How to make a split screen in Premiere Pro
To make a split screen in Premiere Pro, stack the clips on V1 and V2, add the Crop effect to each, then set Motion › Scale and Position until each fills its pane. For two 1080p clips side by side: crop 25% off the left and right of each, Position X 480 and 1440. mouzsplit builds the same in seven layouts for 9:16, 1:1, 4:5 or 16:9.
- Native tools: the Crop effect (Video Effects › Transform › Crop) plus Motion › Scale and Position.
- Crop is a percentage of the clip's own frame; Position is the clip's centre, in sequence pixels.
- mouzsplit: seven layouts and a new frame in 9:16, 1:1, 4:5 or 16:9, built as a real Premiere sequence.
- Only the bottom copy keeps its sound, so splitting one clip into panes doesn't double the audio.
- mouzsplit runs on Windows and Mac.
How do you make a split screen in Premiere Pro?
Stack the clips, crop each one, then move it into place. You don't need a plugin for this; the Crop effect and the Motion controls every clip already has will do it.
- Put the clips on separate tracks, one above the other: the left or top one on V2, the other on V1. Line them up in time.
- From the Effects panel, drag Video Effects › Transform › Crop onto each clip.
- In Effect Controls, crop each clip to the part you want to see: Left and Right for side by side, Top and Bottom for stacked.
- Open Motion in Effect Controls and set Scale and Position so each cropped clip sits in its pane.
- Play it through. People move; a crop that works on the first frame can cut off a head by the last.
Click the word Motion in Effect Controls and the clip gets handles in the Program Monitor, so you can drag it roughly into place. For the final position, type the numbers so the edges meet exactly.
What crop and position numbers do I need for a split screen?
For 1920×1080 clips, use the numbers below. Crop is a percentage of the clip's own frame, before Scale; Position is the clip's centre in sequence pixels, X then Y.
| Layout | Sequence | Scale | Crop, each clip | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Side by side, 16:9 | 1920×1080 | 100% | Left 25%, Right 25% | 480, 540 and 1440, 540 |
| Three columns, 16:9 | 1920×1080 | 100% | Left 33.3%, Right 33.3% | 320, 540 · 960, 540 · 1600, 540 |
| Grid of four, 16:9 | 1920×1080 | 50% | none | 480, 270 · 1440, 270 · 480, 810 · 1440, 810 |
| Stacked, vertical 9:16 | 1080×1920 | 88.9% | Left 18.4%, Right 18.4% | 540, 480 and 540, 1440 |
| Stacked, 4:5 | 1080×1350 | 62.5% | Left 5%, Right 5% | 540, 337.5 and 540, 1012.5 |
| Side by side, 1:1 | 1080×1080 | 100% | Left 35.9%, Right 35.9% | 270, 540 and 810, 540 |
With 4K clips in a 1080p sequence, halve every Scale value and keep Crop and Position as they are. You also get room to punch in: a 4K clip can go up to twice its fitted size before Premiere has to enlarge it past its real pixels.
For a single clip that just needs to fill the frame with no black bars, mouzeclick's Fill frame does it in one press, beside Fit frame, Fill width, Fill height and Punch in / out (see the Premiere Pro tools).
The vertical stack is where 16:9 footage hurts. Each pane is 1080×960, so a 16:9 clip at 88.9% loses about 37% of its width. Frame the shoot for it if you can: keep faces near the centre.
How do I put a face cam on top of a vertical video?
Make a 1080×1920 sequence, put the face cam on V2 in the top third and the main picture on V1 below it. For a face pane 1080×640 from 1920×1080 footage: Scale 59.3%, Crop Left and Right 2.5%, Position 540, 320.
The bottom two thirds are 1080×1280, and that is the catch. A 16:9 screen recording has to go up to 118.5% to fill it, which softens 1080p footage. Record the screen in 4K, or crop in on the part that matters (one window, one panel) instead of the whole desktop. A tight crop that stays sharp beats the whole screen gone soft.
Before you export, check the face and any captions clear the platform's buttons and caption area. mouzeclick's Safe frame & guides draws 65 platform presets on a track of their own, which you hide before export; the safe zone guides page shows where each platform's interface sits.
Why does my split-screen audio sound doubled?
Because every copy of a clip brings its own sound. Two crops of the same wide shot play the same audio twice: louder if they're in sync, phasey or echoey if they're a frame apart. A face cam and a screen recording made with the same microphone do the same thing.
Keep one sound and silence the rest. Alt-click (Option-click on a Mac) the audio half of each extra copy to select it on its own, then delete it or disable it. mouzsplit avoids the problem from the start: only the bottom copy keeps its sound.
How do I change the split during the video?
By hand, you keyframe Crop and Position on every layer, or razor all the layers at the same point and give each section its own numbers. Both work, and both get slow when the layout changes at every speaker switch in a 40-minute podcast.
mouzsplit uses layout keys instead. A key changes the split from that point on, and Keys at cuts adds one at every cut in a single click. mouzsplit writes them as hold keyframes, so you never set one by hand.
