC support. What if this doesn’t solve your issue or you don’t want to make the upgrade? Check this post to figure out a workable solution.
can’t import HEVC x265 MOV into Premiere Pro CC
Codec missing or unavailable: iPhone 8 Plus HEVC .mov file in Premiere CC 2017
“Hello guys, I’m working with Premiere Pro CC 2017 12.0.0. It won’t import HEVC videos that are .MOV shot on my iPhone 8 Plus. An error message pops up saying ‘Codec missing or unavailable’. I read that the new PPro CC 2018 version does have HEVC support. To be honest, I don’t like the 2018 version, so I won’t UPGRADE!!! Because I don’t like the new layout plus it’s not stable. Be more honest about it, I don’t like that Adobe change things with every single update, and we can’t even get used to one set of work, it took me forever to get used to the changes from 2015 to 2017 ver. and now I have to deal with 2018, that’s too much, I like to be with safe zone when I’m working on something, and I don’t have to deal with anything else. Any workarounds?”

If for any reason you can’t upgrade to Premiere Pro CC 2018, the only workaround to solve the issue is converting HEVC MOV media to DNxHD or ProRes codec before you start editing. Here’s how.

How to convert HEVC x265 video for smooth editing within Premiere Pro?

Here’s what you need
HD Video Converter (simply download the proper version depending on your computer’s OS)
transcoding HEVC for Premieretranscoding HEVC for Premiere

Step 1: Start up HD Video Converter as an HEVC H.265 to Premiere Pro Converter.

Step 2: Click ‘Add File’ to import your source media to the program.
transcoding X265 HEVC for Premiere

Step 3: Select output format
* If you are on a Windows PC, from the “Profile” bar, choose ‘Avid DNxHD 1080p (*.mov)’ as output under ‘Avid Media Composer’ column. (See the screenshot above)

** If you are on a Mac computer, choose ‘Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)’ as target under ‘Final Cut Pro’ catalogue.
transcoding HEVC h.265 for Premiere

*** Note that this converter program can only output Apple ProRes and DNxHD video up to 1080p, if you want to preserve 4K quality of your source files, you need to select “4K Video” > “4K H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Video (*.mp4)” as target format. To export 4K files, please make sure your computer has enough power to process 4K. If not, simply select Apple ProRes or DNxHD as output format depending on your OS.
transcoding HEVC for Premiere

Step 4: Custom video and audio settings (for advanced users)
Click ‘Settings’ button, the ‘Profile Settings’ panel pops up, on which you are able to modify video and audio settings like resolution, bit rate, frame rate, sample rate and audio channel.

Step 5: When ready, click ‘Convert’ to start transcoding HEVC H.265 files to Premiere Pro supported format. As soon as the conversion is complete, click ‘Open Folder’ button to locate the generated files and now you are able to open them in Premiere Pro for further editing smoothly.

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