Can’t Import Panasonic AJ-CX4000 4K Videos to Adobe Premiere Pro due to Codec Missing?

When Adobe Premiere Pro users attempt to import HD/4K videos captured by Panasonic AJ-CX4000 camcorder, or other devices, they may receive an error message saying ‘codec missing or unavailable’. The missing codec probably refers to HEVC which is the successor to the widely used H.264. HEVC is getting increasingly popular and becomes the preferred codec to encode 4K recordings. However, the well-known Adobe Premier Pro doesn’t seem to keep up with this trend. It still cannot be fully compatible with this new videos.

If you’re using a trial version of Adobe Premiere Pro CC, it is no surprise that you see ‘codec missing or unavailable’ error. This is because trial version doesn’t recognize Panasonic AJ-CX4000 4K MOV files. Only licensed Adobe Creative Cloud members can use HEVC codec. If you’re a licensed user but still can’t import HEVC videos in 4K, you can try transcoding HEVC to H.264 or other Premiere Pro supported format. Below are 3 solutions to solve Panasonic AJ-CX4000 HEVC codec missing or unavailable on Premiere Pro.

Way 1: How to fix HEVC ‘Codec missing or unavailable’ – Download and install HEVC codec for Adobe Premiere Pro

Step 1. Open Adobe Premiere Pro and enter your license.

Step 2. Import your HEVC-encoded video into Adobe Premiere Pro, and then you may receive a prompt as shown in the picture. (Some users might not get this message.)

Step 3. Click OK to perform HEVC codec installing.

Step 4. Restart your computer.

Once done, Adobe Premiere Pro should be able to import your Panasonic AJ-CX4000 4K MOV footage without popping up codec missing error. However, not everyone can install HEVC codec successfully.

“Yeah I got that popup and pressed OK, but I got some error. It says ‘The importer reported a generic error’.”
“So I clicked OK and got a message saying the codec was missing.”

And, the import error may still persist even if you have managed to install HEVC codec. What’s more, installing new codec may cause new problems. It may lead to codec conflict and failure of reading some files.

Way 2: How to fix HEVC ‘Codec missing or unavailable’ error – Upgrade your Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe Premiere Pro extends the support for HEVC files with the release of Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2015, but doesn’t support LongGOP MOV wrapped HEVC files until the arrival of Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2019. Therefore, if you need to import 4K files in MOV format, may be from your Panasonic AJ-CX4000, into Adobe Premiere Pro, make sure you’re using version 13.0 or later. Below are the steps to upgrade Premiere Pro to the latest version.

Step 1. Save your work and close your Adobe apps, or you will receive a warning to close.

Step 2. Open Adobe Creative Cloud desktop app, click Apps tab, and then you will see those installed Adobe apps including Adobe Premiere Pro CC. When there’re available update versions, you’ll see Update buttons next to the apps.

Step 3. Click Update next to Adobe Premiere Pro CC. If you want to update all apps, you should click Update All.

Step 4. Set Advanced Options.
▪ Select or deselect Import previous settings and preferences. If this option is checked, settings and preferences of your previous version will be moved to the new version.
▪ Select or deselect Remove old versions. If this option is checked, your previous version will be removed.

Step 5. After finishing all settings, click Update to start upgrading Premiere Pro CC to the most recent version.

Way 3: Convert HEVC to an Adobe compatible format to fix ‘Codec missing or unavailable’ error.

If you are still unable to import HEVC-encoded files into Adobe Premiere Pro CC after upgrading, it may be because your HEVC files use variable framerate (VFR). Although Premiere Pro had an update to support VFR, it still can’t deal with most of VFR videos. You need to convert your videos from variable framerate to constant framerate using a converter, such as Acrok Video Converter Ultimate. This probably solves your problem.

Free download 4K HEVC Converter here

>> Free Download Acrok Video Converter Ultimate for Mac
>> Free Download Acrok Video Converter Ultimate

If you need the easist solution to import HEVC videos to Adobe Premiere Pro:

Convert HEVC to an Adobe compatible format to fix ‘Codec missing or unavailable’ error.

As mentioned above, HEVC was first added to the supported native video formats with the release of Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2015.1 update. Nevertheless, importing HEVC files into Premiere Pro is still a headache problem. Then, transcoding HEVC files becomes a highly recommended method, especially if your files are in 4K and you don’t have a high-end computer.

HEVC is a non-performant format that is difficult to edit with and requires much computing power to process. So, it isn’t a bad idea to convert HEVC to a different format. To do this, you can turn to hardware-accelerated Acrok Video Converter Ultimate for help. Apart from changing file format, Acrok software can also convert your VFR videos to constant frame rate. This converter works fast while keeping high quality. Free download and install this HEVC to Premiere Pro Converter and you’ll be able to convert HEVC to Adobe Premiere Pro accepted format with constant framerate in 3 simple steps.

Acrok Video Converter Ultimate – The One-click Way to Convert Panasonic AJ-CX4000 4K MOV to Adobe Premiere Pro Supported Format.

• Accept HEVC videos from Panasonic, GoPro, DJI, iPhone, Canon camera, etc.
• Output media in file formats natively supported by Adobe Premiere Pro.
• Convert video in 3 simple steps. Level-3 hardware acceleration makes it super fast.
• Easy editing experience: cut, crop, merge, split, stabilize, denoise…

Step 1. Open Acrok Video Converter Ultimate, and then you should see four big buttons in the main UI. Click Add File icon and then drag and drop target Panasonic AJ-CX4000 files into the screen.

Step 2. Click the Format tab at the bottom bar and choose an Adobe Premiere Pro compatible preset, such as MP4 H.264. For more choices, you can click Target Format.

If your Premiere Pro doesn’t supports 4K editing, please H.264 1080P MP4 asoutput format.

Step 3. Hit Convert in the lower right corner and the conversion will begin in no time. Once done, try importing the videos into Adobe Premiere Pro and see if codec missing error disappears or not.

Final Words:

HEVC is still not as popular as H.264, so it is inevitable to experience some errors such as codec missing on Premiere Pro because of incompatibility. This situation will be gradually improved. Currently, the most effective workaround is to transcode HEVC to another supported format with Acrok Video Converter Ultimate or something else. Acrok Video Converter Ultimate is worth a try. It is a piece of multifunctional video processing software integrated with video converting, video editing, Blu-ray/DVD digitizing. Try it on your PC or Mac right now!