

Open Premiere, go to the bottom-right window, and select the Media Browser Panel. Now, thanks to some updates in recent Premiere redesigns, it’s just a few simple clicks, and you’ve got an entire proxy workflow ready to go. Then, once imported and edited in Premiere, you had to go through this whole “offline” process to get the full-res files to replace the proxies. You had to take all of your footage and downgrade it through Media Encoder. In the past, creating proxies was kind of a nightmare. Editors use proxy workflows when working on large-scale feature projects, just so the computer they’re working on can handle the load. This is important because low-res files render faster in your video editing app - which is especially useful for RAW and uncompressed video. In short, proxies are low-resolution video files that can take the place of larger-resolution video files in your timeline.

As confusing as a proxy workflow may sound, Premiere has recently made it extremely simple to use with their proxy ingesting settings through Media Encoder. If you have a computer - such as an older laptop or an aging desktop - proxies could save you loads of render time and get your project out to market faster. You may have heard about editors working with a “Proxy Workflow.” This is something that editors do to downgrade their footage if they’re working with extremely heavy file sizes (such as RAW and 6K footage) so it’s easier to edit.

Is your computer having a hard time handling high-res video files? Let’s take a look at how you can work with proxies in Premiere Pro.
