How To Resolve Adobe Premiere Pro Error Code 39 Effectively

Sometimes using Adobe Premiere Pro throws Error Code 39 at you, especially when trying to export or render a project. Kind of annoying because the process might just halt halfway, or you see that error pop up just as it’s about to finish. It’s frustrating, but most of the time, it comes down to a couple of common issues—like running out of disk space or outdated drivers. Once you figure out which one applies, fixing it can be pretty straightforward. But if not, there are other tricks to try. This guide will run through the main fixes and hopefully get your export sorted without pulling your hair out.

How to Fix Error Code 39 in Adobe Premiere Pro

Make Sure Your Drive Isn’t Full

This is the most common culprit. If your drive where you’re saving the output has no free space, Premiere can’t finish writing the file and throws that error. It’s kind of weird, but Adobe Premiere creates temporary files during export, and if there’s no room for those, well, it stops dead in its tracks. So, check your drive first—especially if your project is huge or your storage is almost maxed out.

On some setups, this fails the first time, then re-attempts with a bit of space freed up. Might be worth trying a different drive—if you’re exporting to an internal C: drive and it’s packed, pop the output on an external SSD. Faster, less stressful.

Here’s how to check your storage:

1. Open File Explorer (Windows key + E) and click on This PC.
2. Right-click on the drive you’re exporting to (like C:, D:, or an external drive) and select Properties.
3. In the window that opens, look at the storage info—especially Used space vs.free space. The pie chart makes it easy to see if you’re running out.

Also, clear out your Media Cache because that folder can get massive after a lot of editing—go to Edit > Preferences > Media Cache and clear or relocate it if needed.

Update Your Studio Drivers

This one’s a bit more technical but super important. Premiere’s H.264 and H.265 encoders use NVENC — that’s NVIDIA’s hardware acceleration. If those drivers are outdated, the export process can hiccup or output errors like 39. On some systems, the error pops up specifically during hardware encoding because of broken or incompatible DLLs in the driver.

Better to check if your GPU drivers are fresh. You don’t want to be stuck in the stone age with an old driver, especially with newer Premiere updates and Windows security patches.

Here’s how:

1. Go to the NVIDIA Drivers page and find your GPU model.
2. See if there’s a newer driver than what’s installed. If yes, download it.
3. Download and run the driver installer. Follow the prompts—often choosing a clean install option helps remove old drivers completely.
4. Once installed, restart your PC. This refresh can fix the mysterious error—sometimes the first try after a driver update just works better, even if it’s weird.

After reboot, open up your project and give the export another shot. Might work like magic now.

Switch to Software Encoding

If your GPU is overheating, underpowered, or just incompatible, hardware encoding can fail, throwing Error 39. A quick workaround is to switch to CPU-based encoding, known as software rendering. This is slower but often more stable—especially if your hardware is struggling.

Here’s what to do:

1. In Premiere, open Export Settings (File > Export > Media or use Ctrl + M on Windows, Cmd + M on Mac).
2. Go to the Video tab, then scroll down to Encoding Settings.
3. Find the Performance dropdown — it might say “Hardware Encoding.” Change it to Software Encoding.
4. Click Export— your CPU will do the work instead of the GPU, which might avoid error 39 if GPU was the problem.

Note: this can slow down your render, but if it’s stable, it’s worth a shot. On some setups, the software method is the only stable way to get through complicated exports.

If none of these fixes work, it’s probably time to hit up Adobe support. Sometimes, it’s a weird bug or specific hardware quirk that needs deeper investigation.