Adobe Prelude CC for Windows v25.1.0 2025

CONS

• Intimidating interface for nonprofessionals
• Some techniques require additional applications, such as After Effects or SpeedGrade
• No sound effect samples included

The cross-platform program runs on macOS 10.14 or later and on Windows 10 version 1803 or later, with the 64-bit versions required. It also requires a minimum of 8GB of RAM (16GB recommended), and a 1,280-by-800 display. You can run Premiere Pro on an Apple Silicon M1-based Mac, though, as the support page states: ”Native support for Apple M1 CPUs is not yet available but you can run Premiere Pro in Rosetta 2 emulation mode on Apple M1 devices.” Adobe states on its Apple Silicon M1 support page that it’s actively working on giving its apps native compatibility.

What’s New in Premiere Pro?

It’s been a while since we last updated this review, and Adobe does a big update at least once a year. Below are the most recent updates.

Caption Tools. A new captioning workflow makes it easier to add, split, and format captions, and an update later this year will bring automatic transcription (currently in beta).

Media Replacement in Motion Graphics Templates. Easily drop your own media into pre-built templates to customize effects. For example, replace a logo and text in a motion graphic template for an intro.

Learning tools. A Learning mode option now appears at the top of the screen, and the welcome page offers eight interactive tutorials that can take you over the main tasks needed for creating a movie—importing, preparing clips, adding titles, working with color, editing audio, and so on.

Auto Reframe.  With so much emphasis on social videos these days, its often necessary to use aspect ratios other than the standard widescreen, including vertical formats favored by smartphone screens. Adobe’s Auto Reframe can automatically change the crop selection for these formats, keeping the subject in view.

Scene Edit Detection. Premiere Elements can now analyze a clip to detect previous edits and split the clip into multiple clips based on those edits.

Adobe Premiere Pro on the Mac

A good portion of video editors prefer working on Apple Macintosh computers, so naturally Premiere Pro is available on that platform. It runs on the new Apple M1-based computers with the help of Rosetta 2, though not natively. The macOS version matches the Windows 10 version feature-for-feature, so anything you read below or above applies to both. Except for performance: I tested the macOS version on a 3.1GHz MacBook with Intel Core i5 and 8GB RAM, which is admittedly not a video-editing powerhouse.

My test project (see Performance section below) took Adobe Prelude 2025 (min:sec) to render on the test MacBook Pro. That compares favorably with Premiere Elements’ 7:31, but not so much with CyberLink PowerDirector (that app recently brought out a macOS version), which did the deed in a mere 57 seconds. Final Cut Pro took 3:55 in two tests, but then suffered system instabilities.

Interface

Adobe Prelude CC Free Download has an attractive, flexible interface. The startup view helps you quickly get to projects you’ve been working on, start new projects, or search for Adobe Stock footage. The dark program window makes your clips the center of attention, and you can switch among workspaces for Assembly, Editing, Color, Effects, Audio, and Titles. You can edit these or create your own custom workspaces, and even pull off any of the panels and float them wherever you want on your display(s). You can create content bins based on search terms, too.

One thing missing from the interface is a permanent search box for finding commands, content, or help; other major apps, including Adobe’s own Photoshop and Microsoft Office, now include this helpful interface element.

Conclusion

Suitable for even the most-demanding users, Adobe Prelude CC for Windows v25.1.0 is an expansive, professional-level digital video editing program with excellent collaboration tools.