Adobe has released the 2021 version of Premiere Pro, which is version 15. This update includes bug fixes, several new features, and performance improvements. According to Adobe, the keyword of this release is SPEED, and efficiency, which is… also contributes to workflow acceleration. 

Premiere Pro 2021 (ver.15.0)

Adobe says that this release marks the launch of the 2021 versions of Premiere Pro and the Adobe video applications. Premiere Pro (version 15.0) is the first release in the 2021 versions of the Creative Cloud video applications. The 2021 versions offer new support for graphics functionality and cross-application workflows, enabling new features such as Captions in Premiere Pro and Media Replacement in Motion Graphics templates.

Important note: Within a major release, project files are forward and backward compatible: you can open and save any Premiere Pro v15.x project with any 15.x version of Premiere Pro – including Dynamic Link with After Effects 18.x versions. If you open a project from a previous version, Premiere Pro 15.x will save the original project and create a new 15.x project file. Check out the slide below which shows converting a project created in an earlier version of Premiere Pro.

Premiere Pro 15: Features and improvements

All new Captions

Premiere Pro’s all-new Captions workflow transforms the process of stylizing and delivering captioned videos. Captions are now integrated seamlessly into editorial, connecting text with the Timeline and the design tools in the Essential Graphics panel. There’s a comprehensive toolset for quickly adding, customizing, and stylizing captions and subtitles. Adobe adds the Captions workflows will be further accelerated by Speech to Text features later this year.

Check the video below which elaborates regarding the process:

Media Replacement

You can now swap out specified media, such as logos and even videos, within Motion Graphics templates, which utilizes the capabilities of After Effects onto the Premiere Pro timeline with customizable graphics and animations. 

Check out the short tutorial below for a further explanation: 

Equitable Language

This release includes some terminology changes to better reflect core reflect Adobe values of diversity and inclusion. Adobe has replaced non-inclusive language and reference imagery in Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Audition. For full reference head over this link. 

Faster Warp Stabilizer

This is one of the best improvements in the new release. Adobe states that a newly developed optimization makes Warp Stabilizer up to 4x faster. The Warp Stabilizer is dramatically improved based on the time it takes to analyze shaky footage while leaving the actual stabilization process unchanged.  The result is that the quality of the stabilization is as good as before, just “way faster.”

Team Projects improvements

The access to the Search Bar and SmartBin content is now significantly faster. Adobe states that “No longer will the Search Bar in the Project Panel be disabled while indexing occurs, allowing immediate access to the metadata database query capability”. 

Copy and paste audio effects in Audio Track Mixer

Rather than copying individual audio effects between tracks, one by one,  you can now copy and paste complete audio effects racks between audio tracks. Pasted audio effects racks include all of the effects and settings of the original track.  You can further adjust individual settings in the pasted track effects racks without affecting the other tracks.

Legacy audio effects removed

Obsolete audio effects, all replaced by more modern effects, have been removed from the 2021 release of Premiere Pro. Adobe says that the goal is to keep Premiere Pro lean and efficient requires occasional house cleaning. That means several legacy audio effects have been removed, including Chorus, DeClicker, DeCrackler, DeEsser, DeHummer, DeNoiser, Dynamics, EQ, Flanger, Multiband Compressor, Phaser, Pitch Shifter, Reverb, and Spectral Noise Reduction. Adobe emphasizes that all of these have already been replaced by new or equivalent effects. 

Premiere Pro 15.0 is now available for download from the Creative Cloud desktop app.