Why did my video import into Premiere with no sound?

The audio stream is probably Opus, which Premiere Pro cannot decode. The clip imports with picture and either a silent audio track or none at all. Opus normally arrives alongside VP9 or AV1 video on web downloads.

How do I convert Opus audio for Premiere Pro?

Convert only the audio and copy the video through, which takes seconds: ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v copy -c:a aac -b:a 192k output.mp4

Can I avoid Opus when downloading?

Yes. With yt-dlp, request AAC audio explicitly using a format selector such as bv*+ba[ext=m4a]/b. The m4a extension means AAC, which Premiere reads without trouble.

Runner / Fixes

Video imported,
but there is no sound.

The clip plays fine in a browser but lands in Premiere silent, or with no audio track at all. Nine times out of ten the audio is Opus, which Premiere does not decode.

Short answer

The file's audio stream is almost certainly Opus. Premiere Pro cannot decode it, so the clip imports with video and either a silent track or no audio track at all.

Convert the audio to AAC. You do not need to re-encode the video, which makes this fast.

Why this happens

Opus is the audio codec that rides along with VP9 and AV1 video on most web downloads. It is efficient and it sounds good, and Premiere has never supported it. If you downloaded the clip from the web, Opus is the likely culprit.

Check the audio stream

ffprobe -v error -select_streams a:0 -show_entries stream=codec_name -of csv=p=0 "yourfile.mp4"

opus confirms it. Note the a:0: asking for the audio stream specifically. If you pass -select_streams twice, the second one wins, which is an easy way to read the wrong stream and reach the wrong conclusion.

The fix, without re-encoding the video

This is the important part. The video is usually fine, so copy it through and only convert the audio. It takes seconds rather than minutes.

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v copy -c:a aac -b:a 192k output.mp4

If Premiere still refuses the file after that, the video is a problem too, and it is likely AV1 or VP9. In that case convert both:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -pix_fmt yuv420p \
       -c:a aac -b:a 192k output.mp4

Avoiding it on download

With yt-dlp you can ask for AAC audio directly, which exists on nearly every video:

yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba[ext=m4a]/b" "URL"

[ext=m4a] is doing the work: m4a means AAC, and it sidesteps Opus entirely.

Worth knowing: the panel's own browser plays Opus perfectly, which is what makes this confusing. Hearing audio in the browser tells you nothing about whether Premiere can read it.

Stop converting audio by hand

Runner is a Premiere Pro panel that checks the codec of everything it downloads and converts anything Premiere cannot read, before it reaches your timeline. Free while it is in beta, Windows only.

Download for Windows