Guides
How to move edits, captions and transcripts between Premiere, Resolve, Final Cut, Avid and CapCut, and what each file format holds.
Moving a project between editors
Premiere, Resolve, Final Cut and Avid handoffs, and what carries over.
- A checked Premiere → Resolve handoffFollow the handoff from project file to Resolve. Includes a real six-clip example, native save/reopen results, and the checks that still need original media.
- Premiere project → ResolveNative .drp or FCP7 XML: both routes read the .prproj itself, so they work when Premiere is not installed or will not open the project.
- Resolve project → PremiereThe two-minute route from a .drp someone sent you to an editable Premiere sequence, no Resolve installation required.
- Premiere ↔ Resolve roundtripThe XML default, when AAF or EDL wins, the what-survives table, and the pre-flight checklist that saves a re-export.
- Premiere edit → Final Cut ProFinal Cut cannot read a .prproj or Premiere's XML export. Convert the project file to FCPXML 1.10 instead: a Final Cut project per sequence, with cuts, transitions, markers, keyframes and media references.
- Premiere edit → Avid AAFRead the .prproj directly and write an AAF that references your media. Cuts, trims, gain and markers carry; nests, retimes and effects are warned. Media Composer acceptance is unverified.
- Convert a .prproj to XMLThe in-Premiere export, the no-Premiere-needed converter, and why a .prproj is secretly XML already, plus the DaVinci Resolve import that follows.
- Open a newer .prproj in older PremiereThe version-lock error, why there's no "Save As previous version," and the three ways out: side-by-side installs, FCP7 XML, and the direct converter.
- Open a .prproj without PremiereThere's no .prproj viewer, but the converter plus free DaVinci Resolve gets you the full timeline: tracks, cuts, clip names, and the media paths inside.
- EDL vs XML vs AAFThe one-table answer to what each format carries, when to send which, and why post houses still want an EDL alongside everything else.
- How we verify conversionsReferences we didn't write: reference decoders, published test corpora, property matrices, and independent implementations, documented format by format.
- EditingTools.io alternative$19-27/month buys a genuinely broad suite, but a single conversion shouldn't cost a $13 day pass. Where each tool wins, honestly.
CapCut
Where CapCut keeps your edit and how to get it out.
- Does CapCut export XML?No. Here's what CapCut can export, and how to move the edit to Premiere Pro, Resolve or Final Cut anyway.
- Where CapCut saves projectsThe exact folder on Mac and Windows, which file holds your edit, and what to do when the folder isn't where it should be.
- Export subtitles from CapCutUse caption export or extract timed text from a readable CapCut draft. Find the project file and handle unreadable or encrypted drafts.
- CapCut vs DaVinci ResolveA straight comparison for CapCut editors thinking about Resolve, and how to bring the projects you already made.
Filmora, VEGAS Pro and Camtasia
CutConvert can't read these projects yet. What each editor can export today.
- Filmora to Premiere ProCutConvert can't read .wfp files yet. What Filmora exports today, and where its XML goes.
- VEGAS Pro to DaVinci ResolveVEGAS exports XML that Resolve imports. What each VEGAS export is for, and what to do with only a .veg.
- Camtasia to Premiere ProCamtasia has no timeline export. How to move the video and captions, and how to request a .tscproj converter.
Transcripts in Premiere
Import, export and fix transcripts for Text-Based Editing.
- Import a transcript into PremiereReuse a Rev, Otter, Word, or SRT transcript in Premiere's Text-Based Editing with sample files and instructions for importing timed JSON.
- Corrected transcript greyed outThe merge needs an existing transcript and the right panel context. The checklist that un-greys the option, and the JSON route when it still won't budge.
- Export SRT from a Premiere transcriptThe direct export, the captions workaround, and the no-Premiere-needed conversion. Which to use and when, with the version caveats Adobe glosses over.
- Premiere .prtranscript → SRTWhy a saved .prtranscript will not open as text, and how to get clean, timed subtitles out of one, speaker labels included.
- Rev/Otter transcript → PremiereWhat to export from Rev, Otter, and Descript (and the one setting everyone misses), then how to convert it for Premiere's transcript import.
- Transcript → SRT subtitlesThe one requirement (timestamps), the formats that convert directly, how cue timing really works, and the honest answer on untimed text.
- Whisper JSON → SRTWhat verbose_json actually contains, the converter route, the CLI flag that skips the problem, and the timestamp math that breaks hand-rolled scripts.
