Learn about the video file formats that you can import and edit in Lightroom Classic and Lightroom.
About video file format support in Lightroom
Some video file formats—such as MOV and AVI denote container file formats rather than denoting specific video data formats. Container files can contain data encoded using various compression and encoding schemes. Lightroom can import these container files, but the ability to import the data that they contain depends on the codecs (specifically, decoders) installed.
By installing more codecs, you can extend the ability of Lightroom to import/play some of the video file types. Many codecs installed into the operating system (Windows or macOS) work as a component inside the QuickTime or Video for Windows formats. Contact the manufacturer of your hardware or software for more information about codecs that work with the files that your specific devices or applications create.
Note:
- Dolby audio decoding: On Windows 7, Lightroom Classic 7.0 (Oct 2017 release) and later releases do not support Dolby audio decoding as this OS version does not include the media package required to decode AC-3. Adobe Creative Cloud apps now use native OS support for Dolby Digital decoding and no longer feature encoding for Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus sound formats. Both Windows and OS X operating systems (Windows 8.1 or above and Mac OS X 10.11 or above) contain native support for Dolby decoding functions. Please update to the latest version of your operating system. For more information, refer to Adobe Creative Cloud apps use native OS support for Dolby.
- Apple QuickTime: The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team has issued an alert recommending that Windows users uninstall Apple QuickTime from their computers. Apple has also announced that it will no longer be providing security updates for QuickTime on Windows. After uninstalling QuickTime, video thumbnails may not be generated in Lightroom and some codecs may become unavailable for import and playback.
Supported video formats and extensions
These versions of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom let you import video clips in several formats and perform extensive edits on them.
Video formats supported
- AVI
- MP4
- MOV
- AVCHD
Extensions supported
- MOV
- M4V
- MP4
- MPE
- MPG; MPEG-1 and MPEG-4 compression formats only
- MP4
- M4V
- AVI (Windows-only)
- MTS
- 3GP
- 3GPP
- M2T
- M2TS
Videos with .MPG4 extension: Beginning with Lightroom Classic CC 8.0 and Lightroom CC 2.0 (October 2018 releases), videos with .MPG4 file extension are no longer supported on both macOS and Windows. As a workaround, you can rename the file extension to .MP4 using Finder (Mac) or Windows Explorer (Win) and then import the video file.
If your video file is not one of these formats, Lightroom can't open it. Videos are only supported in the Library module. You cannot open them in any of the other modules, including Develop or Slideshow. Video files do not sync from Lightroom Classic to Lightroom ecosystem.
Related resources:
- To know how to preview videos, set poster frames, and create stills from the frames, see Work with video in Lightroom.
- To know more about the image formats supported in Lightroom, see Supported file formats.
- (Lightroom/Lightroom 6) If you are facing issues importing the supported video formats in Lightroom, try the solution listed under Perform regular system maintenance.
- (Lightroom 5 and earlier) To troubleshoot video issues, refer to the PDF Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 Troubleshooting.
