Premiere Pro to DaVinci Resolve: the complete transfer & roundtrip guide (2026)
DaVinci Resolve cannot load Premiere Pro® .prproj files natively. This is the 2026 method for moving your edit across - video tracks, media, effects, markers and audio - in a few minutes, even without an active Adobe subscription.
Before you start, work out which of these two jobs you actually have. They need different answers, and most guides conflate them.
You're migrating for good
You want the whole sequence living in Resolve so you can finish there.
Jump to the .drp methodYou're doing a roundtrip
You cut in Premiere, you want to grade in Resolve, then bring the graded footage back to finish.
Jump to the color grading roundtripIf you're not sure yet, read on. The format you pick at the start decides how painful the return trip will be.
Why DaVinci Resolve won't load .prproj files
The .prproj format is proprietary to Adobe Premiere Pro®. It's a gzip-compressed XML document with a complex internal structure holding your entire timeline: shots, effects, transitions, track settings, markers, audio mix. DaVinci Resolve has its own native format (.drp) and accepts standard interchange formats on import: FCPXML, XMEML, EDL and AAF.
Result: loading a .prproj directly in Resolve is impossible. You need an intermediate format both applications understand, or better, a direct export to the native .drp format that Resolve reads in one click.
Why editors are switching in the first place
Worth a quick note, because it changes what you should optimise for. A lot of editors don't move software because Premiere failed them. They move because Resolve's Color page is the industry reference for grading, and because Blackmagic keeps folding AI tools into the application that Adobe charges separately for: Magic Mask for rotoscoping, Voice Isolation for dialogue, AI-based noise reduction, SuperScale for upressing. Several of these AI features sit in the paid Studio tier, but the free edition is a complete editing and finishing suite with no watermark.
The practical consequence: if you're switching mainly for the grade, you probably want a roundtrip, not a migration. If you're switching because your Adobe subscription lapsed and you need your old work back, you want a one-way transfer. Same keyword, two very different workflows.
Choosing your transfer format
Five formats can carry a Premiere sequence into Resolve. They are not equivalent, and the difference is mostly about what survives.
| Format | What it carries | What it drops | Best case |
|---|---|---|---|
| .drp (Resolve native) | Full timeline structure, adjustment layers, track locks, coloured markers, compound clips, retime, multichannel audio routing, bin hierarchy | Third-party effects, Adobe-specific looks | One-way migration, archiving, finishing in Resolve |
| FCPXML | Timeline, cuts, transitions, basic transforms, audio levels | Track locks, adjustment layer type, some timeline settings | Cross-application interchange, Final Cut Pro targets |
| XMEML (legacy XML) | Timeline, cuts, basic transforms | Newer effect data, some audio automation | Old projects, maximum compatibility with older software |
| EDL | Cut list and source timecode only. Small file size, no effect data | Everything else, being a bare list of edit decisions | Conform-only handoffs, tape-era pipelines, single video track |
| AAF | Timeline plus embedded or referenced media | Effect fidelity varies wildly by application | Pro Tools or Avid Media Composer somewhere in the chain |
Two things worth flagging. EDL comes up constantly in older tutorials - it's the oldest and most universal option, and it's still what some colourists ask for, but it carries a cut list and nothing more. And AAF is only worth the trouble if audio post is going through Pro Tools. For a deeper breakdown of the interchange formats, see our FCPXML vs XML comparison.
The .drp method: 4 steps
The fastest and most faithful way to transfer, using PR2XML. No Adobe subscription needed, since PR2XML reads the .prproj file directly.
- Step 1
Locate your .prproj file
Open your Premiere Pro folder. The .prproj is the project file, not your media (.mp4 / .mov / .wav). File size is typically 5 MB to 50 MB. You do not need Premiere Pro installed; if your subscription expired, the .prproj on its own is enough.
- Step 2
Convert it on PR2XML
Head to the conversion page, set "DaVinci Resolve" as the target application and ".drp" as the output format. Drop your file into the upload area. Conversion runs in seconds, and your media never leaves your computer.
- Step 3
Download the .drp
Once conversion completes, a preview of your timeline appears for review. Click Download to save the .drp file. Without a license the preview is free and unlimited; downloading unlocks after a €75 one-time purchase.
- Step 4
Load it in DaVinci Resolve
In Resolve, go to File > Import > Timeline and select your .drp. The sequence appears instantly with its full structure intact. If Resolve can't find media, typically because the storage location differs between machines, right-click the Media Pool bin > Relink Selected Clips and point it at your footage folder.
