After Effects supported Video formats

What's the Best Video Format Supported by After Effects

After Effects supported video formats

Adobe After Effects is a digital visual effects, motion graphics, and compositing application developed by Adobe Systems and used in the post-production process of film making and television production. Create cinematic movie titles, intros, and transitions. Start a fire or make it rain. Animate a logo or character. With After Effects (CC, CS6, CS5), the industry-standard motion graphics and visual effects software, you can take any idea and make it move. It can import video, audio and image files from a hard drive.

"What video format does new After Effects 2022 (22.0) support?" When using this editing program, you need to concern about what format you can import and export. So you must want to know the best After Effects video formats and audio formats. Adobe After Effects supports multiple video formats and allows you to create projects that are tailored to your specific format.

After Effects Supported Video Formats - Import/Export

Format	Import/Export support	Format Details
QuickTime (MOV)	Import and Export	?
Sony X-OCN	Import only	?
Panasonic	Import only	Camera acquisition metadata displays in the Dynamic Media panel of the Metadata panel.
RED	Import only	?
Canon EOS C200 Cinema RAW Light (.crm)	Import only	?
RED Image Processing	Import only	?
MXF/ARRIRAW	Import only	ARRIRAW codec in an MXF container file
H.265 (HEVC)	Import only	HEVC (also known as H.265) codec footage in a QuickTime (.MOV) container
Sony VENICE X-OCN 4K 4:3 Anamorphic and 6K 3:2?(.mxf)	Import only	?
3GPP (3GP, 3G2, AMC)	Import only	?
Adobe Flash Player (SWF)	Import only	*Note:* SWF files are imported with an alpha channel. Interactive content is not retained. Export functionality of SWF files is supported by versions earlier than After Effects CC 2014.
Adobe Flash Video (FLV, F4V)	Import only	?
Animated GIF (GIF)	Import	?
AVCHD (M2TS)	Import only	?
DV	Import and Export	In MOV or AVI container, or as container-less DV stream; requires QuickTime on Windows
Media eXchange Format (MXF)	Import only	?
MPEG-1 (MPG, MPE, MPA, MPV, MOD)	Import only	?
H.264 (M4V)	Import only	?
MPEG-2 (MPG, M2P, M2V, M2P, M2A, M2T)	Import only	Some MPEG data formats are stored in container formats with filename extensions that are not recognized by After Effects; examples include .vob and .mod. In some cases, you can import these files into After Effects after changing the filename extension to one of the recognized filename extensions. Because of variations in implementation in these container formats, compatibility is not guaranteed.
MPEG-4 (MP4, M4V)	Import only	?
Video for Windows (AVI)	Import and Export	Export is on Windows only.
Windows Media (WMV, WMA)	Import only	Windows only
XDCAM HD and XDCAM EX (MXF, MP4)	Import only	?
Open Media Framework (OMF)	Import and Export	Raw media [or essence] only; Windows only

After Effects Supported Audio Formats - Import/Export

Format	Import/Export support	Format Details
Advanced Audio Coding (AAC, M4A)	Import and Export	?
MPEG-1 Audio Layer II	Import only	Audio format in a WAV container file
MP3 (MP3, MPEG, MPG, MPA, MPE)	Import and Export	?
Waveform (WAV)	Import and Export	?
Audio Interchange File Format (AIF, AIFF)	Import and Export	?

After Effects Supported Image Formats - Import/Export

Format	Import/Export support	Format Details
Adobe Photoshop (PSD)	Import and Export	8-, 16-, and 32-bpc
Adobe PDF (PDF)	Import only	First page only, continuously rasterized.
Bitmap (BMP, RLE, DIB)	Import only	?
Discreet RLA/RPF (RLA, RPF)	Import only	16-bpc, imports camera data
Camera raw (TIF, CRW, NEF, RAF, ORF, MRW, DCR, MOS, RAW, PEF, SRF, DNG, X3F, CR2, ERF)	Import only	?
Cineon (CIN, DPX)	Import and Export	Converts to project's color bit depth: 8-, 16-, or 32-bpc
CompuServe GIF (GIF)	Import only	?
Adobe Illustrator (AI, EPS, PS)	Import only	Continuously rasterized
ElectricImage IMAGE (IMG, EI)	Import only	?
Encapsulated PostScript (EPS)	Import only	?
IFF (IFF, TDI)	Import and Export	?
JPEG (JPG, JPE)	Import and Export	?
Maya camera data (MA)	Import only	?
OpenEXR (EXR)	Import and Export	32-bpc 3D Channel effect plug-ins from fnord software are included with After Effects to provide access to multiple layers and channels of OpenEXR files.
PCX (PCX)	Import only	Windows only
Targa (TGA, VDA, ICB, VST)	Import and Export	?
Radiance (HDR, RGBE, XYZE)	Import and Export	32-bpc
SGI (SGI, BW, RGB)	Import and Export	16-bpc
Softimage (PIC)	Import only	?
Portable Network Graphics (PNG)	Import and Export	16-bpc
TIFF (TIF)	Import and Export	8- and 16-bpc

