What are Premiere Pro presets?
Presets for Premiere Pro are settings that can be saved and then applied repeatedly, so that you can streamline the more tedious parts of your edit. Presets can apply to various elements of a project, including effects, transitions, exports, sequence settings and color grading.
Below, let’s break down the different ways in which your presets for Premiere Pro can come in useful.
Summary
Use cases for your Premiere Pro presets
Color grading presets
These presets allow editors to apply consistent color tones and styles across different footage, so your classic, warm sunset look, or a cinematic film grade, can be saved and applied to multiple clips instantly. This is really useful for matching shots, correcting color, or maintaining a specific visual mood throughout your project. By using color grading presets, editors save a lot of time and ensure a consistent visual experience.
Transition presets
Transitions help move the viewer smoothly from one clip to another. Presets for transitions, such as zooms, fades, or glitch effects, can be dragged and dropped between clips without having to manually adjust keyframes or effects every time. These are ideal for editors who want stylish, consistent transitions that can be applied quickly across a video.
Text animation presets
Animating text, such as titles, lower thirds, or captions, can be really time-consuming. With text animation presets, editors can reuse pre-designed movements like fading, sliding, or bouncing effects. This is particularly valuable for maintaining brand identity or visual style in recurring content like YouTube intros, tutorials, or corporate videos.
Audio effect presets
Audio presets combine multiple audio adjustments (such as EQ, compression, and noise reduction) into one reusable package. For example, maybe you want a voiceover preset that can be used to make narration sound clean and professional. These types of presets are essential for improving sound quality and speeding up the audio editing process, especially when dealing with similar kinds of recordings across different projects.
Export presets
Exporting video with the right settings can be tricky, especially when preparing content for different platforms. Export presets save resolution, bitrate, format, and codec preferences, so editors can very quickly output their projects for destinations like YouTube, Instagram, or broadcast TV. This type of preset helps maintain quality and compatibility while avoiding repetitive manual configuration.
Time-saving reuse across projects
For editors working on recurring series or branded content, presets offer a major productivity boost. You can create a preset that includes a specific color grade, intro animation, and audio adjustments, then reuse it for every new episode or video you put out. This not only saves time but also keeps the look and feel consistent across all content.
Team collaboration
Presets are also great for teams and businesses, allowing multiple editors to work with the same settings and styles. For example, a marketing team might share a set of presets for branded colors, logo animations, and approved transitions. This ensures consistency in your output, even when several people are contributing to a single project or campaign.
The benefits of using presets
Using presets in Adobe Premiere Pro offers a wide range of benefits that make the editing process much faster, easier, and more creative, whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned professional. One of the most obvious advantages is of course speed. Presets dramatically reduce the time it takes to apply complex effects, transitions, or adjustments. Instead of manually tweaking settings each time, editors can apply a pre-configured preset with just a click, making workflows more efficient and freeing up time for more fun, creative decision-making.
Premiere Pro presets for beginners
For beginner editors, presets can be a huge confidence booster. They allow users to achieve some great, professional-looking results without needing the deep technical knowledge of the software. Whether it’s a cinematic color grade, clean audio mix, or dynamic text animation, presets serve as ready-made solutions that can make even basic edits look polished and intentional.
Premiere Pro presets for savvy video editors
For intermediate and advanced editors, presets act as both time-savers and creative tools. They can streamline repetitive tasks across multiple projects, like applying brand-specific transitions, color grades, or export settings. More importantly, they encourage creative experimentation. Editors can try out different looks, transitions, or sound styles quickly, without having to start from scratch each time (phew). This opens the door to more playful, flexible editing, helping editors push creative boundaries while still working efficiently.
Another major benefit here is consistency, especially in team settings or content series. Presets ensure that your visuals, audio, and motion graphics stay uniform across episodes or campaigns, even when multiple editors are involved. This is crucial for maintaining a professional and cohesive final product.
Compatibility and customization
The great thing about presets is that they can be easily downloaded, created, and customized. Whatever project you’re working on, presets can be applied and adapted to fit your specific needs.
Free presets for Adobe Premiere Pro
Below, Motion Array has compiled a list of free Premiere Pro presets, including text, transition, color, overlay, photo/video, and zoom preset packs that are incredibly easy to use. These packs will help you make superb videos every time, no matter what you’re editing or how creative you feel.
Text presets
Text presets let creators, just like you, add stunning effects to the text in your videos. This helps to add personality, set the video’s tone, and direct the audience’s eye as needed. Here are some fantastic free options to help you create dynamic and stunning text in a few clicks.
1. Free Premiere Pro Presets
Tags: Titles, tools & effects; Compatibility: Premiere CC 2017
These 5 easy-to-use presets are designed primarily for texts or titles. You can also use them for images or logos. Add that special touch to your latest projects or catch the eye of your readers hassle-free.
Premiere Pro Presets Free Download
2. Free Premiere Pro Presets
Tags: Titles, tools & effects; Compatibility: Premiere CC 2017
These 5 easy-to-use presets are designed primarily for texts or titles. You can also use them for images or logos. Add that special touch to your latest projects or catch the eye of your readers hassle-free.
Premiere Pro Text Presets Free Download
Transition presets
That’s the text sorted. Now it’s time to enhance your projects even further. Make your videos stand out from the crowd with visually stunning transitions between scenes. These transition presets for Adobe Premiere Pro will make your videos look like they were shot on a Hollywood soundstage in minutes.
