LinkedIn video uploads but never processes: ProRes fix

If a video sits at processing on LinkedIn and never publishes, check the codec before you retry. LinkedIn's troubleshooting page states: if your file type is ProRes, you may be able to upload it, but it will not be able to process. The fix is a different encode, not a second attempt. With Sume you can read the codec from a probe and then write an H.264 MP4 through an exact video trim.

This post covers the check, the re-encode, and what Sume does not promise.

What LinkedIn says

The page (read 2026-10-08) lists the supported file types as MP4, MOV, AVI, WEBM, MKV, WMV, VC1, MPEG variants, DVVIDEO, QTRLE and TSCC2 across desktop, iOS and Android. Note how that list lets ProRes in through the MOV door at upload time, while processing then fails. The Pages specification page is stricter and lists H264/AVC among the supported codecs.

Probe first

Video inspect reads one clip you already host on media.sume.com. Its probe returns container, video_codec, pix_fmt, fps, width, height, has_audio, audio_codec and size_bytes, plus an hdr flag. Send frames: false to skip stills. If video_codec is a ProRes variant, treat the codec as the likely cause. LinkedIn names only ProRes on its page, so a 10-bit or 4:2:2 pix_fmt is a hint to re-encode, not a documented failure.

Sume's docs do not publish a list of accepted import codecs, so an unusual mezzanine file may be refused at import or at the HEAD check (unsupported_media_type). Test with one file before a batch.

curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/video-inspect \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: li-probe-001" \
  -d '{"video_url": "https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/export.mov", "frames": false}'

Re-encode with an exact trim

Video trim in exact mode re-encodes with libx264 and yuv420p and remuxes kept audio as AAC. There is no codec field: sending codec, crf or ffmpeg fields returns ffmpeg_fields_rejected. To change nothing but the encode, send start: 0 and a duration equal to the clip length from the probe.

The result is a new artf_ MP4 and the source stays untouched. If you also need to bring the frame rate into LinkedIn's 10 to 60 fps range or shrink a very large frame, add output with width and height between 256 and 2160 and fps 24, 25, 30 or 60. Exact mode only.

Limits to keep in mind

The source can be up to 1,800 seconds and the output up to 900. A 20-minute ProRes export therefore needs two trims, which also satisfies the 10-minute Page rule. Each trim costs $0.02 at the public rate. This is a re-encode, so expect a smaller file and generation loss. Keep the ProRes master.

Before you retry the upload, also rule out the other causes the page names. Check the size against the 75 KB to 5 GB window with size_bytes, and check the frame rate against the 10 to 60 fps range with fps. A phone clip shot at 120 fps for slow motion is a common miss, and the trim output.fps field tops out at 60. On mobile, LinkedIn also says iOS needs the app in the foreground while processing, while Android can upload in the background.