Break a stereo track into mono tracks

Last updated on Jun 23, 2025

Learn more about breaking stereo tracks into mono for greater control of your mix in Adobe Premiere Pro.

The Breakout to Mono option lets you create separate mono audio source clips from a clip’s stereo or 5.1 surround audio channels. This is useful when you need more precise control over individual channels during editing. Breakout works on clips in the Project panel, not clips already in a sequence. Breaking out a stereo clip results in two mono clips—one for each channel. A 5.1 surround clip creates six mono clips, one per channel.

Note:

Premiere Pro preserves the original source clip. The Breakout to Mono option does not create new files, only new source clips with appropriate source channel mapping.

  1. Select a clip containing stereo or 5.1 surround audio in the Project panel.

  2. Select Clip in the menu bar, and then select Audio Options > Breakout to Mono.

    Breakout to Mono option highlighted under Clip > Audio Options menu in Premiere Pro.
    Use the Breakout to Mono option to split a stereo clip into two mono clips.

  3. The resulting audio source clips are given file names reflecting the name of the original clip, followed by the channel names. For example, when Premiere Pro creates two audio source clips from a stereo audio clip named Zoom, it names them Zoom Left and Zoom Right.