How to send a Premiere Pro timeline to DaVinci Resolve
Export the sequence from Premiere Pro with File › Export › Final Cut Pro XML, then in DaVinci Resolve choose File › Import Timeline (Shift-Command-I) and select the .xml. In the Load XML window keep “Automatically import source clips into media pool” on so Resolve links your footage. Tracks, transitions, speed changes, opacity and nested sequences come across; color corrections do not.
- Menus from official docs
- Checked 2026-11-12
Step by step
How to send a Premiere Pro timeline to DaVinci Resolve
Current Premiere Pro (Adobe’s help pages now call it Premiere) and DaVinci Resolve 20. Resolve menus as in the DaVinci Resolve 20 Reference Manual.
Export from Premiere Pro
- 1Open the sequence and click in the Timeline panel.
- 2Choose File › Export › Final Cut Pro XML.
- 3In the Save Converted Sequence As – Final Cut Pro XML window, choose a location and name, then click Save.
- 4Open the FCP Translation Results log next to the XML to see what Premiere Pro could not convert.
Import it into DaVinci Resolve
- 1Choose File › Import Timeline (Shift-Command-I). In the Edit page you can also right-click the media pool and choose Timelines › Import › AAF/EDL/XML/DRT/ADL/OTIO.
- 2Select the .xml. The Load XML window opens.
- 3Leave Automatically import source clips into media pool on. Turn on Use sizing information to bring position, scale and rotation across.
- 4Click OK. If the media is not at the paths written in the XML, Resolve asks you to choose the folder it is in.
When it goes wrong
Common problems and fixes
- Resolve can’t find the media
- The XML points to the file paths on the computer that exported it. Blackmagic recommends keeping all media under one main folder, so you can select that folder when Resolve asks.
- Color, freeze frames or some effects are missing
- From Final Cut Pro 7 XML, Resolve does not import color corrections or freeze frames, and effects it doesn’t support are neither imported nor shown. Blackmagic says those effects are kept internally and written back into XML you export, so they return when the timeline goes back to Premiere Pro.
Check the XML before you send it
Drop Premiere Pro’s XML on Conform to list every clip, marker and effect in the sequence, and what will not carry over, before you hand it to the colorist. Free up to 40 clips.
Sources
Menu names and behaviour checked against these pages on 2026-11-12. Software updates rename menus; if a step no longer matches, write to conform@niamori.ai.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Something else, or a file that will not convert? Write to conform@niamori.ai.
Which Premiere Pro version should I export from?
Do position and scale changes come across?
Guides
More guides
- How to export XML from Final Cut ProExport XML from Final Cut Pro: select the project, choose File › Export XML…, pick a metadata view and XML version. What .fcpxmld is and which apps open it.
- How to import FCPXML into Premiere ProPremiere Pro cannot import FCPXML. Export XML from Final Cut Pro, convert it to Final Cut Pro 7 XML, then use File › Import in Premiere Pro. Step by step.
- How to move a Premiere Pro project to Final Cut ProOpen a Premiere Pro sequence in Final Cut Pro: File › Export › Final Cut Pro XML, convert it to FCPXML, then File › Import › XML. Step by step.
- How to send a DaVinci Resolve timeline to Final Cut ProExport a DaVinci Resolve timeline as Final Cut Pro X XML with File › Export › Timeline, then File › Import › XML in Final Cut Pro. What to do if it is refused.
- How to export an EDL from Premiere ProExport an EDL from Premiere Pro: click the timeline, File › Export › EDL, pick tracks in EDL Export Settings (CMX 3600). Tips for clean EDLs and clip names.
- How to export Premiere Pro markers to a listGet every Premiere Pro marker with timecode, name and comment as CSV or Excel: export Final Cut Pro XML from the sequence and make a marker list from it.
- How to make a music cue sheetWhat a music cue sheet must list (per BMI), how to pull every cue with in, out and duration from your edit, and which details to fill in before it is filed.
- What is FCPXML?FCPXML is Final Cut Pro’s XML format for clips, edits and metadata. How it differs from Final Cut Pro 7 XML, what .fcpxmld is, and how to open one.