Use preview files when rendering 

Last updated on Jun 23, 2025

Use preview files during export to significantly speed up the rendering process, especially helpful for complex sequences or tight deadlines.

Preview files are temporary render files created during editing to improve playback performance. These files can also be used during export to avoid re-rendering the same content. Some benefits of using previews are:

  • Faster export times, especially for long or effects-heavy sequences.
  • Consistent quality (if the preview settings match the export settings).
  • Less strain on the computer, since rendering is minimized.

When you render previews, Premiere Pro creates files on your hard disk. These preview files contain the results of any effects that Premiere Pro processed during a preview. If you preview the same work area more than once without making any changes, Premiere Pro instantly plays back the preview files instead of processing the sequence again. Premiere Pro stores the preview files in a folder you can specify. Similarly, preview files can save time when you export the final video program by using the processed effects already stored.

To further save time, Premiere Pro maintains existing preview files whenever possible. Preview files move along with their associated segment of a sequence as you edit your project. When a segment of a sequence is changed, Premiere Pro automatically trims the corresponding preview file, saving the remaining unchanged segment.

  1. In the Export Settings dialog box, in the GENERAL section, select Use Previews.

  2. To export directly from Premiere Pro, select Export. To send to Adobe Media Encoder, select Send to Media Encoder.

    Note:

    Media Encoder does not automatically use Premiere Pro preview files for encoding. To make use of the Premiere Pro preview files, you must select the Use Previews option in Adobe Media Encoder for each encoding process.

  3. When completely done with a project, you can consider deleting the preview files to save disk space.