Premiere Pro how-to
How to use green screen in Premiere Pro (Ultra Key, clean edges)
Short answer
Put your background on V1 and the green screen clip on V2 above it. Apply Video Effects > Keying > Ultra Key to the green clip, click the eyedropper next to Key Color and click the green in the Program Monitor. The green turns transparent; then use Matte Generation, Matte Cleanup and Spill Suppression to clean holes, edges and green reflections, checking the result with Output set to Alpha Channel.
Checked against: Adobe Premiere (formerly Premiere Pro), 2026 releases, Windows and Mac.
Step by step: Ultra Key
Stack the clips
Place the background clip on a lower video track and the green or blue screen clip on the track above it.
Apply Ultra Key
Select the green screen clip, open the Effects panel, expand Video Effects > Keying and drag Ultra Key onto the clip.
EffectsVideo EffectsKeyingUltra Key
Sample the key colour
In Effect Controls, click the eyedropper next to Key Color and click the green background in the Program Monitor. Pick a mid-tone area, not a shadow or hotspot.
Check the matte
Set Output to Alpha Channel: the subject should be solid white and the background solid black. Grey in either place means the key needs work. Set Output back to Composite when done.
Clean the key
Raise Matte Generation > Shadow to fill dark holes in the subject, adjust Tolerance and Pedestal for noise, use Matte Cleanup > Choke and Soften for hard green edges, and Spill Suppression to remove green reflected on skin and hair.
Ultra Key settings and Adobe's defaults
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Transparency | How transparent the keyed area is (0 opaque, 100 fully transparent) | 45 |
| Highlight | Makes light areas more opaque | 10 |
| Shadow | Makes dark areas more opaque; fixes dark parts that went see-through | 50 |
| Tolerance | Separates foreground colours from the key colour | 50 |
| Pedestal | Filters noise out of the matte (grainy, low-light footage) | 10 |
| Choke | Shrinks the matte edge | 0 |
| Soften | Blurs the matte edge | 0 |
| Spill: Desaturate / Range / Spill / Luma | Removes green reflected on the subject | 25 / 50 / 50 / 50 |
If it doesn't work
| What you see | Fix |
|---|---|
| Holes appear in the person | Their clothing or eyes are close to the key colour. Raise Shadow and lower Tolerance, or use a blue screen for green clothing. |
| Green outline around hair | Raise Spill Suppression and add a little Choke (1 to 3) and Soften. |
| Background is patchy, not fully removed | The screen is unevenly lit. Raise Pedestal, add a crop or garbage matte for the edges, and light the screen evenly next time. |
| Playback stutters after keying | Ultra Key is GPU-accelerated; check Project Settings uses GPU acceleration, or render the section (Enter). |
Questions people ask
Which effect removes green screen in Premiere Pro?
Ultra Key, under Video Effects > Keying. Adobe recommends it for green and blue screens.
Does it work with blue screen?
Yes. Sample the blue with the Key Color eyedropper; the rest of the steps are the same.
Can I remove a background without a green screen?
Not with Ultra Key, which needs a solid colour. Use an object mask on the subject instead, which tracks the person frame by frame.
More Premiere Pro guides
Sources and how we checked
- Adobe Help: Apply and customize Chromakey using the Ultra Key effect (checked 2026-10-05; Adobe blocks automated readers; text read from the Internet Archive copy of 18 Sep 2026)
- Adobe Help: Ultra Key effect parameters (checked 2026-10-05; Adobe blocks automated readers; text read from the Internet Archive copy of 12 Sep 2025)
Reviewed October 5, 2026 by the Koldflux team. Each step is compared with Premiere Pro's own documentation (linked above) and with the top search results for this task; where they disagree, the maker's documentation wins. Steps without a source link follow the menu names that several current guides agree on.