Ingest and Proxy workflow  

In Premiere Pro, the ingest and proxy workflows are two important processes that can help you manage and optimize your video editing projects, especially when dealing with high-resolution or complex footage. 

Ingest workflow 

Ingesting in Premiere Pro refers to the process of copying and transcoding media files from your source storage (such as memory cards, external hard drives, or network drives) to your project's local storage or designated media cache location. 

The primary purpose of the ingest workflow is to ensure that you have optimized and consistent media files ready for editing. It helps in preserving the original files while also creating working copies that may be more suitable for editing. 

During the ingest process, you can choose to transcode your media into a more editable format, which may have a lower resolution or codec that's easier for your computer to handle. You can also consolidate media by copying it to your project's local storage, ensuring all necessary files are in one place. Premiere Pro verifies to ensure that there is no data corruption or loss while copying media. 

Proxy workflow 

Proxy workflows in Premiere Pro involve creating lower-resolution, lightweight copies of your high-resolution video files. These lower-resolution copies, known as proxy files, are used for editing instead of the original high-res files. 

The main purpose of the proxy workflow is to make editing smoother and faster, especially when working with high-resolution or computationally intensive footage that can be taxing on your computer's hardware. 

When working with proxies, you first create proxy files, edit these proxies, and then convert to full resolution media when you need the full resolution files.  

You can also work with proxies that are created outside of Premiere Pro (for example, proxies created using other applications, or cameras). In this case, you need to attach proxies to the full resolution media files, and then start the editing process. 

 When to use each workflow 

• Ingest workflow: Use the ingest workflow when you want to keep a copy of the original media in its highest quality but still need to optimize it for editing. This is helpful when storage space is not a major concern, and you want a backup of your source footage. 
• Proxy workflow: Use the proxy workflow when you need smoother playback and faster editing performance, especially when working with 4K or higher-resolution footage on less powerful hardware. It conserves storage space and speeds up the editing process. After editing is complete, you can switch back to the original media for final export. 

You can also combine both workflows. Ingest the original media for backup and create proxy files for smoother editing, so you have the flexibility to switch between the two as needed throughout the editing process. 

Unsupported features in proxy workflows 

• The proxy functionality in Premiere Pro is not compatible with the proxy functionality in After Effects.  
• Dynamic Link is not supported for After Effects compositions or projects.
• Editing audio in Adobe Audition is also not supported for proxy workflows. 
• The option to modify audio channels and interpret footage isn’t supported.