Note: You can import files of any still image format as a sequence.

Why & How to Fix After Effects Won't Import Video Files

What if if you have video files which are incompatible with Adobe After Effects, such as H.265 MP4, XAVC MXF, MKV, Blu-ray, DVD and some WMV, MOV files? Is it possible that to add those unsupported video files to After Effects for editing? In fact, about anything can be converted to a format iMovie can use. But what is the best video format for After Effects to convert video to?

Convert any video to Adobe After Effects best editing format

We found that H.264 MOV, MPEG-2 MPG and WMV3 WMV are the best editing fomrat for After Effects, so you can transcode your source material to H.264/MPEG-2/WMV3 codec. Acrok provided After Effects users powerful converting software, such as MXF Converter, H.265 Video Converter, 4K Video Converter, Blu-ray Ripper, DVD Ripper, etc. After simple clicks, you'll import and edit any video in After Effects smoothly. Please follow below guides to learn how to convert formats that your editing software does not support to the After Effects best editing format.

How to rip and convert Blu-ray/DVD to MOV for After Effects?

Get software

Free download Acrok Video Converter Ultimate (Windows Version | Mac Version) as the best Blu-ray and DVD to After Effects Converter. Install an run this top Blu-ray ripping software on your computer. You can load Blu-ray or DVD into Acrok ultimate converter.

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Load Blu-ray/DVD files

Get your source Blu-ray/DVD movies ready (if you want to rip and convert discs, you need to insert discs to the BD drive.) Lauch Acrok Video Converter Ultimate - Top Blu-ray Ripper for After Effects, then click the "Load Disc" icon to browse source Blu-ray/DVD movies for loading. After loading, you can select Subtitles and Audio tracks for each title, double click each title to preview source files, and snap screenshots on the right built-in preview player.

Best Blu-ray Ripper to rip and convert Blu-ray to After Effects editable format

Choose output format

Click the "Format" drop-down box, choose "HD Video" and then select "HD MOV Video (*.mov)" option. If you like, you can choose "MOV-QuickTime Video (*.mov)" under "Common Video" category.

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Start ripping program

On the main program interface, click the blue "Convert" button on the sub-menu bar, set output directory on the popup sidebar, and then click the bottom "Convert" button to start converting Blu-ray/DVD to MOV on your PC.

How to transcode H.265, MXF, MKV, MP4, MOV to After Effects supported formats?

Free download Acrok software

Click below buttons to free download best video converter for After Effects users. Note that the guide below uses the Acrok Video Converter Ultimate Windows screenshots. The way to convert video to After Effects (CC CS6, CS5) supported formats on Mac is the same. Just make sure you get the right version.

Free Trial

Load video files

Install and launch the any format to After Effect Converter, and then click "Add files" button to import H.265, MXF, MKV, MP4 or MOV files. On the right viewing window, you can preview the loaded files and take snapshots of the movie scenes.

Acrok HD Video Converter - Convert any video to After Effects CC supported formats

Set output profile

Click "Format" pull down list to select "Adobe MPEG-2 (*.mpg)" as the best video format for After Effects CC. If you want to get 3D videos, please click "Edit" icon to enter edit interface. Click "Settings" to change the video encoder, resolution, frame rate, etc. as you wish.

Convert H.265, MXF, MKV to QuickTime

Start video conversion

Click Convert button to start transcoding the loaded videos to MPEG-2 codec for After Effects. Once the conversion completes, you can click "Open" to find the .mov videos which can be directly imported to After Effects. You've done. As you see, now you can import and edit any format in After Effects 16.1-22.0, CC, CS6, CS5 without problems.

Users Reviews

Acrok Video Converter Ultimate amazed me with it's conversion speed and it's quality of the output file.
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