Applying transitions in Premiere Pro

A transition is an effect added between pieces of media to create an animated link between them. Transitions are used to move a scene from one shot to the next. Premiere Pro provides a list of transitions that you can apply to a sequence. A transition can be a subtle crossfade or a stylized effect.

Different transitions available in Premiere Pro are:

• Audio transitions
• Video transitions
• VR transitions

By default, placing one clip next to another in a Timeline panel results in a cut, where the last frame of one clip is followed by the first frame of the next. Transitions are usually placed on a cut line between shots. You can also apply a transition only to the beginning or end of a clip.

Before you apply a transition, trim the clips. Then, apply the transition. The more you trim, the more availability of frames you can use in the transition.

TIP: Trim at least 15 frames off of each clip for a centered 1:00 transition.

Using clip handles

Clip handles are extra footage before the clip's in-point and after the clip's out-point that you can use to manipulate a transition.

 If the source media does not contain enough frames, clip handles may not be present as there is no extra footage to add the transition. When you add the transition, Premiere Pro warns you that there is ‘Insufficient Media’ and that the transition will contain repeated frames. Premiere Pro automatically creates its Clip Handles by repeating the end frames to form a freeze frame of the clip. The transition appears in the Timeline panel with diagonal warning bars through it.

When you add a transition, a colored overlay appears over the clips in the timeline. The transition does not shorten the clip. It continues the clip from the In/Out point.

 When you don’t have enough clip handles for the transition, the easiest solution is to re-edit the clip. Select the clip in the timeline. Use the Ripple edit tool to trim back the clip. Now you can add the transition. 

For more information, see Trimming clips.

Apply transitions between two clips

To place a transition between two clips (centered on the cut line), the clips must be on the same track, with no space between them.

To apply a transition between two clips, do the following:

To preview the transition, play the sequence or drag the current-time indicator through the transition.

Apply a single-sided transition

Transitions are typically double-sided as they get applied to both clips. Single sided transitions are only applied on a single clip. This is useful when you don’t have a clip handle.

In a Timeline panel or the Effect Controls panel, a double-sided transition has a dark diagonal line through it, while a single-sided transition is split diagonally with one half dark and one half light.

To apply a single-sided transition, do the following:

To preview the transition, play the sequence or drag the current-time indicator through the transition.

Set and apply default transitions

You can set a video transition and an audio transition as default transitions.  Cross Dissolve and Constant Power Crossfade are preset as the video and audio default transitions. A blue outline marks default transition icon in the Effects panel.

If you use another transition more frequently, you can set it as the default. When you change the default transition setting, you change the default for all projects. Changing the default transition doesn’t affect transitions already applied to sequences.

Set a default transition

Set the duration of the default transition

Apply default transitions between selected clips

You can apply the default video and audio transitions to any selection of two or more clips. The default transitions are applied to every edit point where two selected clips touch. The placement does not depend upon the position of the current-time indicator or on whether the clips lie on targeted tracks. The default transitions are not applied where a selected clip touches a non-selected clip or no clip at all.

Copy and paste transitions

You can copy any transition in a sequence and paste it to any other cut line on a track of the same type: video transitions to video tracks, and audio transitions to audio tracks.

Replace a transition

To replace a transition, drag the new video or audio transition from the Effects panel onto the existing transition in the sequence.

When you replace a transition, the alignment and duration are preserved. However, this discards the settings for the old transition and replaces it with the default settings for the new transition.