Adobe has been rolling out an initial version of its Premiere Pro editing software that runs natively on Apple Silicon Macs to public beta testers since December 18, according to an Adobe Support Community document.
Since Premiere Pro is a complex piece of software with a large codebase, Adobe says that it will launch native support for features within Premiere Pro in phases. The first public beta includes support for basic components and core editing functions like graphics, color, audio, and features like Productions, and Multicam.
As for the codecs, Premiere Pro’s public beta version for M1 Macs will initially only support a few. Those include H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and more. Here is the full list of supported codecs:
- H.264 & H.265 in MP4, MOV, or MXF
- AVC Intra
- XAVC-I & XAVC-L in MXF
- ProRes in MOV or MXF
- JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP, HEIF/HEIC
- AAC, WAV, M4A
Adobe also says that third-party plugins will need to be updated to add native M1 support separately. Until then, they’ll run under the Rosetta 2 translation framework, which converts Intel-based apps into software that can run on Apple Silicon on the fly.
Adobe has also listed out implications that public beta testers will need to deal with initially with the new version of Premiere Pro. First off, since the M1 version of the app uses the new captions workflow, you’ll need to upgrade your project file formats in order for them to be compatible. Adobe suggests you create extra copies of your projects to use within the beta version.
Then, the Dynamic Link with After Effects and Queue to Media Encoder will only currently work with the Intel Beta versions of After Effects and Media Encoder, since they are not yet updated to support Apple Silicon, and that they will run under Rosetta 2.
Adobe has also acknowledged a bunch of known issues that you may face while using the public beta version. For instance, tapping the Tool Selector on a MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar can cause the app to crash, estimated file size while exporting may show incorrect values by an “order of magnitude,” and more.
Here is a list of issues that Adobe says you might face:
- Tapping the tool selector on the Touch Bar (MacBook Pro) can cause a crash
- Premiere Pro can crash on launch if set to Chinese localization
- Team Projects collaborators can appear offline
- Dragging markers in the Timeline or Program Monitor can cause a flicker in the Program Monitor
- Estimated file size when exporting can be incorrect by an order of magnitude
- Project Manager has an incomplete set of presets as well as some extraneous presets
- Using Lumetri color controls while the Program or Source Monitor is set to Multi-Camera view can cause the application to hang
Apart from that, there is also a list of features that Adobe says don’t work at all currently with the latest public beta of Premiere Pro.
And here is a list of features that won’t work entirely:
- Learn Panel and in-app tutorials
- Support for control surfaces
- Not all video & audio effects have been ported
- Legacy Titler (use the essential graphics workflow instead)
- Motion Graphics Templates authored in After Effects (Premiere Pro authored MOGRTs work)
- Old caption workflow (please use the new captioning workflow which is available in both beta versions, Apple Silicon and Intel)
- Interchange formats (XML, AAF, OMF)
- Capture panel & preferences
- Device Control preferences
- Third-party plug-in support including panels, effects, scripting, and transmit
- Libraries panel
If you are curious and want to test out the latest public beta version for yourself, you can do so by heading over to the Beta Apps tab within the Creative Cloud Desktop app.
Adobe recently updated its Lightroom app with official native M1 support. The company is on the path to update most of its apps to support Apple Silicon in 2021. In the meanwhile, Adobe also launched a beta version of its popular Photoshop photo editing software back in November and says that the official version is coming in 2021.
Are you planning on installing the latest Premiere Pro beta. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
