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MediaNerdNL
MediaNerdNL
Participant
February 3, 2026

After Effects 26.0.0 incorrectly renders to interlaced files

  • February 3, 2026
  • 9 replies
  • 109 views

As of AE version 26.0.0 renders that should be rendered to an interlaced format end up as incorrect.
The duration of the export is correct, though the content is playing at 200% and the rest is filled with a solid black (No transparancy)

This workflow has worked for me for 20+ years. Unless I’ve fundamentally messed something up in my workflow this seems like a pretty severe bug, as the reality is that most of linair television still runs on interlaced.

  1. Create new composition at 25 fps (in PAL-cases)
  2. Add content
  3. Add composition to render queue
  4. in Render Settings change Field Render to Upper Field First
  5. Change output to Quicktime (422, 4444, animation; all have the same outcome)
  6. Render

    9 replies

    Christimson
    Christimson
    Participant
    February 11, 2026

    Maybe this is a Windows issue. I’ll try and reproduce it on my Mac.

    Warren Heaton
    Community Expert
    Warren HeatonCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 11, 2026

    ​@MediaNerdNL 

    This is a serious issue, but I was not able to reproduce it.

    System info
        Application: After Effects v26.0.0.67
        OS: macOS v15.7.3, RAM: 128.00 GB GB, CPUs (logical): 16

     

    Attached is a Zip archive of the project I created from scratch for comparison.  Perhaps try rendering it on your system to see what does or does not work as expected or might be different.

    Hopefully this can be figured out asap.  

     

    EDIT:  Rendering your “AE 26.0 Interlaced Render Bug.aep”, I am able to reproduce the issue.  I just couldn’t get it to happen from scratch.

    - Warren

    Christimson
    Christimson
    Participant
    February 10, 2026

    Can this be acknowledged by Adobe as a bug? It would be great to get some indication of when this will be fixed as I am now having to use another application to continue comping for TV in the UK. 

    M
    MikkaMikka36
    Participant
    February 10, 2026

    Can confirm. There is no way to get to normal interlaced render. I work in PAL. tryed 50p to 50 i, 50p to 25i, 25p to 25i got same result. Duration stays same, with  50% frames missing.

      Christimson
      Christimson
      Participant
      February 6, 2026

      Same problem here. I’m using this to create interlaced credit rolls and I’m having to go back to previous version to render this correctly.

      P
      patrick5E9D
      Participant
      February 6, 2026

      I’m having exactly the same problem. The only workaround I’ve found is saving as 25.x and rendering in 2025. 
       

        MediaNerdNL
        MediaNerdNLAuthor
        Participant
        February 5, 2026

        So the only setting I’ve changed for this example is setting the field render to Upper Field.
        It doesn’t matter if I render with or without alpha. The bug occurs in all the cases.

        I’ve made an example project with some simple text. The render queue is already set up with the aformentioned render settings. (So all the 50i renders have the same issue. regardless with or without alpha).
        It doubles the content speed and fills the 2nd half of the file with black

         

         


        I’ve rendered a short 2sec example which you can replicate:

        Rendered as 25p Rendered as 50i
        25P NO ALPHA @ 00:01:00

         
        50i NO ALPHA @ 00:01:00

         
        25p ALPHA @ 00:01:00

         
        50i ALPHA @ 00:01:00

         

         

          R
          Community Expert
          Rick GerardCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          February 5, 2026

          I opened your sample comp, added one more copy to the Render Queue, rendered, then imported the videos. All were the same length as the comp. No problems were found.

           

          R
          Community Expert
          Rick GerardCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          February 4, 2026

          What are your Alpha Channel settings in the Render Queue…


          You can only see Alpha Channels in an editing app like Premiere Pro, Davinci or After Effects. Video Players do not honor the transparency.

          A
          A Boo
          Participant
          February 4, 2026

          These are the settings. I have been using this setup for over 10 years. Also the problem is ot the players. The rendered file is incorect we imported into davinchi. For examble for a video of 10 seconds duration the video plays 200% faster. So you end up having a video that plays your content for 5 sec and the next 5 sec is solid black as “MediaNerdNL” mention too.

          So it has nothing to do with the settings.

           

           

            A
            A Boo
            Participant
            February 4, 2026

            We are experiencing the same problem. Please advise.

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