Hold Alt on Windows and Linux, or Option on Mac, and drag the timeline clip to where you want the copy. Release the mouse button first, then the modifier key.
That covers most of what people need when they ask how to duplicate a clip in DaVinci Resolve. The rest covers three timeline methods, one Media Pool method for an independent source clip, and the behaviours that make duplication go wrong.
- Alt-drag puts a copy anywhere you point, including another track.
- Copy and paste puts a copy at the playhead, overwriting what is there.
- Paste Insert puts a copy in and pushes later media to the right.
- Duplicate Clip in the Media Pool creates a separate source clip rather than another timeline instance.
Tested in DaVinci Resolve 21 using the default DaVinci Resolve keyboard preset. The Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro 7 and Avid presets map some of these commands differently.
Alt-Drag Is the Fastest Way to Duplicate a Clip in DaVinci Resolve
Select the clip on the Edit page timeline. Hold Alt or Option. Drag the clip to the position or track where you want the copy. Release the mouse button, then release the modifier key.
That release order is the whole trick. The DaVinci Resolve manual states it plainly: when you duplicate clips this way, the modifier key must stay held until you release the mouse button. Most tutorials fuss over whether you press Alt before or after clicking. Press order barely matters. Let go of Alt half a frame early and you get a move instead of a copy, which means you have pulled a shot out of a locked sequence without noticing.
Transitions duplicate the same way. Select one, hold Alt on Windows and Linux or Option on Mac, and drag it to another edit point.
If video and audio are linked, both travel together. To copy the picture alone, switch off Linked Selection with Ctrl+Shift+L or Cmd+Shift+L first, or split the audio off the clip before you drag. Alt-drag ignores track targeting entirely, which is the one thing copy and paste cannot do.
Copy and Paste to Duplicate a Clip in DaVinci Resolve
Select the clip, press Ctrl+C or Cmd+C, move the playhead to the destination frame, then press Ctrl+V or Cmd+V. In a normal same-timeline paste with the relevant Auto Track Selectors enabled, Resolve returns the copy to its source track and overwrites media at the destination. Disabled selectors or cross-timeline pastes can change the destination track.
Most tutorials tell you to click the track header first so the target track turns red. Skip that. The red outline is Track Destination Selection, which governs edits coming out of the Source Viewer, not clipboard operations. It changes nothing about where your duplicate lands.
Timeline In and Out points are a separate matter. They come into play when you deliberately copy or paste a partial range, not when you are placing a whole duplicate. The playhead positions a normal paste. In and Out is a range tool you reach for on purpose.
Why DaVinci Resolve Pastes the Duplicate on the Wrong Track
The Auto Track Selector controls in the track headers decide this, not the red destination boxes. The manual describes the general behaviour: with every selector enabled, clips return to the track they were copied from, and with some disabled, the lowest-numbered enabled track becomes the base. Copy clips from several tracks at once and their relative stacking is preserved, with extra tracks created if the destination timeline does not have enough.
Do not use "switch every selector off" as a targeting method. Different sections of the documentation and different real-world cases disagree about what happens in that state, and copying between timelines adds another variable on top.
For a normal same-timeline paste, use this workflow.
- Position the playhead where the duplicate should start.
- Alt-click or Option-click the Auto Track Selector on the destination track, so it becomes the only enabled one.
- Paste.
Pasting between two different timelines is a separate case, and soloing a selector does not reliably control it. Resolve may preserve the source track number and create the missing tracks regardless. Forum reports include a clip copied from V14 landing on a newly created V14 even though V9 was the only enabled selector in the destination timeline.
So when exact track placement matters across timelines, create the destination tracks you need first, paste, then check the result before you carry on. For a single clip inside one timeline, Alt-drag or Option-drag remains the most direct way to put the copy on another track.
Paste Insert Duplicates a Clip in DaVinci Resolve Without Overwriting
Edit > Paste Insert, mapped to Cmd+Shift+V or Ctrl+Shift+V, drops the copy in at the playhead. It does not overwrite the clips at the insertion point. It moves later media to the right on tracks whose Auto Track Selector is enabled. Worth holding onto, because timing and sync downstream of the insertion point do change even though no clip is destroyed.
Ripple rules apply, so switch the selector off on your music bed and an insert in the dialogue will not shove the score out of position.
Its opposite is Ripple Cut, Cmd+Shift+X or Ctrl+Shift+X, which lifts a clip to the clipboard and closes the gap behind it. Copy then Paste Insert duplicates. Ripple Cut then Paste Insert relocates.
Duplicate a Clip in the DaVinci Resolve Media Pool for an Independent Copy
Everything above copies a timeline instance. A timeline instance is not a new source clip. If you want a version of the media that carries its own markers, its own metadata and its own name, duplicate it in the Media Pool instead.
Three documented routes, per the manual:
- Select the clip and choose Edit > Duplicate Clip.
- Right-click the clip in the Media Pool and choose Duplicate Clip.
