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Watch the tutorial
Step 1: Draw a rectangle
Put your clips on the timeline and move the playhead to the very start. In the toolbar, click and hold the shape tool and pick the Rectangle Tool. Then click and drag in the Program Monitor to draw a rectangle anywhere on the picture. Premiere adds it as a Graphic clip on a track above your footage.
Step 2: Place the bar at the bottom edge
Switch to the Selection Tool with V and drag the rectangle to the bottom of the frame. Stretch it with the handles until it spans the full width of the picture and has the thickness you like. A thin bar looks cleaner than a thick one. Snapping to the edges of the frame helps you line it up exactly.
Step 3: Make the graphic as long as your video
A progress bar only makes sense if it runs for the whole video. On the timeline, drag the end of the Graphic clip until it reaches the end of your last clip. In the video, the graphic covers all three clips underneath.
Step 4: Change the color
With the graphic selected, open Effect Controls and expand Shape (Shape 01) and then Appearance. Click the Fill color swatch to open the Color Picker and choose your color. The video uses a bright red, but you can match your brand color or use the eyedropper to grab a color from the footage. Keep the Stroke turned off for a clean bar.
Step 5: Set the anchor point and turn off Uniform Scale
To make the bar grow from left to right, it has to scale from its left edge. In Effect Controls, under Vector Motion, move the Anchor Point so that it sits on the left end of the bar (the video does this by adjusting the Anchor Point values and keeping Position in step with it). Then untick Uniform Scale. This unlocks Scale Width so you can change the width on its own without changing the height.
Step 6: Animate Scale Width
Go to the first frame of the graphic, click the stopwatch next to Scale Width and set the value to 0, so the bar starts out invisible. Then jump to the last frame of the graphic and set Scale Width to 100. Premiere creates the second keyframe automatically. Press the spacebar to play and watch the bar fill the screen from left to right across the whole video.
Smoother with EaseFlow: select the Scale Width keyframes and apply a real easing curve in one click instead of dragging Bezier handles. See EaseFlow
Tips
- Keep it linear for a true progress bar. A bar that grows at a constant speed matches the playhead, while an eased bar starts and ends slowly, which feels more like a loading animation.
- Make a short loading animation. Cut the graphic to a few seconds and animate Scale Width in that time to get a quick loading bar for an intro or a transition.
- Add a second bar. Duplicate the graphic, change its color and place it behind the first one to create a track the bar fills.
FAQ
How do I make a loading bar in Premiere Pro?
Draw a rectangle with the Rectangle Tool, move its Anchor Point to the left edge, untick Uniform Scale, then keyframe Scale Width from 0 to 100.
Why does my bar grow from the middle instead of the left?
The Anchor Point is still in the center of the shape. Move the Anchor Point to the left end of the bar so the scale starts from there.
Can I use this as a video progress bar for YouTube or TikTok?
Yes. Place the bar at the bottom of the frame, stretch the graphic to the full length of the video and animate Scale Width from 0 to 100 over that time.
Want ready-made animated graphics that work in a few clicks? Browse our motion graphic templates for Premiere Pro. Browse the templates
