Still Image Import

If you’re importing still images of exactly 720x480 or 720x576, read this.

File will not open

General

There are literally dozens of video codecs out there, and while video editors such as Magix have their own decoders for the common codecs, sometimes one comes across a video which Magix will not open because of an unrecognised codec. You may get a (semi) cryptic message about how to deal with the missing codec. A sure-fire method of determining what codec is involved is to install and open the file in MediaInfo. It is an excellent program for getting information on your files and is highly recommended. Open your video in it (MediaInfo also shows up in the Windows expanded RC menu), then go to the View>Tree option and you’ll see every thing you need to know about your file, including the video and audio codecs used. Armed with that information, you can either locate the codec on the internet and install it or process the video to make it openable in Magix. Magix can open the common codecs such as H264/AVC, H265/HEVC, AV1, VP9, MPEG 2 (for DVD files) and various other codecs. Codecs that I have installed separately which allow Magix to open are Lagarith, HUFFYUV, MagicYUV and UTVideo (all used with analogue tape captures).

The First Step-Update Your Graphics Drivers

Outdated graphics card drivers have caused files to not open properly. Ensure your graphics card drivers are up to date; that is the dedicated GPU (eg NVidia or ATI graphics card) and also the Intel CPU/iGPU. An exception to this is the HD4600 integrated graphics in the Intel CPUs. TLDR: don’t update the drivers for this iGPU. See this Magix forum post for details.

Change the Hardware Acceleration settings

Try changing the HWA settings in the program settings: Key Y, Device Options tab (or File>Settings>Program). Select different options from the three dropdowns. Using a GPU is preferable as it drastically speeds up processing, but some combinations have been known to prevent files being opened properly.

Importing MP4-No Video

The later versions of Magix should have no trouble opening standard MP4s. If you have trouble,

Importing MOVs-No audio or video

A peculiar type of MOV file may not import into Magix editors. The files in question - those where the Format ID is identified as JPEG or PNG encoded video, require Apple QuickTime to be installed or they need to be converted to MP4 format. MediaInfo can be used to ascertain the codec of the video using this tutorial on the Magix website. If needed, QuickTime can be downloaded from Apple. Install only the QT drivers. If your MOV files won’t open and MediaInfo shows them as video=AVC and audio=AAC, converting them with AVIDemux using this lossless procedure will make them editable in Magix.

Conversion

If you have installed the required codec (or the file is one that Magix “should” open) and you have no joy, these are your options:

Lossless

The preferred option is to losslessly convert your video because any full recode will reduce the quality of your original file. Not by much, and you may not even notice, but it’s preferable not to. Some of the options to try are: - Rename the file extension/wrapper eg an Insta360 file XXX.insv won’t open in Magix. But if you change the extension to .mp4, it will. Note the MediaInfo data on the video codec: although a unique file extension but the file is using the standard AVC/H264 video codec. - Losslessly recode the file to a new extension using the Copy-Copy mode of AVIDemux, as I describe here. This re-writes the file header to MP4 and Magix may now be able to open it.

Full Recode

While not desirable, it may be necessary to do a full recode using 3rd party software to make the file readable by Magix. The go-to software for this is Handbrake. I have a guide on using Handbrake here.

Can’t Activate MPEG 4 Codec

This issue pops up occasionally and can be difficult to rectify. Some scenarios are:

Uninstall and Reinstall

This may fix it, as per this post on the forum. Importantly, a simple uninstall and reinstall typically does not clear out all Magix entries so it is recommended that the Revo Uninstaller program be used. Use Revo in “Moderate” mode only, as explained in this post. A more drastic solution, re-installing Windows, also worked, according to this post.

Corrupt Windows Registry Entry

If you can’t activate the MPEG 4 codec, it’s probably caused by a corrupt Windows Registry key, as explained by Magix Support in this post. In a nutshell, the process is to delete a registry key then restart the program. Warning The Windows Registry is a critical component and if messed-up, may render your system unusable. Please be very careful by making sure you only delete the appropriate key.

Procedure

Close Magix. • Back up your system if possible. • Set a Windows System Restore Point. • Find the Regedit.exe file by searching in Windows Search for “regedit”. It will appear in the search results. • RC on it and choose “Run as Administrator”. The Windows Registry Editor will open. • Back up the complete registry using File>Export>All. • To find the rogue registry key, Edit>Find and search for the key (you can search for the just last few characters): HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSI D\{7DC6E619-5C35-4371-9D2A- 9CF021CB55D1} • When the key is found, RC on it and choose Delete. • Restart your computer. • Find the shortcut to Magix and RC, then choose Run as administrator. • Drag an MP4 into the program; you should get a prompt to activate the MPEG-4 codec. Click OK as necessary to finish activation. You may have to continue running “As Administrator” or you may not. In my experimental case, the message didn’t re-appear while I was “running as admin”, but re-appeared as soon as I didn’t “run as admin”. So I then did a basic uninstall and reinstall and then the MPEG 4 activation problem went away, never to return. If that doesn’t work, you may have to uninstall and re-install Magix using the Revo Uninstaller program mentioned above, which will do a deeper uninstall than the normal Windows uninstall.

Can’t Activate MPEG 2 Codec

Follow the procedure MPEG 4 above for deleting the Registry key, but search for this key (you can just search for the last few characters): HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{ B34CD9F0-58BE-48A9-8F8F-002906E620EB}

Audio Clicks and Pops on the Timeline

Check out this post on the forum.

MXMPEG2 Error 0110: no media decoder

found

This message is not necessarily related to MPEG 2 files; it can be displayed when an earlier version of Magix can’t open a file encoded with the AV1 codec (a newer, highly efficient codec mainly used for streaming such as YouTube and Facebook). Magix versions 2024 and later and VPX 16 and later have inbuilt support for AV1. Use the MediaInfo program to open your file and ascertain what the video codec is. If it is AV1, try installing the Microsoft AV1 decoder from the MS store here: https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9mvzqvxjbq9v?hl= en-US&gl=US

VDL 2026 and VPX 17 Won’t Open When

MVP File Double-clicked

Known problem with the Windows Registry entries. Solution provided by user @kPeiffer on the Magix forum here. Install the REG entries by double-clicking on the appropriate REG file. https://www.magix.info/us/forum/cannot-start-vpx17- by-double-clicking-on-mvp-file-- 1349552/#ca1994904

Video Deluxe 2026 - Access Violation

Code - Program Crashes

This could be caused by a Windows Visual C++ installtion issue. Read this topic on the forum.

Insurmountable Problems?

If weird stuff is happening or not happening, try: • Checking your program version is up to date (Help>Update online…) • Closing your project and re-open it • Closing the program and reopen it • Resetting the program to defaults: File>Settings>Program>Default Values>Reset Program to Default (or similar; varies slightly between versions) • Restarting Windows • Checking your graphics card drivers are up to date; • Uninstalling and Reinstalling the program. This should be done as a last resort, and should be done in concert with a program such as Revo Uninstaller, because remnants of the Magix programs may be left behind. For more info, read this post by John Baker, the head moderator on the forum.