- Alt-drag on Windows and Linux, or Option-drag on Mac, into another bin.
Dragging a timeline clip back into the Media Pool creates a new Media Pool source entry based on that timeline instance and its used range. It can behave like a range-limited subclip, and timeline-specific Fusion work may not follow. Use Edit > Duplicate Clip on the original Media Pool clip when you specifically need a full-source duplicate with independent project metadata.
The duplicate is a separate Media Pool entry with its own project metadata and clip settings, while still referencing the same source file on disk. Changes you make specifically to one Media Pool entry do not automatically become metadata changes on the other. Relink and conform operations are their own topic, and results there depend on which entry you act on.
Duplicating a Compound Clip in DaVinci Resolve Changes the Original
This is the one that costs people an afternoon. Alt-drag a compound clip and the copy is another instance of the same compound object. Open either one, change something inside it, and the change lands in every other instance, including the one in your original timeline.
Blackmagic forum users report the same pattern repeatedly. One duplicated a finished 16:9 timeline to build a vertical version, spent an hour repositioning titles inside the compounds, then found the source timeline rewritten alongside it. Compounds behave like nested timelines rather than like flat clips, so their contents are shared by reference.
To get a compound you can edit in isolation: find the compound clip in the Media Pool, duplicate it there with Edit > Duplicate Clip, rename the duplicate so the two are not confusable, and place that new source clip on the timeline before you change anything inside it. Decomposing the compound on the timeline and rebuilding it from the loose clips also works, and is slower but leaves nothing shared.
Duplicate the Look Instead of the Clip in DaVinci Resolve
Sometimes you want the second shot to match the first rather than another copy of it.
Copy the graded clip, select the target, then use Paste Attributes with Alt+V or Option+V. You get a dialog listing what to transfer, which in most cases includes transform, cropping, retime and applied ResolveFX plugins.
On the Color page, Apply Grade From One Clip Prior is mapped to the equals key by default and pulls the previous clip's whole node tree onto the current one. Two keystrokes across a run of shots from the same setup beats copying clips you do not need. For the wider workflow, see the DaVinci Resolve tutorial for beginners.
DaVinci Resolve Duplicate Clip FAQ
What is the shortcut to duplicate a clip in DaVinci Resolve?
DaVinci Resolve has no dedicated default shortcut for duplicating a timeline clip. Use Alt-drag or Option-drag, or copy and paste with Ctrl+C then Ctrl+V. The separate Duplicate Clip command applies to Media Pool source clips and is not the same operation.
Why does Alt-drag not duplicate my clip in DaVinci Resolve?
You are almost certainly releasing the Alt or Option key before you release the mouse button. The manual requires the modifier to stay held until the mouse is released. Let go early and Resolve performs an ordinary move instead of a copy.
How do I duplicate a clip onto a different track in DaVinci Resolve?
Alt-drag the clip directly to the track you want, which ignores track targeting completely. If you prefer copy and paste, position the playhead, then Alt-click or Option-click the Auto Track Selector on the destination track so it is the only enabled one, and paste.
Does duplicating a clip in DaVinci Resolve duplicate the media file?
No. Every method creates a new reference to the same file on disk. Media Pool duplicates are treated as separate source clips inside the project with their own metadata and markers, but nothing is copied on your storage.
How do I duplicate a clip in DaVinci Resolve without overwriting what is under it?
Use Paste Insert, Cmd+Shift+V or Ctrl+Shift+V. It inserts the copy at the playhead rather than overwriting, and moves later media to the right on every track whose Auto Track Selector is enabled.
Why does editing a duplicated compound clip change the original in DaVinci Resolve?
Compound clips are shared by reference, so all instances point at the same contents. Duplicate the compound clip in the Media Pool with Edit > Duplicate Clip, rename it, and place that copy on the timeline before editing its contents.
Where to Check Duplicate Clip Behaviour in DaVinci Resolve
Shortcut layouts differ between the default DaVinci Resolve preset and the Premiere, Final Cut Pro 7 and Avid presets, so open DaVinci Resolve > Keyboard Customization and confirm which preset is active before building muscle memory around any of this. The current documentation is the DaVinci Resolve 21 Reference Manual, with all training material and guides listed on the Blackmagic Design support page. Version details for the current release sit on the DaVinci Resolve product page.
Once duplication is second nature, the next thing worth tightening is how to split a video in DaVinci Resolve, since most duplicated clips get trimmed within seconds of landing. Duplicating text and title clips follows the same rules, with the same compound clip trap underneath.
Related guides
- How to Split a Video in DaVinci Resolve: the cutting half of timeline editing basics.
- How to Clone Yourself in DaVinci Resolve: duplicating the person on screen, not just the clip.
- How to Color Grade in DaVinci Resolve: what those pasted attributes and grades actually do.
- How to Copy a Color Grade in DaVinci Resolve: the color-page version of duplicating the look.
