Project settings determine the video and audio format of a project, including video frame rate, aspect ratio, audio sample rate, upper or lower field first, and bit depth.

When you start a new project, Adobe Premiere Elements applies a project preset to it. A project preset is a collection of preconfigured project settings. In most cases, you can use the default project preset, which is set for 4:3 DV footage for the television standard you specified when you installed Adobe Premiere Elements. NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) is the television standard for the Americas, the Caribbean, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan; PAL (Phase Alternating Line) is the standard format for Europe, Russia, Africa, the Middle East, India, Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, China, and other parts of Asia.

You can’t change the project preset after starting a project, so verify the format of your source footage before selecting a project preset. Depending on your source footage, you may need to change the preset or create a new one. If your footage is widescreen, for example, you need to select a Widescreen preset before you start your project; if it’s HDV, choose one of the HDV presets.

If you need to specify lower quality settings for output (such as streaming web video), don’t change your project settings—change your export settings instead.