What does mouzsplit do for a split screen in Premiere Pro?
It does the arithmetic and the stacking for you. Open your sequence, then Window › Extensions › mouzsplit.
- Seven layouts: stacked halves, face on top (a third of the frame), big with a corner, side by side, three rows, grid of four, and a single-picture reframe.
- A new frame in 9:16, 1:1, 4:5 or 16:9.
- Drag to choose. Drag windows on the source to pick what each pane shows, and cells on the new frame to place them. Edges snap into line.
- Per pane: fill, fit or stretch, zoom from 25 to 400%, rotation and flips.
- Panes: add, rename, reorder or remove them, with an optional gap of 0 to 80 px.
- Build sequence makes a new sequence: the source nested once per pane, cropped with Crop and placed with Motion. The source itself is left untouched.
Every number is in Effect Controls afterwards if you want to nudge a pane by hand. The table further up is the sum it saves you from doing. mouzsplit is one of eight Premiere Pro extensions in mouzeclick; the all-in-one Premiere Pro extension guide shows what the rest do.
Should I use Auto Reframe instead?
Only if you need one picture, not two. Sequence › Auto Reframe Sequence makes a duplicate sequence at the new aspect ratio and keyframes each clip to follow the main subject (see Adobe's help page). That suits a single talking head going from 16:9 to 9:16. If you set its Clip Nesting option to nest clips, the unnest guide shows how to get them back out later.
A split screen shows two or more things at the same time, which Auto Reframe doesn't do. For a two-person podcast where both faces need to stay on screen, split it. For one presenter, reframe it, then add a zoom here and there; the auto zoom guide covers that.
Does mouzsplit work on Mac, and what does it cost?
Yes, on macOS 12 or newer as well as Windows 10 and 11 (Mac install guide). Install the Premiere panels from the mouzeclick app, restart Premiere, then open mouzsplit from Window › Extensions, and keep mouzeclick running while you work.
It comes with the one mouzeclick plan, along with the app's wheels and every other Premiere and After Effects tool: $25 a month or $249 for a year (pricing). Try it free for 3 days, no card. A creator or friend code takes 10% off a new customer's first 30-day or 1-year payment.
Build your next split screen in one pass. One plan with everything included, $25 a month, or $249 for a year.
Questions people ask
What split-screen layout works best for Shorts and Reels?
Stacked, top and bottom. Side by side in a 1080-wide vertical frame leaves each pane 540 px wide, which is too thin for a face. Put the face or reaction on top and the content below, and keep anything important clear of the bottom of the frame, where captions and buttons sit. Check it with safe-frame guides before you export.
Why is there a thin line between my two panes?
Usually a half-pixel edge. A position like 337.5 or a crop that doesn't land on a whole pixel can leave a soft or dark line where the panes meet. Overlap the panes by one pixel, round positions to whole numbers, or put a colour matte underneath so any gap shows a colour you chose instead of black.
How do I add a border or gap between panes?
Put a colour matte on the bottom track (File › New › Color Matte), then shrink each pane a little with Crop or Scale so the matte shows through as a line. Ten pixels reads clearly on a phone. In mouzsplit, set the gap between panes anywhere from 0 to 80 px and it's applied to every pane at once.
Can I edit the split screen after mouzsplit builds it?
Yes. Each pane is the source nested once, cropped with Premiere's own Crop and placed with Motion, so its values sit in Effect Controls like any clip you cropped by hand. Change a crop or add a keyframe as usual. Your source sequence is left untouched, so you can always build again with a different layout.
Why do faces drift out of their pane?
People lean, stand up and walk. A crop set on the first frame doesn't follow them. By hand, add Position keyframes on that clip where the person moves, keeping the crop the same. In mouzsplit, drag that pane's window on the source to a new spot and add a layout key there, so the split changes from that point.
Does 4K footage look better in a split screen?
Yes, noticeably. In a 1080p sequence a 4K clip fits at 50%, so you can crop and punch in up to 100% without enlarging past its real pixels. That matters most in vertical stacks and face cams, where a 1080p clip has to be blown up to fill the pane and goes soft.
How many clips can a split screen have?
As many as you have tracks and patience; the limit is legibility. On a phone, two panes read well, three is the comfortable maximum, and a grid of four works for reactions or before-and-after rather than for talking. mouzsplit's seven layouts include side by side and a grid of four, and you can add or remove panes in any of them.
What else comes with mouzeclick?
The mouse app with its Options, Orbit and Tool wheels, mouzeclick Studio inside Premiere, and all 22 extensions: eight for Premiere Pro and fifteen for After Effects, with mouzegrade in both. On Windows you also get the two workspaces. Counting every tool, preset, style, effect and action across the app and both workspaces, mouzeclick has 5,000+ features.
Sources
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