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Final Cut Pro → Premiere Pro

How to move a Final Cut Pro timeline into Premiere Pro.

Two editors, two XML dialects that share a name and almost nothing else. The conversion translates one into the other.

Short answer: Export File → Export XML from Final Cut Pro, convert the .fcpxml or .fcpxmld to Premiere XML, and import that with File → Import. No third application in between.
Why two XMLsStep by stepWhat transfersFAQ

Two formats called XML, and why Premiere rejects the wrong one

Final Cut Pro writes FCPXML — its own modern format, built around roles and connected clips. Premiere Pro reads the Final Cut 7 XML, a much older dialect built around numbered tracks. Handing Premiere an FCPXML gets you an error, because the two have almost nothing in common beyond the file extension.

The conversion rebuilds the timeline in the dialect Premiere expects: roles become tracks, connected clips get track positions, and the audio lands on the frame grid Premiere counts in.

Final Cut to Premiere, step by step

  1. Break apart compound and multicam clips

    Clip → Break Apart Clip Items. Their contents are otherwise hidden inside the XML and cannot be recovered later.

  2. Export XML from Final Cut Pro

    File → Export XML. Either .fcpxml or the .fcpxmld bundle.

  3. Convert to .xml at the sequence frame rate

    Drop it in, choose .xml — Premiere Pro and set the frame rate the cut was made at. Premiere’s XML counts in frames, so this is the grid everything lands on.

  4. Convert and import

    Convert, then File → Import in Premiere. The sequence appears in the project panel.

Going the other way? Premiere to Final Cut works too — but take the AAF route: export File → Export → AAF from Premiere and convert AAF to FCPXML. It is Premiere’s sample-accurate way out, while its XML is frame-quantised.

What travels — and what the XML cannot take

The limits are the format’s, not the converter’s: Premiere XML is frame-quantised, and moving volume automation is left out rather than averaged. Final Cut has no pan field to begin with, so there is nothing to lose there. The report lists it per file.

FAQ

Can Premiere import an FCPXML directly?

No. Premiere reads the Final Cut 7 XML dialect, which is a different format that happens to share the letters XML.

Do I need Final Cut or Premiere installed to convert?

No. The conversion reads and writes the files directly; neither editor has to be running or even installed.

What about roles?

Final Cut organises audio by roles, Premiere by numbered tracks. Roles become tracks, and the track names carry the role names so you can still see what is what.

Try it on your own timeline first.

The demo is the complete app with unlimited conversions — each output covers the first 120 seconds with the full track layout. If your file converts the way you need, buy a license.

Download the free demo Buy — $79