- Convert SRT to WordWhy translators want subtitles as .docx, the converter that keeps timestamps and speakers, the honest manual route, and the round trip back to SRT.
Subtitles in Resolve, Final Cut and Avid
Getting SRT files in and out of each editor.
- Add SRT subtitles in ResolveThe native import path, the timecode gotcha that hides your subtitles an hour away, and the FCPXML route when you want styleable titles instead of captions.
- Export SRT from ResolveTwo clicks when your subtitles live on a subtitle track, and the honest workaround via FCPXML when they are Text+ titles Resolve won't export.
- Import SRT into Final Cut ProThe native caption import, the insertion-time setting that puts subtitles an hour off, and the FCPXML route when you want styleable titles instead.
- Add subtitles in Final Cut ProGenerate Captions, the SRT import, or converted titles: which of the three routes fits which job, and how to get the subtitles back out.
- Export SRT from Final Cut ProThe native Export Captions route (and its two settings that matter), the hour-offset trap, and the FCPXML converter rescue when subtitles are titles.
- Import SRT into AvidSubCap only reads Avid caption TXT and STL. How to convert an SRT, get the frame rate right, and fix the imports that silently fail.
- Avid captions → SRTExport Caption Data writes Avid's own TXT, not SRT. The export step, the conversion, and the hour-one timecode surprise that catches almost everyone.
Caption formats and broadcast delivery
SCC, MCC, EBU-STL, iTT and the tools that write them.
- SRT vs VTT vs iTTSame captions, three containers. The comma/dot trap, the iTT frame-rate gotcha, and a destination-by-destination answer to "which format?"
- SCC vs MCC vs STLThe broadcast caption decision table: how to tell which format your delivery spec is asking for, what differs under the hood, and one SRT to all three.
- What is an SCC file?The broadcast caption format decoded: what the hex pairs mean, why timing is drop-frame 29.97, SCC vs SRT, and the converters for both directions.
- What is an MCC file?The HD caption delivery format decoded: caption distribution packets, checksums, MCC vs SCC, and the converters for both directions.
- What is an EBU-STL?Europe's broadcast subtitle format decoded: GSI and TTI blocks, the ISO 6937 accent model that breaks other tools, and converters for both directions.
- MacCaption alternativesFinal sale 2022, support ended May 2023, and the official successor is Windows-only. The real options, split by what you actually used MacCaption for.
EDLs and timecode
Reading and exporting edit decision lists, and drop-frame math.
- What is an EDL?The CMX3600 edit decision list, decoded: structure, a real example, how to open an .edl, EDL vs XML vs AAF, and getting one into a spreadsheet.
- EDL file exampleDownload a working sample EDL, then read what every line means: events, dissolves, AX reels, audio tracks, and the comments conform depends on.
- Export an EDLFile > Export > EDL, the Media Pool right-click, and the List Tool, with the CMX3600 constraints that surprise people the first time.
- Drop-frame timecodeWhy color TV created 29.97, the 3.6-seconds-per-hour drift, the exact skip pattern, and the DF-vs-NDF choice, with a calculator that does the math.
Project files explained
What is inside each editor’s project and exchange files.
- What is a DRP file?Resolve's project export, decoded: what's actually inside the ZIP, why nothing else opens it, .drp vs .dra, and your options without Resolve.
- What is an AAF file?The Avid-to-Pro-Tools workhorse: what an .aaf contains, the embedded-vs-linking trap, what opens one, and how to convert it to XML without Avid.
- What is FCPXML?The FCPXML vs FCP7 XML naming trap, rational timing, the version rules, and the subtitle workflows the format makes possible.
- What is a .fcpxmld?Final Cut's XML bundle is secretly a folder. The two-click way in, the flat-file export option, and the converter that accepts the bundle whole.
Paper edits and interviews
Planning a cut from transcripts before you open the timeline.
- What is a paper edit?The interview lines of a documentary, in order, with timecode, written before the cut. What goes in one and how it becomes a timeline.
- How to do a paper editEight steps from interview transcripts to a paper edit the editor can open as a sequence, the way documentary teams work.
- Paper edit templateA spreadsheet and a Word document laid out like a real documentary paper edit, with timecode and source columns, that paste straight into PaperEdit.
- Interview selects in PremiereFrom the Text panel's transcript, as subclips, or with markers, plus how a producer can pick the selects without Premiere.
- Interview string-outSelects end to end, per person, per theme or in story order: building a string-out in Premiere and Resolve, or straight from a paper edit.