How to Resize an Image in Premiere Pro

Working on video projects in Premiere Pro means you'll also work with still images at some point. Here's how to resize them to fit into your video.

Adobe Premiere Pro is one of the most popular video editing platforms for multiple reasons. You can use several editing features to make your work stand out, and learning how to use the platform is, while sometimes time-consuming, not too difficult.

When you create videos on Premiere Pro, you might also want to include still images—especially if you’re running a photography YouTube channel. This article will show you how to fit landscape and portrait pictures onto the screen.

How to Resize a Landscape Image in Premiere Pro

Resizing a still landscape picture in Premiere Pro is quick and easy. To begin with, you’ll need to import the images you want to use for your video project. You can do so by selecting File > Import, but the easier alternative is to drag and drop your files instead. Check out these tips for how to keep your projects organized in Premiere Pro.

Once you’ve successfully imported your picture, drag it to the part of the timeline you want it to be a part of. Then, right-click (or press control + trackpad if you’re using a Mac) before scrolling through the options list and selecting Scale to Frame Size.

If the picture doesn’t fit the frame, you can choose Fit and Full from the two dropdown menus beneath the picture’s screen.

How to Fit a Portrait Image in Your Video

Resizing a portrait picture is a little more complicated than doing so with a landscape image, but the process is still straightforward.

First, create a color matte by going to your project tab and selecting New Item in the bottom right. If you can’t see the icon, try expanding your screen or hitting the three lines on your video and selecting Panel Group Settings > Maximize Panel Group.

Choose how big you want the color matte to be before choosing the ideal color and selecting OK.

Drag and drop your color matte into the project. Place it in a video number above your main project, so it overlays the footage, before dragging and dropping your image in the video number above that. Keep in mind that dragging and dropping can make Premiere Pro crash, so importing it manually might be better.

Click on Scale to Frame Size after selecting the image you want to resize.

Once you’ve done the above, your picture should fit on the screen within the color matte.

Resizing a Picture in Premiere Pro Is Easy

It’s not uncommon to use still images in your Premiere Pro video projects, but editing them can get irritating if you don’t know what to do. Luckily, the solutions are straightforward—and it shouldn’t take too long to make the changes you need.