How to export an AAF from Premiere Pro for Pro Tools.

Audio post does not work from your Premiere project. The mixer works in Pro Tools, and the bridge between the two is an AAF: a file that carries your audio edit, in its track layout, with the media the mixer can build on. Get the export right and the session opens with your cut intact. Get it wrong and the first hour of the mix is spent chasing offline files and missing handles.

This guide covers the AAF export from Premiere step by step, the choices in the export dialog, what the format does and doesn’t carry, and the OMF route that some facilities still ask for. If you want the wider picture of how AAF compares to XML and EDL, the guide on FCP XML vs. AAF vs. EDL covers that; here the focus is the audio handoff alone.

Why audio post wants AAF, not XML

XML and EDL describe a picture edit. They are built to rebuild a visual timeline in a colorist’s or online editor’s tool, and they carry almost nothing the mixer can use. AAF is the format designed for audio interchange. It moves your clips onto Pro Tools tracks in the same arrangement you had in Premiere, with the source audio attached, so the mixer starts from your edit rather than rebuilding it by ear.

So audio post asks for an AAF rather than the XML you send to color. It is the one format built to move the sound editorial across with the sync and the edit intact.

Export an AAF, step by step

With the sequence open and the Timeline panel active, go to File → Export → AAF. Name the file to match your handoff convention, for example Acme_SOUND_v01, and Premiere opens the AAF Export Settings dialog. The options that matter for a Pro Tools turnover:

• Mixdown Video: leave it off. The mixer gets picture from a separate reference video, not baked into the AAF.
• Breakout to Mono: turn it on for Pro Tools. Each channel lands on its own mono track, with stereo clips split to Left and Right, which is how Pro Tools expects them.
• Sample Rate and Bits per Sample: match the confirmed spec, usually 48 kHz and 24-bit. A mismatch here forces a sample-rate conversion on import.
• Files — embedded or separate: this controls how the media is packaged (covered below).
• Render — complete or trimmed: choose to copy complete audio files, or trim them and set a handle length (also below).

One thing to leave alone: rendering audio effects on export. There is a known issue where rendering effects shifts volume keyframes on trimmed clips. Audio post rebuilds processing in the mix anyway, so export the clips clean and let the mixer take it from there.

Handles, and embedded vs. separate media

Two settings get conflated more than any others in the AAF dialog. They are independent, and it helps to keep them apart.

Embedded or separate

This is about packaging, not handles. Embed Audio writes the audio into the AAF itself, so the whole handoff is a single self-contained file that is hard to lose track of; the trade-off is that some source metadata is dropped. Separate Audio renders the audio as files in a folder next to the AAF, which preserves more metadata and suits field-recorder matching, at the cost of a folder that has to travel intact or the session opens offline. Neither is the “correct” answer. Ask the mixer which they prefer and send that; if no one has said, either works as long as the media actually arrives with the AAF.

Handles

Handles are set by the Render choice. Copy Complete Audio Files sends the full source clip, so the mixer has unlimited room either side of every edit. Trim Audio Files sends only the used portion plus a handle you specify in frames. Set a handle of several seconds; sixty frames is a common floor and many mixers ask for more, so there is room to extend, crossfade and smooth around each cut. You can embed with handles or send separate files with handles — the two settings don’t depend on each other.

What actually transfers (and what doesn’t)

AAF carries the sound editorial, not your mix. Knowing the line saves a confused email from the studio later. What comes across:

• Every audio clip, in its track layout and at its edit points.
• Crossfades and clip fades.
• Audio Gain (the clip-level Gain command in Premiere) arrives as Clip Gain in Pro Tools.
• Clip volume keyframes arrive as volume automation in Pro Tools, rather than as clip gain.

What does not come across:

• Track-level volume keyframes — automation written on the track rather than the clip.
• Channel volume, panning and muting from the Premiere mixer.
• Audio effects and plugins. These are Premiere-specific and the mix rebuilds them.

The practical takeaway: do your level work as clip volume or Audio Gain if you want it to survive, keep your editorial clean, and don’t treat the AAF as a finished mix. It is a starting point for one.

OMF: the older route some facilities still ask for

Before AAF, OMF was the standard audio interchange, and a few established rooms still request it. Premiere exports one from File → Export → OMF. The dialog mirrors the AAF one: set an OMF Title, the Sample Rate and Bits per Sample, choose Embedded or Separate audio, and under Render pick Copy Complete Audio Files or Trim Audio Files with a handle length (the default is one second, in frames at the sequence rate). Like AAF, OMF carries clip-based audio, keyframes, transitions and metadata.

The reason AAF has largely replaced it: OMF files are capped at 2 GB, so an embedded OMF of a long or high-sample-rate sequence can hit the ceiling and fail. If a facility asks for OMF, separate audio sidesteps the size limit; otherwise AAF is the safer default. Confirm which the mixer wants before you export either.

What the mixer needs alongside the AAF

The AAF on its own is not the whole handoff. Send it with:

• A reference video — a flat H.264 of the locked cut with timecode and clip-name burn-in. The mixer lines the session up to picture against it and confirms nothing drifted on import.
• A guide track: a stereo mixdown of your editorial audio, so the mixer can check the AAF against what you heard in the edit.
• The spec, in writing: frame rate, timecode (drop or non-drop), and the sample rate and bit depth the AAF was exported at.

This is the sound portion of a larger delivery. For the color and online packages that usually go out at the same time, see the Premiere Pro handoff checklist.

Common AAF problems

Most failed turnovers come down to a handful of repeats:

• Session opens offline. Separate audio was chosen but the media folder didn’t travel with the AAF, or the path broke. Send the folder alongside the AAF, or embed.
• No room to work. Files were trimmed with no handles, so the mixer can’t extend or crossfade. Set a handle, or copy complete files.
• Stereo where mono was expected. Breakout to Mono was off, so interleaved clips land awkwardly in Pro Tools. Turn it on for a Pro Tools turnover.
• Levels look wrong. The mixer expected your fader moves, but track automation and channel settings don’t transfer. Bake critical level work into clip volume or Audio Gain, or just flag it.
• Shifted keyframes. Effects were rendered on export. Leave them unrendered and let the mix handle processing.

None of these is hard to avoid once you know the dialog. Set it the same way each time, send the reference and guide track with it, and the session opens ready to mix.