Adobe Premiere was developed by Adobe Inc. Premiere was one of the first computer-based non-linear editing systems, with the first version being released on Apple Mac in 1991 and for Microsoft Windows in September 1993. The final version, version 6.5, was released in August 2002 for both Windows and Mac.

The software originated at SuperMac Technology under the name Reel Time, a QuickTime-based video editor developed for the company’s Video Spigot capture card. In August 1991, Adobe Systems acquired the project and rebranded it as Adobe Premiere.

Premiere was the second QuickTime-based video editor on the market. Its ability to import new video formats could be enhanced by updating to a newer, compatible version of QuickTime. However, it could only process videos and images at a maximum width of 1,024 pixels.