Importing AAF project files from Avid Media Composer

Adobe Premiere Pro cannot read native Avid Media Composer (.avf) project files directly, so you need to export an AAF file from Avid Media Composer, and then import the AAF file into Premiere Pro.

Advanced Authoring Format (AAF) is a file interchange format designed for video post-production and authoring environments. It is used for exchanging project information across applications that don’t ordinarily read one another’s native project formats — such as .prproj for Premiere Pro and .avp for Avid Media Composer. 

Before you export an AAF file from Avid Media Composer and bring into Premiere Pro, you need to do some clean-up within Avid. Clean up Sequence tracks prior to exporting an AAF file. Give each asset type a unique track.

It's also a good idea to export a Reference Movie to later use for identification and recreation of effects that do not migrate.

To export an AAF file from Avid Media Composer:

After exporting the AAF file from Avid Media Composer, you can import it into Premiere Pro.

• Custom information entered in Avid Metadata columns, such as the Comments field, will migrate.
• Markers will be placed in the Sequence to identify unsupported effects.
• Effects such as dissolves and speed variations will migrate from Avid.
• Audio Levels and Keyframes will migrate from Avid.
• Some Motion parameter settings migrate, but complex animation might not.
• LUT information baked into master clips will migrate, along with LUT information in Metadata Display columns.
• LUT Filter Effects and Color Filters applied to clips in Avid Sequence do not migrate.
• Matte Keys can lose Alpha Channel after migration.
• Multi-Cam Clips will be broken into discreet camera angles and only the Active Camera Angle from an Avid Sequence will be placed in the Sequence.
• All Camera angles will be available if Avid Clip Bins are Exported as ALE Files and Imported as Bins into Premiere Pro.