Adobe Media Encoder Not Working: Troubleshooting and FAQ

If you notice any problems with Adobe Media Encoder not working as it is supposed to, you need to find a quick solution to the encountered problem to speed up your workflow and avoid possible delays.

Below, I have described several time-tested ways of fixing these issues. Using them, you can ensure that you will be able to quickly encode your media files when preparing to a business meeting or a presentation.

After Adobe has released its 2023 version of its popular products, many users started to complain that they encounter issues when trying to export files from Premiere Pro and After Effects using the latest version of Media Encoder.

For instance, many of them noticed that it’s impossible to see your project when exporting it in AME.

Solution 1: Download Adobe CC Cleaner Tool

If you notice problems with Media Encoder not rendering, visit the official page at helpx.adobe.com to download Adobe CC Cleaner without paying a dime. With the help of this app, you can uninstall AME and clean the residual files.

Then, you need to restart your device. After following these steps, use this software to download and install the newest version of AME.

Solution 2: Fresh Install Both AME and AE

Uninstall both programs and install them again. It’s always better to use the same versions of both programs. For instance, you may return to the previous builds of AME and AE (2021) or opt for their recent versions.

Solution 3: Re-open Queue Panel of Media Encoder

If you take a look at the user reviews posted on the Adobe forum, you will see that many users complain about difficulties with finding solutions to their problems. One of the reviews contains information that encoding issues might be caused by the closed queue panel in Adobe Media Encoder.

If you re-open it, you should be able to see all the projects available for exporting.

Use the following step-by-step guide if you want to solve the issue with file exporting.

When encountering the problem with Media Encoder not working, use the tips described below to solve the export issues:

1. Update your software to the recent version. At the time of writing the article, it was 14.8. Alternatively, you may check whether you have the same versions of After Effects and AME.
2. Add your composition to Adobe Media Encoder from the AE Render Queue.
3. Go to the Composition menu, select the Add to Render Queue option and choose Queue in AME. You will find this option under the Render Queue tab.
4. Run Adobe Media Encoder once again. Select Media Encoder CC, open Preferences > General and uncheck the Enable Parallel Encoding option.
5. While you are still in the General tab, change the option "Mercury Playback Engine GPU Acceleration (OpenCL)" that are enabled by default to "Mercury Playback Engine Software Only." You will find the latter under the "Renderer" tab of the Video Rendering menu. Click OK to save the changes.
6. Restore the default configuration for Adobe Media Encoder. Close both AME and AE.
7. Clean installation for Adobe Media Encoder.

Solution 1: Install the New Public Beta Version

If you have a version of AME released in 2023, you might notice some issues when encoding your videos.

For a quick fix, you may start by installing the publicly available beta version available for the Creative Cloud package subscribers. You can find it under the Beta Apps tab and check whether it allows you to get rid of this issue. This version is a standalone version of the software. After installing the beta version, import your file to it and try encoding it once again.

Solution 2: Install an Older Version

Solution 3: Render with Handbrake

This error might also be caused by the update of your drivers. To solve the issue, you can use a temporary solution. For instance, you may utilize the render queue available in After Effects and then use HandBrake to render your files later.

Solution 1: Downgrade both AME and AE

If you have After Effects 17.0.6 and Media Encoder 14.1 on your computer, make sure to install AE 17.0.4 and AME 14.0.3 instead to solve this issue. You should also return to the previous versions of this software, for instance, 2021 or 2020.

To do it, you just need to run Adobe Creative Cloud, click the 3 dots to access the settings, and select Other versions.

Solution 2: Create New Composition in AE

You may also see an error message with the words: "Could not connect to Adobe After Effects. Please verify that Adobe After Effects and Adobe Dynamic Link components are installed." When it happens, run After Effects, create and save a composition, run Premiere Pro, and try to import your newly-created file. If you want to use a previous .aep file, follow these steps:

1. Open After Effects and import the old composition in .aep format to add it to your new project.
2. Open Premiere Pro and select the Load composition option. The program should see your new .aep. file.
3. After working on your file, you can open it in AME once again to perform rendering or encoding.

Solution 3: Update CUDA Driver

If you run out of free memory when running Adobe Media Encoder or Adobe Premiere Pro on an M1-based Mac, you may try to configure the amount of memory that can be used by Adobe programs. By following the steps described below, you can get rid of the distracting notification about the memory issue.

Similar to the Adobe Connect not working issue, this problem can also be solved if you allocate more memory to Adobe software to ensure that it can use up to 50% of the total amount of the memory available.

1. Go to the Preferences menu and open the Memory tab.
2. Select the desired amount of RAM that can be used by other apps. We recommend opting for 50%.
3. Save your changes by clicking OK and restart your computer to ensure that new settings are applied.

When utilizing AME on M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra, you may notice the Adobe Media Encoder not working issue described below. It might occur when you render ProRes 4444 and ProRes 4444XQ codec variants with Alpha channel.

Error compiling movie.

Codec compression error.

This codec may be unable to support the requested frame size, or there may be a hardware or memory problem.

Exporter returned bad result.

…

Error code: 19

To solve this issue, you can use the following handy tip and turn off the ProRes Hardware encoding option.

1. Open the Preferences menu and click on the Media tab.
2. Click on the Enable ProRes hardware-accelerated encoding option to turn it off.
3. Save your preferences by clicking OK.

If you won’t see the problem you have on this list, make sure to reach out to the creators of this software and describe your problem so that the technical support team can fix it. You may also opt for the available Adobe Media Encoder alternatives if you are short of time.