Supported output formats

Note: The free trial version of Adobe After Effects software does not include some features that depend upon software licensed from parties other than Adobe. For example, mocha for After Effects, some effect plug-ins, and some codecs for encoding MPEG formats are available only with the full version of Adobe After Effects software.

Additional output formats may be available in the File > Export menu, depending on which QuickTime components and codecs you have installed. Formats that use QuickTime components for export are listed under the dividing line in the File > Export menu. To export to some image sequence formats, choose File > Export > Image Sequence.

You can add the ability to export other kinds of data by installing plug-ins or scripts provided by parties other than Adobe. For example, Paul Tuersley provides a script on the AE Enhancers forum with which you export After Effects composition data as Cinema 4D project data. Mark Christiansen provides an article on the ProVideo Coalition website that links to scripts and plug-ins for exporting from After Effects for use in Cinema4D, Maya, Lightwave, and other 3D applications.

Unless otherwise noted, all image file formats are exported at 8 bits per channel (bpc).

Video and animation formats

  • 3GPP (3GP, 3G2, AMC; requires QuickTime 6.5 or later)

  • Adobe Clip Notes (PDF containing rendered movie)

  • Animated GIF (GIF)

  • ElectricImage (IMG, EIZ)

  • Filmstrip (FLM)

  • FLV, F4V

  • H.264 and H.264 Blu-ray

  • MPEG-2 (Windows and Mac OS on Intel-based Mac only)

  • MPEG-2 DVD (Windows and Mac OS on Intel-based Mac only)

  • MPEG-2 Blu-ray (Windows and Mac OS on Intel-based Mac only)

  • MPEG-4

  • OMF (media [essence] only, Windows only)

  • QuickTime (MOV, DV; requires QuickTime for 8 bpc and codec support for 16 bpc)

  • SWF

  • Video for Windows (AVI)

  • Windows Media (Windows only)

After Effects can read and render QuickTime files in 16-bpc color depth. When you select a QuickTime codec that supports 16-bpc color depth in the Output Module dialog box, such as the None16 codec, Trillions Of Colors is available. To find out whether your video codec supports 16-bpc color depth, contact the manufacturer directly.

Video project formats

  • Adobe Premiere Pro project (PRPROJ; Windows and Mac OS on Intel-based Mac only)

Still-image formats

  • Adobe Photoshop (PSD; 8, 16, and 32 bpc)

  • Bitmap (BMP, RLE)

  • Cineon (CIN, DPX; 16 bpc and 32 bpc converted to 10 bpc)

  • CompuServe GIF (GIF)

  • Maya IFF (IFF; 16 bpc)

  • JPEG (JPG, JPE)

  • Open EXR (EXR)

  • Pict (PCT, PIC)

  • PNG (PNG; 16 bpc)

  • Radiance (HDR, RGBE, XYZE)

  • RLE (RLE)

  • SGI (SGI, BW, RGB, 16 bpc)

  • Targa (TGA, VBA, ICB, VST)

  • TIFF (TIF; 8, 16, and 32 bpc)

Audio-only formats

  • AU audio file (AU)

  • Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF)

  • MP3

  • WAV