What survives the transfer
The .drp route reproduces your Premiere timeline faithfully in Resolve. Here's what carries across.
- Full structure
- Every video and audio track (V1…Vn, A1…An), in the same order as Premiere.
- Shots & positions
- Each item at its exact timeline position, with duration and source in/out points.
- Transitions
- Cross dissolves, with their duration.
- Transform data
- Position, scale, rotation, opacity, including keyframes on animated effects.
- Playback speed
- Retime (200%, 50%) preserved via Resolve's native Sm2TimeMap.
- Adjustment layers
- A Premiere adjustment layer becomes a native Resolve adjustment clip, which is what you want for clean grading.
- Timeline markers
- Preserved with their colour, name and duration.
- Track locks
- A track locked in Premiere stays locked in Resolve.
- Audio volume
- Static levels in dB, plus volume automation keyframes.
- Nested sequences
- Converted to Resolve compound clips.
- Titles
- Premiere titles become Resolve Text+ elements.
What does not transfer
No conversion is lossless, and any guide that tells you otherwise is selling something. Here's the honest list.
- Lumetri grades
- Colour work done in Premiere does not carry over. That's usually fine, since you're moving to Resolve precisely to redo the grade properly, but if you were counting on your Lumetri look as a starting point, plan to rebuild it.
- Warp Stabilizer
- The analysis data is Adobe-specific. You'll need to re-stabilise in Resolve.
- Third-party plugins
- Red Giant, Boris FX, Sapphire, anything you installed into Premiere. The application it renders in is the application that owns the effect.
- Complex Essential Graphics
- Simple text converts to Text+. Motion Graphics templates (.mogrt) with expressions, responsive design or nested compositions do not, so you'll rebuild them on the Fusion page.
- Masks and complex keyframe interpolation
- Basic transform keyframes survive. Bezier masks and non-linear easing generally don't.
- Multicam angles
- These flatten to the selected angle rather than staying switchable.
- Audio effects and sends
- Levels and volume automation transfer. EQ, compression and reverb do not.
Rule of thumb: structural information transfers, creative processing doesn't. Design your workflow around that and you'll never be surprised.
The color grading roundtrip: Premiere → Resolve → Premiere
This is the workflow most professional editors actually run. You cut in Premiere because that's where your muscle memory lives, you grade in Resolve because the Color page is unmatched, then you come back to finish titles and graphics. Here's how to do it without wrecking the conform.
Before you send anything: prep the timeline
Do not hand your working sequence to a colourist. Duplicate it and flatten the copy first, then:
- Strip effects and transitions. Anything that changes the image will fight the grade or fail to translate. Add it back after the return trip.
- Remove audio tracks. If audio isn't part of the grading job. Audio staying home in Premiere is the single easiest way to avoid sync issues.
- Collapse to as few video tracks as possible. A colourist wants a clean single-layer conform, not your eleven-track edit.
- Check your media location. XML and AAF point at media rather than carrying it, so the storage location has to be reachable from the grading workstation. If you cut on proxies, the interchange file links back to the original camera footage, so make sure that footage is online and that the grading machine can handle the native codec.
Export a reference movie
This step gets skipped constantly and it's the one that saves you. Render a low-resolution H.264 of your locked sequence and hand it over alongside the project data. The colourist drops it on V2 above the conformed timeline and can instantly verify that every cut lands in the right place, every shot is the right take, and scaling matches. There is almost always some fiddling required to conform properly, and a reference movie turns an hour of guesswork into a two-minute check.
Send the sequence
Either convert your .prproj to .drp with PR2XML (no Adobe subscription required, full structure preserved), or, if Premiere is installed and licensed, use File > Export > Final Cut Pro XML. Premiere will prompt you to check the translation report. Actually read it, because it lists what didn't survive. In Resolve, File > Import > Timeline, pick your file, and a settings window appears. The defaults usually work, but check the timeline resolution, which defaults to 1920×1080 regardless of your source. Then move to the Color page and get to work.
Coming back: four routes
Route 1 - Finish in Resolve
Grade, add titles, render the finished video from the Deliver page. Simplest option, and increasingly the default for solo editors. You never return to Premiere.
Route 2 - Individual clips + Premiere XML (the professional method)
On the Deliver page, scroll the presets to Premiere XML. This renders every graded shot as a separate file and writes an XML that tells Premiere how to reassemble them. Three settings matter here:
- Frame handles. The number of frames included before and after each in/out point. Set 12 to 24. Without handles you cannot retime, reframe or extend anything once you're back in Premiere.
