The Footage panel

When you double-click a movie in the Project panel, it opens by default in the Footage panel or in a player window: QuickTime (.mov) files open in a QuickTime Player window; Video for Windows (.avi) files open in a Video for Windows player window. Still images always appear in the Footage panel. The AVI player window does not support the playback of certain AVI files; these files open in the After Effects Footage panel. Such files include files created with the Microsoft DirectX DV codec and all files over 2 GB.

To open a QuickTime or Video for Windows movie in the Footage panel instead of a player window, Alt-double-click (Windows) or Option-double-click (Mac OS) the footage item in the Project panel.

The QuickTime and Video for Windows player windows play the source file, not the edited and interpreted footage item based on the source file.

You can use the Set In Point , Set Out Point , Ripple Insert Edit , and Overlay Edit controls in the Footage panel to trim a footage item and insert it into a composition. Trimming in the Footage panel can be more convenient than adding the footage item to a composition and then trimming its layer in the Timeline panel.

When items are previewed in the Footage panel, they show the results of the footage interpretation operations. (See Interpret footage items.)