Premiere Pro won’t open the .drp file a Resolve editor sent you
Premiere Pro won’t open a .drp file
Seen in: Adobe Premiere Pro
What is actually wrong
A .drp is DaVinci Resolve’s exported project: a zip archive containing the project database as XML plus settings. Premiere Pro has no importer for it and no other application does either; only Resolve opens .drp. The timelines inside are ordinary cut data, and XML carries them into Premiere.
Fix it here: DaVinci Resolve Project to XML
Drop the file. It is detected and converted in your browser; nothing is uploaded. Free to start, no signup.
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Conversions …
Drop EDL, SRT, VTT, .prtranscript, or transcript files
Any caption, transcript or timeline file: CutConvert picks the converter and shows what survives · up to 100 KB per file
The fix, step by step
Drop the .drp here
The converter unzips the archive in your browser, finds the project XML, and lists the timelines it contains.
Download the XML
Each timeline becomes a sequence in a Final Cut Pro 7 XML with tracks, clips, in/out points and media names.
Import into Premiere
File > Import the XML. Premiere creates the sequences and asks you to relink media it cannot find by path.
What is inside a .drp
When a Resolve editor chooses File > Export Project, Resolve writes a .drp: a zip archive with the project’s database serialised as XML, the project settings, and sometimes gallery stills and LUT references. It is a backup and transfer format for Resolve, and Resolve alone. Dragging it into Premiere does nothing; renaming it to .xml produces an import error because the outer file is a zip, not XML.
The information Premiere needs, the timelines, is inside that archive in a form Resolve’s own XML export would also produce. The converter reads it directly.
Why not just ask for an XML export from Resolve
That is the right answer when the Resolve editor is reachable and still has the project. The .drp route exists for every other case: the project came on a drive from a facility you no longer work with, the Resolve version that made it is not installed anywhere you can get to, or you were sent the .drp as "the project" and need to start today.
What comes through
- Every timeline as a sequence, with frame rate and start timecode.
- Video and audio tracks with clip instances, in and out points, clip names and source file names.
- Cut order and durations. Simple speed changes where the project records them.
What does not come through is anything Resolve-specific: grades and nodes, Fusion compositions, Fairlight automation, and effects. FCP7 XML has no representation for them, which is also true of Resolve’s own XML export. Expect a clean offline cut, not a finished grade.
Relinking in Premiere
Resolve stores absolute media paths from the machine that made the project. Premiere will show them as offline and offer to relink; point it at your media folder and it matches by file name.
Nothing uploaded
The archive is unzipped and parsed in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere, which matters for a project that may contain a client’s footage names and notes.
FAQ
- Can DaVinci Resolve export XML for Premiere directly?
- Yes, through File > Export > Timeline as FCP7 XML. This converter is for when you have only the .drp and no Resolve installation that can open it.
- Do grades and Fusion effects transfer?
- No. They have no representation in FCP7 XML. The cut, clips and timing transfer; the look is rebuilt in Premiere.
- What about the other direction, Premiere to Resolve?
- The Premiere project to DRP converter writes a .drp from a .prproj, and the Premiere to XML converter writes XML that Resolve imports.