Skip to content
GRADEFLOW, home FREN Buy

From Premiere Pro to DaVinci Resolve

You edit in Premiere Pro and grade in Resolve. Here is the XML method step by step, what to check after the import, and what GRADEFLOW does for you.

The XML method, step by step

  1. In Premiere Pro, select the sequence in the Project panel.
  2. Choose File, Export, Final Cut Pro XML. Save the .xml file.
  3. In DaVinci Resolve, open a project set to your sequence frame rate, then choose File, Import, Timeline, and pick the .xml file.
  4. Leave your media where it was: Resolve links it by file path. If a clip is offline, relink it from the Media Pool.

What to check after the import

  • Frame rates. A 23.976 or 50p clip in a 25p sequence must land on the same frame as in Premiere. Compare several cuts, at the start and at the end of clips.
  • Audio. Check tracks, levels and fades.
  • Titles and effects. What is specific to Premiere (titles, effects, nested sequences, multicam) does not always make it through the XML. Depending on the case, you have to rebuild it in Resolve.
  • After Effects compositions. Dynamically linked compositions are not read by Resolve.

What GRADEFLOW does instead

GRADEFLOW is a Premiere Pro extension for Mac. One click sends the sequence to DaVinci Resolve Studio. Every clip is sorted before it leaves:

  • Clips Resolve can read point to the original media, uncompressed, at the right timecode. A log clip stays log.
  • Clips Resolve cannot read (nested sequence, multicam, stabilization) are rendered by Premiere in ProRes 4444, with no color conversion.
  • After Effects compositions are rendered by After Effects and stay linked.
  • Simple titles become editable Text+ clips. Animated titles and MOGRTs are rendered with their transparency.
  • Audio goes track by track, with levels and volume keyframes.
  • A send report tells you what went through, what was rendered, and what stayed in Premiere.

Changing the edit after the grade

This is where a one-off import gets complicated: the client asks for one shot less or a shorter cut while the grade is already under way. With GRADEFLOW, you change the edit in Premiere, send the sequence to Resolve again, and the grade you already made is kept. There is no return trip to Premiere: you grade and export in Resolve.

When the XML is enough

For a simple edit, without titles or effects specific to Premiere, or if you are on Windows or on the free version of DaVinci Resolve, the XML export is still the right method. GRADEFLOW needs an Apple Silicon Mac on macOS 15 or later, Premiere Pro 2025 or 2026 and DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.

To see exactly what goes through and what does not, read the Features page. To install it, the Installation page. Common questions are in the help section.