Quicktime not able to sync audio when playing h.264 exported from adobe

All - I highly recommend exporting from Premiere Pro using PRORES then converting to h.264 using variable bit rate in handbrake. Adobe does not care about this issue. Good luck..

I've been experiencing the same issue. Video exported from Premiere Pro will go out of sync after the 20min mark or 2h mark depending on the bitrate of the video file. It's as if QuickTime cache is having a hard time processing the information.

However I think the problem lies with Premiere Pro having compatibilities issues with Mac codecs. I exported the video on Windows using Premiere and I had no compatibility issues. Also as pointed out by someone, video will play fine if exported in Davinci Resolve, which also use H.264 codecs and AAC audio codecs.

Hello bipideebopidee,

Thank you for posting in the Apple Support Communities. We understand that audio doesn't sync correctly with videos exported from a third-party service after editing the video, but the audio plays as expected in other video players. We'd like to help.

We suggest exporting the video using a different file format and resolution, then testing to see if the issue persists. This QuickTime Player User Guide offers the steps on how to do that, if needed:

Export movies to other file formats and resolutions using QuickTime Player on Mac

We hope this information is useful. Kind regards.

I would like to add my experience here which is related...

I have a new Mac Mini with the M1 Chip and working on my first 2 projects with this set-up - one a 30 minute presentation (talk), the other a wedding. I'm editing via Premiere 2021 / AME, with my video files (both source and exported masters) on an external Samsung T7 SSD.

Both projects were exported to h264 files, and both movie files played back notably out of sync, in both QuickTime and VLC if played from the T7 drive. So to test the playback further I did the following:

-plugged the T7 into my 2010 Mac Pro instead - playback was fine

-plugged the T7 into my Asus laptop (Windows) - playback was fine

-back on the Mini M1 - copied the file from the T7 to the Desktop -playback seems fine from the desktop.

seems like in my case the issue is the ability of the M1 to playback in sync a file on an external drive.

Is anyone else's experience based on playback on external drives?

It's Oct 10, 2021. I have the same issue. Nearly had a heart attack. Glad others figured out it is 10.5 QT and that 10.4 works.

I ran the suggested test - I input the final QT video back into Adobe Premier Pro onto the timeline and scrubbed the timeline and it is all in sync.

C'mon Apple - you are better than this - get this fixed!

For me, I always export in cbr at 15mb/s. I usually only experience the out of sync when I try to scrub through the video, not when it just plays. I don’t experience drift at all. If it’s a 2 minute video or a 2 hour video it doesn’t matter. As soon as I click anywhere in the scrubber bar it becomes out of sync.

I do notice though if I play the video to the end (even by scrubbing to a couple seconds till the end), going back to any point in the video is no longer out of sync.

vlc player has 0 issues.

I think it has something to do with apple’s h.264 .mp4 codec.

I tried to locate a way to download and install Quicktime 10.4 for about an hour and could not find a legit way. It's part of the OS and there is no stand-alone installer. My clients and I are now using the third-party VLC player to playback mission-critical priority videos. There are some other corporate conference-centric apps such as "Presenter Pro" that can play QuickTime videos without issue. I suggest abandoning Apple's own Quicktime Player until they can allocate the staff to fix this broken piece of software. Complaining has done nothing. Shaming may work. I suggest that route.

I'm having the same issue and it is driving me crazy. At first I thought it was Adobe, and eventually, I narrowed it down to being a Quicktime issue. The H264s playback perfectly in any other program or viewer.

Please fix this issue! Our jobs are dependant on it haha.

This is very annoying. I thought the problem was with my with my videos somehow. I also experienced the same issues and Quicktime version 10.5 seems to be the problem. Apple please fix this issue and send an update.

I spoke to Apple via Chat and they suggested a system update - So my M1 Mac Mini is now running 11.6 and hoped it was fixed but nope.

Short files seem to work okay, playing the file down seems to fix the issue, but the longer the file the more likely you'll have sync issues when playing back especially as you move further into the clip.

C'mon apple, please restore Quicktime to its former glory (QT 7 Pro).

Playback is fine whether it’s on a local drive, ssd or hard drive. Where it is a problem is when you start skipping around within the file. Regardless of being a 1 minute video or 2 hour video. If you skip to 25% or 50% etc, all my videos then become Un-synced. Once it’s scrubbed, it is then off and you must restart the video.

I am not running off of M1 either.

I have not seen this issue with Apple's Final Cut Pro H.264/265 exports but I am curious to see the bug.

Do you have a sample file on some cloud service (Dropbox, OneDrive, iCloud etc) that could illustrate the problem? ...for some reason this forum seems to delete straight links to Dropbox etc but putting a Youtube link with a comment to the actual movie might work...

is your file really out of sync it’s self though or is it just a playback issue with quick time?

my video file it’s self is fine. If I play it in Vlc the file is all in sync no matter the scrubbing.

it just becomes out of sync when scrubbing in QuickTime.

I have noticed if it does go out of sync while scrubbing, scrub until the end and then jumbpack to a point and now it’s back in sync.

Still have this problem in Jan 2022. OS 11.2.3 with Quicktime 10.5

One thing that seems to help is putting the .mp4 file on the desktop. Plays back better than on an external as noted elsewhere. All of my videos were exported using the "YouTube 1080" preset in PPro. All an hour in length.

Is there any way to install Quicktime 10.4 using a third-party utility? People say that version works.

Is there a downloadable sample file that illustrates the problem? (I do not use Adobe products for movies and have not experienced this issue with Final Cut Pro or ffmpeg).