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Link audio and video clips

Last updated on Dec 19, 2023

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Learn how to link video and audio clips to treat them as a single unit and unlink them to edit them independently.

You can link one video clip to multiple audio clips, and you can link multiple audio clips together. When you link audio clips in a sequence, you link only the instances of the master clips. The original master audio clips in the Project panel are untouched.

Before you begin

Create a project, import multiple audio and video clips, and assemble them on the timeline.

Select each audio clip on separate tracks in the Timeline panel. You can also select a video clip. Use shift-click to select multiple audio and video clips.

Note:

All audio clips must have the same track format (mono, stereo, or 5.1 surround). The audio clips must have the same channel type, and each clip must be on a different track. If clips are already linked, such as an audio clip linked to a video clip, they must be unlinked before you can create a multi-clip link.

Select Clip in the menu bar, and then select Link.

Use the Clip in the menu bar and use Link option to link the clips.

Tips

Create a link between previously unlinked clips to synchronize video and audio that were recorded separately.
To use a set of linked clips multiple times, create a nested sequence from the set of synchronized clips and place the nested sequence in other sequences.
You can also edit tracks of linked clips individually. In the Timeline panel, Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (macOS) either part of a linked clip and then use any editing tool. When you’re done, you can reselect the clip to edit it as a linked clip again.

Result

In the Project panel, linked clips appear as a single item, represented by . However, when you add a clip to a sequence, the video and audio appear as two objects, each in its appropriate track (provided you specified both the video and audio sources when adding the clip).

The video and audio portions of the clip are linked. When you drag the video portion in a Timeline panel, the linked audio moves with it.

All editing functions act on both parts of a linked clip. You can unlink them (select the linked clips, and then select Clip > Unlink) when you want to work with the audio and video individually. While you can then use them as though they aren’t linked, Premiere Pro still tracks the link. If you relink the clips, they indicate whether they have been moved out of sync and by how much.

Linked clips remain synchronized as you move them or trim them in the Timeline panel. You can apply audio effects, including Volume and Panning, to all channels in the linked clips. If you make an edit that moves one of the linked clips without moving the others, out-of-sync indicators appear.