Premiere Pro: How to import videos?

Published on February 24, 2020

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import, importing footage, premiere basics, premiere pro

importing your video clips

Getting started in Adobe Premiere Pro isn’t as hard as you think it is.
So don’t be afraid and let’s get started with importing your super cinematic videos in Premiere.

The most easy way to import video files is just by dragging it from the explorer (or finder if you’re using a Mac) to the program panel. Another way you can import is by using the import option in the menu of Premiere Pro. And a last way is by double clicking in the program panel.

Keep in mind that Premiere doesn’t support all files types. Videos that have a .mkv extension will cause an error when being imported, so you’ll have to find a way to convert those files to either .mov or .mp4 files. Those are always supported by Premiere.

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Of course you can also import audio files, images and even files from other Adobe programs such as Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects. It’s the same principle as with video files.

When you are working with files in your premiere pro project they are linked to the path of the clip. Meaning that when you change the location of the clip in the explorer or finder, you’ll have to relink the media in Premiere Pro. You will see a notice when this happens, your footage will turn red and you source monitor will display “media offline“.

Learn even more Premiere Pro basics!

We don’t only post tutorials on our YouTube channel but we also have online courses on Skillshare. If you want to learn more about Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Affects or cinematography basics then make sure to check out our Skillshare courses. The first two months are completely for free and after that it’s only $10 per month. You also watch thousands of other courses.