Types of effects

Learn about the different types of effects in Premiere Pro that you can use to enhance your video and audio edits.

Effect types

Premiere Pro offers a variety of built-in and third-party plug-in effects from external manufacturers.

Fixed effects

Fixed effects are pre-applied or built into every clip and include Motion, Opacity, Time Remapping, and Volume adjustments.

Every clip in the timeline has fixed effects built in, controlling its core properties. These effects appear in the Effect Controls panel when a clip is selected and can be adjusted there. For a more intuitive workflow, use controls provided in the Program Monitor, Timelines panel, or Audio Track Mixer.

Fixed effects are built into every clip. Adjust their properties to use them. Premiere Pro processes Fixed effects after Standard effects, which are rendered from top to bottom. You can reorder Standard effects in the Effect Controls panel, but Fixed effects stay in a set order.

To change the render order of Fixed effects, use equivalent Standard effects instead. Replace Motion with Transform, Opacity with Alpha Adjust, and the fixed Volume effect with the Standard Volume effect. While not identical, these alternatives offer similar functionality.

Standard effects

Standard effects are additional effects that must be applied manually to clips. They are used for color correction, blurs, distortions, and other modifications.

Standard effects let you enhance or modify clips by applying and adjusting them in the Effect Controls panel. You can use them to do the following tasks:

• Adjust tone, trim pixels, or add creative effects.
• Apply multiple effects to a clip in any combination.
• Directly manipulate certain effects using handles in the Program Monitor.
• Animate effect properties over time with keyframes and Bezier curves.

The Effects panel offers a variety of video and audio effects. The available effects depend on the installed effect files available in the language subfolder of the Premiere Pro Plug-ins folder. You can expand your options by adding compatible Adobe or third-party plug-ins.

Clip-based and track-based effects

Video effects apply to individual clips, while audio effects can be applied at both the clip and track level.

Video effects, including both Fixed and Standard effects, are clip-based, meaning they modify individual clips. To apply an effect to multiple clips at once, use a nested sequence.

Audio effects can be applied to clips or tracks. For track-based effects, use the Audio Track Mixer. If keyframes are added, you can adjust the effect in the Audio Track Mixer or Timelines panel.

Effect Plug-Ins

Plug-ins are third-party effects available from Adobe or other vendors to expand functionality.

Along with its built-in effects, Premiere Pro supports Adobe plug-ins, a variety of third-party plug-ins, and compatible apps like After Effects and VST for extended functionality. Only those installed with the application are officially supported.

Plug-ins are stored in the following locations:

Windows: Program Files\Adobe\Common\Plug-ins\<version>\MediaCore
Mac OS: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Common/Plug-ins/<version>/MediaCore

To edit a project containing add-on plug-ins on more than one computer, install the required plug-ins on all the computers where you edit your projects. When you open a project with missing effects, Premiere Pro lists the missing effects, marks them as offline, and renders the project without them.

Effect categories

Effects in Premiere Pro are grouped into three categories for easy search. These categories appear as three buttons in the Effects panel. When you select a button, only effects and transitions of that type appear. You can select multiple buttons to filter by different types at once.

GPU-Accelerated Effects

These effects use the GPU for faster rendering and real-time playback.

Many effects benefit from GPU acceleration, allowing for real-time playback without rendering. To allow GPU acceleration, ensure your system meets the Premiere Pro system requirements for supported graphics cards.

Acceleration works only if you have a supported video card. If not, the Accelerated Effects filter still works, but the badge appears greyed out to show it's unavailable.

To allow or not allow GPU acceleration for effects, go to File > Project Settings > General. In the Video Rendering And Playback section. Select either Mercury Playback Engine GPU Acceleration for GPU-based rendering or Mercury Playback Engine Software Only for CPU-based rendering.
This option is available only if your system supports GPU acceleration.

32-bit Color Effects

These effects provide high-bit-depth processing for better color resolution and smoother gradients.

Premiere Pro offers certain video effects and transitions that support high-bit-depth processing, giving you smoother gradients and better color resolution when working with high-bit-depth assets like v210 video or 16-bit Photoshop files.Some effects support high-bit-depth processing, which ensures better color fidelity. To allow these effects, select Maximum Bit Depth in File > New > Sequence > Settings (New Sequence dialog).

If any 8-bit effect is used in a sequence with 32-bit effects, Premiere Pro processes all effects at 8-bit depth.

YUV Effects

YUV effects operate directly on YUV color values instead of converting them to RGB, preserving color accuracy. These effects make it easy for you to adjust contrast and exposure without shifting color.