How to add a transparent timer overlay in DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro

You want a timer sitting on top of your footage: a countdown before a reveal, a stopwatch for a challenge, a speedrun clock. The usual route is to download a green-screen timer from YouTube and key out the green. That works, but the edges go soft, the colour spills, and you’re stuck with whatever length and font the video came in.

A transparent timer skips all of that. It drops onto the track above your footage and only the numbers show. Here’s how to make one and put it into DaVinci Resolve or Premiere Pro.

Step 1: Make your timer

1. Open TimerOverlay.
2. Choose Countdown or Timer (count up), then set the length.
3. Pick a font, size and colour. Add timed colour changes if you want the timer to turn red in the last 10 seconds.
4. Under Canvas, choose the same size as your project, for example 1920 × 1080 for a Full HD edit or 1080 × 1920 for vertical video.
5. Keep Transparent background ticked.

Step 2: Pick the right download

For both DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro, the most reliable choice is the PNG sequence (ZIP). Every frame is a transparent image, and both editors read it as one clip.

• Without milliseconds, set the sequence to 1 frame per second. The ZIP stays small, and the timer still changes exactly once a second.
• With milliseconds, choose 25, 30 or 60 fps so the digits actually move.

In DaVinci Resolve you can also use the transparent WebM if you’re on Chrome or Edge.

Unzip the file before importing.

Step 3a: DaVinci Resolve

1. Open the Media page and drag the unzipped folder into the Media Pool. With “Show Individual Frames” turned off (the default), Resolve imports the PNGs as a single clip.
2. If you exported at 1 fps: right-click the clip → Clip Attributes → set the frame rate to 1. This makes the timer run at real-world speed.
3. On the Edit page, drag the clip onto V2, above your footage on V1.
4. To move or resize it, select the clip and open Inspector → Transform, then adjust Zoom and Position.

The transparent areas are see-through straight away, with no keying needed.

Step 3b: Premiere Pro

1. Go to File → Import, open the unzipped folder, and select the first PNG.
2. Tick Image Sequence before clicking Import. Premiere brings in all the frames as one clip.
3. If you exported at 1 fps: right-click the clip in the Project panel → Modify → Interpret Footage → Assume this frame rate: 1.
4. Drag the clip onto V2, above your footage.
5. To move or resize it, use Effect Controls → Motion → Position and Scale.

Using CapCut on your phone?

iPhone and Android video apps don’t support transparent video. Download the green-screen MP4 instead, add it as an overlay, then use Remove background → Chroma key and pick the green. The table on the homepage lists the best download for every editor.

Common questions

Why does my timer run too fast or too slow?

The clip’s frame rate doesn’t match the export. If you exported a 1 fps PNG sequence, set the clip to 1 fps (Clip Attributes in Resolve, Interpret Footage in Premiere).

Why is the timer blurry?

The canvas was smaller than your project and got scaled up. Make the timer again with the canvas size matching your project, or use 4K for very large text.

Is there a watermark?

No. TimerOverlay is free, has no sign-up, and adds no watermark. Your timer is made in your browser and never uploaded.

Make your timer →