Are you using Adobe Premiere Pro on your computer, but the software keeps throwing the Error compiling movie notification during rendering or performing any other tasks? Does the error pop up on both Windows and Mac PCs? Let’s find out how to fix the issue with easy troubleshooting steps.
Adobe Premiere Pro, a successor of Adobe Premiere, was launched in 2003 and is a widely used software to edit video on Mac and Windows computers. Premiere Pro offers many advanced features to craft your footage into polished films. You can also export your videos to your desired format for distribution with the software.
However, many users report that they see an error message that reads compiling Error while executing various tasks in the Adobe Premiere Pro software. Let’s figure out what is causing the error message to appear on your screen.

Why is my Premiere Pro not rendering?

Why is my Premiere Pro not rendering?

If your videos are not rendering on Premiere Pro or you are getting the Error compiling movie message, it could be due to any of the following reasons.
  • You are using an outdated version of Adobe Premiere Pro.
  • You are saving the project file name with invalid special characters.
  • PC disk space or Premiere Pro cache is full.
  • You are trying to export the video in a format that Premiere Pro does not support.
  • You are using an unsupported video renderer.

How do I fix Error compiling in Premiere Pro?

How do I fix Error compiling in Premiere Pro?

You can try the following troubleshooting steps to fix the Premiere Pro “error compiling movie” message.

Restart Premiere Pro

Sometimes, a restart is all it takes to fix rendering or general issues in Premiere Pro. If you see the Error, simply save your project/task, close the application and restart your Mac or Windows computer. Now launch the Premiere Pro software and try to perform the task causing the Error. Hopefully, the issue will resolve itself.

Check the file name for invalid characters

If you have saved a file on Premiere Pro with a name that has a few special characters at the end, you may see the Error compiling movie notification while rendering it. Try renaming the file and removing special characters (like ? /: etc.) to fix the issue.

However, while removing special characters, make sure that you don’t rename the file with a name already associated with another saved video on a similar location. In this case, you will get the “duplicate file error compiling movie” message.

Therefore, change the file’s name by adding another letter at the end or save it to another location on your device. Furthermore, ensure that the project file is linked if the “File not found” error pops up afterwards.

Update Premiere Pro

Sometimes, the Error compiling movie issue can show up on the PC screen by bugs in the software. However, you can fix it by updating Adobe Premiere Pro. To do this:

  • Navigate to the Windows Control Panel and select the Programs and Features menu.
  • Locate the Adobe Priemere program, right-click on it, and choose the Uninstall option.
  • After the program is uninstalled, open your browser and go to the official Premiere Pro page to download its latest version.
  • Next, install the software, launch it, and type in your Premiere Pro license key to activate it.
  • Creative Cloud application users can update Premiere Pro by clicking the action button in the main interface and selecting the “Check for App Updates” option.
  • Now try executing the task exhibiting the error and see if the issue persists.

Try another video renderer

If you are rendering a video on the Premiere Pro software and getting the error compiling movie message on the screen, changing the video renderer often effectively fixes the problem. Quite a few users have rectified the problem successfully by this method, and you can try it as well.

To do this:

  • Go to the Error video and click “File” on top.
  • Next, select Project Settings and then click on the General option.
  • Finally, select “Mercury Playback Engine Software Only” from the drop-down and save changes.

Choose another format

The error often pops up when you export the video to a file format that Premiere Pro does not support. Therefore, try to convert the Error file into a widely supported format such as AVI, MOV, WMV. Furthermore, remove irregular clips that are different in form, frame size, decode, etc., from other clips.

Check disk space

If you see the “Disk full” message under error compiling movie, it means that the location where you are rendering the file does not have the necessary free space left for Premiere Pro software. If this is the case, you have to take some steps to free up as much disk space as possible.

You can also use a trustworthy third-party disk manager to increase the space on the target drive.

How do I clear the cache in Premiere Pro?

How do I clear the cache in Premiere Pro?

Another quick way to fix the “Error compiling movie” notification is to clear the Premiere Pro Media Cache. To do this:

  • Launch Premiere Pro and navigate to Premiere –> Preferences –> Media Cache if you use a Mac PC.
  • Windows PC users need to go to Edit –> Preferences –> Media Cache.
  • Now click on the Delete button and delete a specific project cache or delete all media files on the new window.
  • Suppose you don’t want the Premiere Pro cache to build up under Media Cache Management. In that case, you can assign the software to automatically delete the cache when certain data is passed, or the disk size reaches specified GBs.

Conclusion

We hope that this guide helped you fix the Adobe Premiere Pro error compiling movie issue. You can resolve the error by installing the latest software version or using the correct file name most of the time.

Here is another quick tip in the end. If the files showing the error is on an external device, ensure that your Windows or Mac computer is connected correctly to the device.