AE to 25.01 - Error/crash related to rendering (and upgraded projects?)

@Capvel Martain 

The MP4 files do not need to be "erased" (deleted) from the project.  They can remain exactly as they are being used in each Composition.

While After Effects is closed, transcode the MP4 files to ProRes 422 LT or ProRes 422 HQ matching the settings of the MP4 files (frame size, frame rate, scan method).  RGB with alpha is not necessary when replacing MP4.  If there is limited storage space and the MP4 is low bitrate (35MBPs or lower), ProRes 422 Proxy is fine.

Before opening the After Effects project, take the MP4 files offline.  If the resulting ProRes transcodes have been checked thoroughly, it is okay to delete the MP4 files.

In the Project panel, use File > Replace Footage > File to replace the missing MP4 source footage with the corresponding ProRes footage. 

Then continue working in After Effects.

I'm also having this same issue. I was in AE 25.1 on an M1 Max studio 64GB of ram. All i did was import an mp4 and it crashed a brand new project over and over. I'm going to try to roll back to version 24.6.4. Why is this happening Adobe? Don't release broken stuff.

Hello same for me for a couple of AEP files that includes mp4 in the composition (no problems with comps with native AE elements). Apparently, it crashes at the point it comes to render the mp4 video.

Here is the solution that saved my file AEP and could render it in AE 25.1 (it might works for 25.0) :

- open brand new AE comp from scratch.

- Save it.

- throw your AE compromised file into it.

- walkthrough your compromised comp if it is ok, then Save it.

- at this point… you might be able to render… that worked for me.

i have tried all purges, all clear preferences, clean re-install… nothing de-bugged the file but this steps.

An other workaround, less usable, is to erase all mp4 sources from the library of the AEP and render it as quicktime .MOV RVB+ALPHA (it might work if it doesn't freeze before)…  but it means that your problematic MP4 is purely the background, and all the work to re-do after it…

hope it will works for the sake of community

Hi all,

is there any update or solution on this matter?
I've been experiencing the same problem since I updated AE 2024 to 2025.

MacBook Pro 14-inch, 2021
16 GB ram
macOS Sonoma 14.7.1

I can't beliece this is still an issue in January 2025

Having same problems on 2 different machines. brand new Mac M4 Max Laptop also on M1 Max Laptop. Fresh install. Was working fine until I started adding video. Now it opens hangs and crashes immediatly. Going to install 2024 and see if it works better. Same Adobe, different day.

Is AE still not fixed? it seems like adobe sure is taking their sweet time in fixing this, downgrading to 24.X seems to be the play however.

I believe this may be a cumulative issue - AE is writing some type of corrupting file log that seems impossible to purge even when reinstalling, resetting the system, blah de blah...

Fortunately I've an M2 MacBook pro as well as our M2 Ultra Stuido (which locks up if you even try and save an aep).

We copied the project file over to the Macbook Pro with all assets and it's been running quite happily for the last few hours.

At least we've got a render of a very important project out now... but I think it's only a matter of time before the AE on our macbook has corrupted that machine with bad data too.

Adobe? Whenever you're ready to save all our sanity.... not like it's not costing us all.

@the_dudes that would be a viable suggestion... if it wasn't against the lisence and officially discouraged to use most older versions. they don't even have LTS versions at all.

Ecxatly what I did. I did a project in 2025 but crash all the time. After saving the project for 24.x.x version, everything works well!