London Travel Promo: Resizing & Exporting Video in Premiere Pro

Topics Covered in This Premiere Pro Tutorial:

Duplicating a Sequence, Adjusting Sequence Settings, Resizing Video, Using Auto Reframe, Exporting Video

Exercise Preview

Exercise Overview

In this exercise, we'll master the essential workflow of repurposing video content for multiple platforms—a critical skill in today's multi-channel content landscape. You'll duplicate the London Travel Promo sequence and transform it into a square format optimized for Instagram, Facebook, and other social media platforms that prioritize 1:1 aspect ratio content. This approach maximizes your content's reach while maintaining professional quality across all distribution channels.

Getting Started

1. You should still have London Travel Promo—Your Name open in Premiere Pro. If you closed it, re-open it now by going to File > Open Project then Desktop > Class Files > Premiere Pro Intermediate > London Travel Promo. We recommend you finish the previous exercises (3A–3C) before starting this one, as they establish the foundational editing techniques you'll build upon here. If you haven't finished them, do the following sidebar.

   Project File Organization

   Keep your project files organized in the Class Files directory structure. This ensures all linked media and assets remain connected throughout the editing process.

Duplicating & Resizing a Sequence

Throughout this series of exercises we have been working at the native size of our video—a standard practice that preserves maximum image quality during the editing process. This workflow becomes especially valuable when you need to produce video content in varying aspect ratios for the same project, as it allows you to maintain a single master timeline while creating platform-specific derivatives. Now it's time to convert our sequence for square format export, demonstrating how professional editors efficiently repurpose content for social media distribution.

1. In the Project panel, CTRL–click (Mac) or Right–click (Windows) on the London Travel Promo sequence and choose Duplicate.
2. CTRL–click (Mac) or Right–click (Windows) on the duplicate sequence London Travel Promo Copy 01 and choose Rename.
3. Change the name of this sequence to London Travel Promo—Square. This naming convention helps maintain clear organization when managing multiple format versions.
   
4. Double–click on the icon for the London Travel Promo—Square to open the sequence in the Timeline panel.
5. With your new sequence active, choose Sequence > Sequence Settings.

6. In the Video section, change Frame Size: horizontal from 1920 to 1080

   This creates a 1080 × 1080 pixel video with a 1:1 aspect ratio—the optimal format for Instagram posts, Facebook square videos, and LinkedIn native video content. This square format maximizes screen real estate on mobile devices and performs better in social media algorithms.

7. Click OK to resize the sequence.

   If you get a message about preview files, click OK. Premiere Pro will automatically manage preview file adjustments for the new dimensions.

8. Notice that the titles have been scaled down proportionally and are no longer perfectly centered within the new square frame.

   Move your playhead to the first title.

   NOTE: If you prefer a cleaner look without titles in the square version, you could delete the entire title track or disable track visibility by clicking the eye icon to the left of the track name on the timeline.

9. Choose the Selection tool .

10. Click on the text in the Program panel to select it.

11. If you're not already in the Captions and Graphics workspace, choose Window > Workspaces > Captions and Graphics.

12. In the Essential Graphics panel's Align and Transform section:

    • Change Scale to 100
    • Click the Vertical Center and Horizontal Center buttons.

13. For each of the remaining titles, repeat this optimization process:

    • Move the playhead so you can view the title.
    • Select the title text in the Program panel.
    • Change Scale to 100
    • Center it by clicking the Vertical Center and Horizontal Center buttons.

14. Choose File > Save or hit Cmd–S (Mac) or CTRL–S (Windows).

Auto Reframing Your Video

Now that you've resized the sequence and re-centered the titles, you'll notice another challenge common in aspect ratio conversions: the video footage appears poorly framed, with key visual elements pushed to the edges or partially cropped. While you could manually adjust each clip's position and scale—a time-consuming process—Premiere Pro's Auto Reframe feature uses AI-powered analysis to intelligently reposition footage, keeping the most important visual elements properly framed within your new dimensions.

1. Choose Window > Workspaces > Editing to return to the editing workspace where you have optimal screen space for timeline work.

2. With the Selection tool active, click on the River Thames clip on the Timeline.

3. If the Effects panel isn't visible in the panel group to the left of the Timeline, choose Window > Effects.

   NOTE: You can also open the Effects panel by pressing Shift–7 or by using the double arrow in the top right corner of the Project panel group and choosing Effects.

4. At the top of the Effects panel, in the search field type auto reframe

5. Drag the Auto Reframe effect and drop it onto the River Thames clip (the last video clip) in the Timeline.

   After a brief processing moment, the effect analyzes the clip using machine learning algorithms to identify focal points, faces, and movement patterns. It then intelligently reframes the footage and may add subtle motion to ensure important visual elements remain properly positioned within the square format.

6. Click on the Dancing Woman clip, hold Shift and click to select the next 3 clips to the left on the Timeline (do not select the first clip). You should now have the middle 4 video clips selected.

   

7. In the Effects panel, drag Auto Reframe onto any one of the selected clips on the Timeline. This batch application saves significant time by applying the effect to all highlighted clips simultaneously.

8. Choose File > Save or hit Cmd–S (Mac) or CTRL–S (Windows).

Exporting Square Video

With your sequence properly formatted and reframed, you're ready for the final step: exporting your square video file. This export process will create a platform-ready asset optimized for social media distribution, maintaining professional quality while meeting the specific technical requirements of square-format video platforms.

1. Make sure the London Promo Video—Square timeline is selected and active.

2. Choose File > Export > Media (or click Export at the top left of the window).

   NOTE: The keystroke to export media is Cmd–M (Mac) or CTRL–M (Windows).

3. In the Media File section, keep the current File Name (by default it uses the sequence name, which maintains clear version control).

4. Next to Location click on the blue text.

   • Navigate to Desktop > Class Files > Premiere Pro Intermediate > London Travel Promo > Exports.

   • Click Save to close the dialog box.

5. From the Preset menu, choose Match Source—Adaptive High Bitrate

   NOTE: This automatically sets Format to H.264, the industry-standard codec for social media distribution. This format provides excellent compression efficiency while maintaining high visual quality across all major platforms.

6. Click the Export button at the bottom right of the window.

   NOTE: Alternatively, you can click Send to Media Encoder to queue the export in Adobe Media Encoder. This approach allows you to continue editing in Premiere Pro while your video renders in the background—a workflow preferred by professionals managing multiple projects simultaneously. In Media Encoder, click the green arrow at the upper right to begin rendering.

7. After the export completes, choose File > Save or hit Cmd–S (Mac) or CTRL–S (Windows) to save your Premiere Pro project file.

8. You can close this project now that you have completed this section.

9. To preview your finished video file, minimize Premiere Pro and on your Desktop, navigate to Class Files > Premiere Pro Intermediate > London Travel Promo > Exports.

10. Double–click on your new video file to preview it and confirm the square formatting and reframing results meet your quality standards.