Import footage items



You can import media files into your project either by using the Import dialog box or by dragging.

Imported footage items appear in the Project panel.

If the Interpret Footage dialog box appears after you import a footage item, it contains an unlabeled alpha channel, and you must select an alpha channel interpretation method or click Guess to let After Effects determine how to interpret the alpha channel.

Import footage items using the Import dialog box

  1. Choose File > Import > File, choose File > Import > Multiple Files, or double-click an empty area of the Project panel.

    If you choose Import Multiple Files, then you can perform the next step more than once without needing to choose an Import command multiple times.

    To display only supported footage files (excluding project files), choose All Footage Files from the Files Of Type (Windows) or Enable (Mac OS) menu.
  2. Do one of the following:

    • Select a file, and then click Open.

    • Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) multiple files to select them, and then click Open.

    • Click a file and then Shift-click another file to select a range of files, and then click Open.

    • Select an entire folder, and then click Import Folder.
      Note: If the Sequence option is selected, multiple files from the folder are imported as a sequence of still images.

Import footage items by dragging

If you always want the layered still-image files that you drag into After Effects to be imported as a composition, choose Edit > Preferences > Import (Windows) or After Effects > Preferences > Import (Mac OS), and choose Composition or Composition - Cropped Layers from the Default Drag Import As menu. (See Import a still-image sequence as a composition.)
  • To import a single file, drag it from Windows Explorer (Windows) or the Finder (Mac OS) into the Project panel.
  • To import the contents of a folder as a sequence of still images that appear in the Project panel as a single footage item, drag a folder from Windows Explorer (Windows) or the Finder (Mac OS) into the Project panel.
  • To import the contents of the folder as individual footage items that appear in the Project panel in a folder, Alt-drag a folder from Windows Explorer (Windows) or Option-drag a folder from the Finder (Mac OS) into the Project panel.
  • To import a rendered output file from the Render Queue panel, drag the corresponding output module from the Render Queue panel into the Project panel.
    Note: If you drag an output module from the Render Queue panel into the Project panel before rendering, After Effects creates a placeholder footage item. References to the placeholder footage item are automatically replaced when the output module is rendered; the placeholder footage item itself is not replaced.