- Use Source Filename. Tick it. Otherwise Resolve renames everything to avoid overwrites, and matching files to timeline positions becomes miserable.
- Codec. ProRes or DNxHR. Never H.264. You're re-encoding an image you just spent hours grading.
Back in Premiere, File > Open the XML that Resolve wrote. Since the rendered files sit in the same folder, the import is fast and the graded shots land in position. Then rebuild your titles, transitions and graphics on top. Plenty of people skip the XML and just drag the rendered files onto a V2 track above the originals - it works, but it's a workaround: you lose automatic conform and you're eyeballing alignment.
Route 3 - Flat master + Scene Edit Detection (fallback)
Render a single graded master out of Resolve, bring it into Premiere, right-click it in the timeline and choose Scene Edit Detection. Premiere analyses the video and cuts it back into separate shots. (The equivalent feature in Resolve is called Scene Cut Detection: different name, same idea.) Treat this as a rescue method, not a workflow. Detection struggles with dissolves and slow cuts, you get no separate audio, and you're working from a compressed master. It's genuinely useful when all you were handed is a finished file and no project data, which happens more often than it should.
Route 4 - ColorTrace, when the edit changes mid-grade
The scenario nobody writes about and everybody hits: the client asks for a change while the grade is in progress. Rather than starting over, export the revised sequence from Premiere, import it into Resolve as a new timeline, then right-click the old timeline in the Media Pool and choose ColorTrace. Resolve matches shots between the two versions by timecode or filename and carries the grades across. Not perfect on heavily recut material, but it turns a disaster into an afternoon.
Troubleshooting the common issues
- Media offline in Resolve
- If shots show as offline but audio plays, that's a codec problem rather than a path problem, often 10-bit or 12-bit camera footage the free edition can't decode. Transcode to DNxHR or ProRes and reimport. If audio is offline too, it's a path issue: right-click the bin > Relink Selected Clips.
- Audio out of sync after the return trip
- Select Individual Clips rather than Sequence in the render settings, and untick handles in Premiere's Render & Replace window before you export. That combination fixes most sync drift.
- The same shot used twice won't relink
- A known and genuinely annoying one. If a clip appears twice in the timeline, Premiere links both instances to the first graded file and refuses to separate them, producing a timecode mismatch. Workaround: render with Use Source Filename off so each instance gets a unique name, or duplicate and rename the source file before you send it out.
- Frame rate or resolution mismatch
- Resolve defaults the imported timeline to 1920×1080 at whatever the project is set to. Fix it in the import window rather than after, or every transform value will be wrong.
- Resolve Free hits a ceiling on export
- The free edition caps output at 3840×2160 (UHD) and 60 fps, and H.264/H.265 output is limited to 8-bit. If your return leg needs 10-bit, DCI 4K or higher frame rates, you need Studio. Worth checking before you render 300 shots.
- Nothing loads at all
- Confirm you're on Resolve 17 or newer, since the modern .drp format isn't recognised by older builds. Resolve 21 became the stable release in June 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need Premiere Pro installed to use PR2XML?
No. PR2XML reads the .prproj file directly. You can convert even if your Adobe subscription expired or you've never installed Premiere on that machine.
Free or Studio: does the conversion work on both?
Yes. The .drp format is native to both editions, from version 17 onwards. Import behaves identically.
Will my media relink automatically?
The .drp holds absolute paths as they were in Premiere. Same machine, it relinks itself. Different machine, right-click the Media Pool bin > Relink Selected Clips.
Which codecs are supported?
Resolve handles ProRes, H.264, H.265, DNxHD/HR and most common formats. Since PR2XML converts project data and not media, if your footage worked in Premiere it will work in Resolve, with the free-edition 10-bit caveat above.
Does PR2XML handle the return leg back to Premiere?
No, and we'd rather say so plainly. PR2XML converts .prproj into .drp, FCPXML or XMEML, which is the outbound direction. Coming back is handled by Resolve's own Deliver page using the Premiere XML preset, which works well and costs nothing.
Is my data uploaded to your servers?
Analysis and preview run entirely in your browser. To generate the final .drp, only the .prproj (edit metadata, never media) is sent, converted in memory, then discarded. Your video, audio and images never leave your computer.
Can I test before buying?
Yes. Analysis, timeline preview and visual validation are free and unlimited. Only the final download sits behind the €75 lifetime license. A timeline that loads is not a conform, so test on a real project and compare against the original before you commit.
How long does conversion take?
Under 10 seconds for a typical edit. Long-form or complex multicam work: 30 seconds to a minute.