Premiere Pro Proxies: Ingest Workflow for Choppy Timelines

If the footage is heavy, the timeline will be choppy on any computer that is not much faster than the camera. A proxy is a lightweight copy of each clip that Premiere Pro plays in place of the original while you cut. You edit with the proxies, then switch back to the full-resolution files for color and export. Setting this up at ingest, when the footage first arrives, is far easier than fixing it halfway through an edit.

The menu names below follow Adobe's Premiere Pro help for the 26.x releases as of September 2026. Adobe has changed its proxy presets over time. For example, its pages note that Premiere 24.2 no longer includes the Low, Medium and High proxy presets, so older tutorials can look different from what you see.

The quickest first thing to try

Select a few of the heaviest clips in the Project panel, right-click, and choose Proxy, then Create Proxies. Adobe's default frame size is Half, with a ProRes QuickTime Proxy preset. Premiere sends each job to Adobe Media Encoder and attaches the proxy to its clip when it finishes. Then turn on the Toggle Proxies button in the Program Monitor. When the button is blue, proxies are on. If the timeline now plays well, you have confirmed that the footage was the bottleneck and not the network.

Step by step: build the proxy workflow at ingest

1. 1Decide where proxies live before you create any. Adobe's default puts them in a Proxies folder next to the originals, with _Proxy added to the file names. On a team, choose a shared location that every editor can reach, and keep it the same on every machine so the links hold.
2. 2Open File, Project Settings, Ingest Settings. Adobe lists four ingest options: Copy, Transcode, Create Proxies, and Copy and Create Proxies. Choose Create Proxies to make proxies from media where it sits, or Copy and Create Proxies to copy the media and make proxies in one pass. Set the destinations for the primary media and the proxies.
3. 3Pick the proxy preset. The default is Half size with the ProRes QuickTime Proxy preset. A smaller frame size and a light codec decode easily. If your computers handle H.264 well, a smaller H.264 proxy is an option and takes less space, but it needs more decoding than an intraframe proxy codec like ProRes Proxy.
4. 4Import the footage. With ingest turned on, Premiere makes the proxies as the clips come in. Adobe states that proxies cannot be created for captioned clips, growing files or offline media, so those will need different handling.
5. 5If the camera or another tool already made proxies, use Attach Proxies instead. Right-click, Proxy, Attach Proxies. Adobe says Premiere matches files using file names, extensions, tape names and timecode, so the proxy and original must correspond properly.
6. 6Wait for Media Encoder to finish before you start cutting. Cutting while proxies are still rendering gives you a mix of proxy and full-resolution clips.
7. 7Cut with Toggle Proxies on. You can switch it off to check a shot at full resolution.
8. 8Before color and export, reconnect to full resolution. Adobe notes that Premiere uses full-resolution media by default for export, even if proxies are enabled, and that you should explicitly choose the proxy option in Export Settings if you ever want a proxy-based export. For high-quality work, Adobe recommends reconnecting the full-resolution media first.

What causes choppy timelines

• Long-GOP camera files such as H.264 and HEVC, which are hard to decode. See our H.264 and HEVC guide.
• High resolutions and frame rates that exceed what the network or the storage can deliver. Our article on finding the real bottleneck explains how to tell.
• A computer without enough decoding or GPU power for the footage.
• Several editors reading large camera files from the same NAS at once. Proxies reduce the bytes each editor pulls.

What not to do

• Do not export a final deliverable while the proxy toggle is on without checking the export settings. Check the export dialog and the result.
• Do not rename or move the original files or the proxy folder after proxies are attached. That causes offline media, which we cover in relinking media after moving drives.
• Do not delete the proxies to save space until the edit is locked and delivered.
• Do not make proxies from damaged or still-copying files. Verify the camera cards first. Our DIT workflow guide covers verification at the card stage.
• Do not assume Detach Proxies deletes them. Adobe says Premiere does not delete the proxy files on disk when you detach them.

When it is time to call someone

If the team shares footage on a NAS and every editor creates proxies separately, you end up with duplicates, mismatched paths and wasted storage. A good set-up decides the ingest settings, folder structure and naming once, ideally at the DIT stage on set or in the first hour of post. If proxies keep failing to attach, if relinks break between Mac and Windows machines, or if the shared storage cannot keep up even with proxies, bring in help before the cut is far along. The editorial suite shared storage guide shows how the pieces fit.

Want a person to look at it?

This is the kind of problem our production consulting team handles: designing the ingest and proxy workflow so footage arrives ready to cut, and fixing the storage and network side when proxies are not enough. See our DIT workflow service, or tell us what is happening in your edit bay and a real person on our team will reply.