Open newer Premiere Pro work file in an older version

March 2021 Update: Here’s an extremely helpful video by Scoby Tech on how to convert the file!

Dec 2017 Update: You can use the below method to convert Premiere Pro CC 2018 to Premiere Pro CC 2017, just change the number “34” to “33”, but if CC 2018 features were used in the .prproj file, there will be an error when you try to export the timeline.?

Jan 2017 Update: You can use the below method to convert Premiere Pro CC 2017 to Premiere Pro CC 2015, just change the number “32” to “30”.

Here’s a quick solution on how to change a Premiere work file that is saved on a newer version to work on an older Premiere Pro version, without exporting any EDL or XML.

For this example, let’s say I need to open my Premiere Pro CC 2015.3 10.3.0 (202) .prproj file on a Premiere Pro CC 2015.2 9.2.0 (41).

1. Duplicate the work file, change the extension from .prproj to .zip.
2. Open with 7zip (I got feedback that this only works on Windows)
3. Open the file in the zipped file with any simple text editor like notepad.
4. Refer to pic below, change the version number from “31” to “30” and save.
5. If you can’t save it, extract the file out and make the change, drag it back in the zipped folder to replace the text file.
6. Close the zip folder and revert the file extension from .zip to prproj.
7. You can directly open it in Premiere Pro CC 2015.2 9.2.0 (41) already.

How do I reinstall Premiere Pro CC 2015.2 (9.2)?
Here’s how to get back to?Premiere Pro CC 2015.2 9.2.0 (41),?at this page, download?Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2015.2 Update

If it is an older version than 2015.2, change the version number?down?accordingly to how many updates that Premiere had previously released.

Here’s the list of version numbers as listed by Eberswalde in the Adobe Forum
Premiere Pro version numbers:

• 23>CS5
• 24>CS5.5
• 25>CS6
• 26>CC
• 27>CC 2014