3. Free Film Roll Offset Transition
Tags: Transitions; Compatibility: Premiere CC 2017
Ready, set…. roll! Use these transitions for Premiere Pro to effortlessly give your videos the flickering feel of old-school film. This is perfect if you want to evoke nostalgia in something like a history documentary.
Free Film Roll Offset Transition Download
4. Free Strobe Transitions
Tags: Transitions, free; Compatibility: Premiere CC 2017
Spice up your next video with these 15 funky strobe transitions. They’re super-easy to use and require no other plugins, just the Premiere Pro transitions preset.
Free Strobe Transitions Download
5. Free Transition Pack
Tags: Transitions; Compatibility: Premiere CC 2017
Are you looking for fantastic transitions for shots, pictures, or titles that will give them a striking look and smooth animation? Look no further than this little six-effect pack.
6. Free Swish Transitions Effects
Tags: Transitions; Compatibility: Premiere CC 2017
Try this pack of five swish transitions for a truly unique transition to add eye-catching dynamism to your videos.
Free Swish Transitions Effects Download
7. Free Frame Rewind Transition
Tags: Transitions; Compatibility: Premiere CC 2019
This pack of 16 unique frame rewind transitions will add an exciting new versatility to your next video project.
Free Frame Rewind Transition Download
Color presets
Color speaks to the audience on a deeper level. It can influence the tone and mood of a video and draw your audience in deeper. Easily simulate the look of popular films and keep things looking professional with these Cinematic presets for Premiere Pro.
8. Free Creative LUTs Pack
Tags: Creative, Cinematic; Compatibility: All software supporting .cube LUTs
These 14 creative LUTs will take any project to the next level. Although this is a preset for Adobe Premiere Pro, it also works with any video editing software supporting .cube LUTs!
Free Creative LUTs Pack Download
9. Free LUTs Presets for Adobe Premiere Pro
Get fast, professional results (almost) effort-free. All you need for an amazing look is this Premiere Pro preset pack and your imagination.
Video presets
With video presets for Adobe Premiere Pro, your imagination is the only limit. These free Premiere Pro presets will put an array of awesome effects at your fingertips. Add fun, dimension, and a personal touch to everything you create.
10. Free Edgy Reveals
Tags: Transitions; Compatibility: Premiere CC 2017
Looking for something a little edgy? How about 5 stunning reveals with an absolutely unique look? Yes, they are free, too.
11. Free 5 Glitch Presets Pack
Tags: Transitions, Tools & effects; Compatibility: Premiere CC 2017
There’s a glitch in the matrix, and you are in control. These awesome presets will give you an eye-catching way to keep viewers engaged with every frame.
Free 5 Glitch Presets Pack Download
12. Free Handheld Camera Presets
Tags: Tools & effects; Compatibility: Premiere CC 2017
How to import presets into Premiere Pro
When it comes to learning how to import presets into Premiere Pro, it could not be simpler — a few clicks is all it takes!
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Go to the Effects panel at the top of the screen; if you don’t see this, go to Window > Workspaces > Effects.
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In the Effect panel, go to the Presets folder; right-click, and choose Import Presets.
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Navigate to your downloaded preset location in the Finder window, select the file, and hit Open.
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Search your Presets folder in Premiere to find your recently imported effects.
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Drag and drop your effect onto a clip, and playback your video to see how it looks.
How to make your own custom presets
If you need something specific for your video content, you can also create custom presets. Any keyframe clip can become a preset for you to save and use later for other projects. You won’t have to edit effects and set the keyframes manually all over again.
The following easy guide will show you how to create and save effect presets you make.
- Select the video clip with your effect settings applied within Premiere Pro, such as ease in, ease out, corner pin, etc.
- In the Effects Control panel, select the effect you wish to turn into a preset. Then right-click.
- From the list of dropdown options, choose Save Preset. You can name it in the dialog box that will appear.
Choose from 3 preset types:
- Scale: This allows keyframes to scale proportionately to the video clip length. They’ll automatically scale to however long your clip is.
- Anchor To In Point: In contrast to scaling, this preset type is saved so that the first keyframe effect is added at the original distance from the clip’s In point.
- Anchor To Out Point: Instead of retaining a set distance from the clip’s In point, this type keeps keyframe effects relative to the clip’s Out point. Other effects are added in relation to this point with no scaling.
Once you’re done, click OK. You have made your own preset.
To make use of your shiny new preset:
- Open the Effects panel.
- Expand the Presets folder. You will see a drop-down list of your saved presets.
- Select and drag your desired preset onto the video timeline.
If you need to modify any preset you create, select the Effects panel and right-click on the preset you wish to edit. Then select Preset properties. The same dialog box that appeared when you first created the preset will show again, and you can make your desired changes. These could be its name, type, or even description.
What if you want to share your creative work with people in exchange for appreciation or money? You may even hope your preset will appear on one of Motion Array’s future lists! If you want to share your presets, here’s what to do:
- In the Effects panel, select the Presets folder and right-click on the desired preset.
- Select Export Presets. This will take you to your files folder on your computer, where you can save your presets for future access or sharing.
- In the options where you select Export presets, you can choose Import Presets instead. This is useful if you have a desired preset collection to retrieve and use in Premiere Pro.
Never look back
From making the software more approachable for newcomers to speeding up and expanding creative options for pros, presets are a real game-changer for every video creator. They strike the perfect balance between efficiency, consistency, and creativity.
And why stop there? Motion Array is also home to a wealth of free Premiere Pro templates, transition packs, and LUTs for color grading, all of which can be used to enhance your films, lifting them to a professional, quality standard.
