Participating Frequently

Can no longer import adobe animate FLA files into after effects

Forum|Forum|10 months ago
March 28, 2025
43 replies
7242 views

Every time I try to import a file from adobe animate in to After effects 2024-2025 it remains stuck at 0 then displays the error message "an error occurred while importing this file . Please try again". I have tried every troubleshooting method possible and spoken to Adobe customer service, no luck. Please help.

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nishu_kush

Community Manager

Changing the thread status to Investigating.

Best,

Nishu

M

Magne22016845ysi1

Participating Frequently

Hi everyone,

I’ve been importing .fla files from Adobe Animate into After Effects for years as part of my daily workflow. While it’s never been 100% reliable, it did work consistently enough for daily use—until yesterday.

Yesterday, I upgraded to After Effects 2025, and since then, AE freezes whenever I try to import a .fla file. Sometimes I get an error message saying:

"Error importing this file. Please try again."

I’ve since tried reverting to different versions of After Effects, including 2023, which previously worked fine—but I’m still unable to import any .fla files. AE just freezes or becomes unresponsive.

This is a huge issue for me as I rely on this workflow for client projects and have deadlines coming up fast. I’ve tried basic troubleshooting like clearing caches and restarting, but no luck so far.

Has anyone else run into this issue? Any suggestions or fixes would be greatly appreciated. I really need to get this resolved ASAP.

Thanks in advance!

J

jenkmeister17177426

Jenkmeister

Please make sure you have Adobe Animate installed and up to date. AE relies on Animate for .fla file import.

nishu_kush

Community Manager

Hi all,

I apologize for the delayed response.

I am filing a bug for further investigation on this issue. As @Warren Heaton10841144 suggested, please share your hardware details and version of After Effects and Animate so that we can replicate the issue in-house.

Moving the thread from Discussions to Bugs.

Thanks,
Nishu

M

Magne22016845ysi1

Participating Frequently

I have the same issue.
I'm using a ROG Zephyrus G15 laptop running Windows 11 Home (version 26100). I updated After Effects to 24.6.6 and 25.2.2, but still no luck. I also updated Animate to 23.0.12 and 24.0.9, but that didn’t solve it either.

U

Ulatek333

Known Participant

im having this problem too, new versions havent fixed anything for me. no fla file works. i cant keep working without polishing in after effects.

C

Caroline27001166shnx

Participating Frequently

Did you try downgrade Animate? That solved it for me.

U

Ulatek333

Known Participant

i just rolled back to 24.07 , its still doing it. how far back should i go? whats weird is for awhile i could get it to work by letting AE crash, then starting in safe mode.. now that doesnt even work anymore. my last 3 videos have been without post processing in after effects, really annoying.

H

heba~

Participant

Same problem here >> seems like it's FIXED with the new update.

I've just updated Animate and After Effects, and now the import works just as it was.

Warren Heaton

Community Expert

@heba~

I can confirm that updating the system I use at work (a 2019 Mac Pro running macOS Ventura 13.7.4) to After Effects 23.6.9, 24.6.6, and 25.2.2 resolved the issue for me and I now see the Import Options for FLA files as expected in each version. These updates were released very recently.

H

heba~

Participant

Great that it worked for you too!

B

Bewitched_leader3170

Participant

I had this problem too. I thought it was an AfterEffects issue so I downgraded AfterEffects but the fla file was still not imported. So I downgraded Animate and it was imported normally. (24.0.8->24.0.7)

C

Caroline27001166shnx

Participating Frequently

ah thanks - I'll try downgrade animate. I've been downgarding ae.

J

James31931658069r

Participant

We are seeing this issue too.

But oddly it does not seem to affect all users, so there is something version or configuration-wise that allows this feature to work for some people. I have tried with the same versions installed as the users who *can* import files, so I'm at a loss why it's not wokring for others including myself.

L

Lyla28892556puwp

Participant

Im having this issue right now too - the cloud auto updates so i have AE 25.2 and Animate 24.0.8 and i am getting the error. i also tried bringing the animate file into an older version of AE (2024) and no luck.

This is unacceptable imo, i use this feature all the time (i was literally using it last week???) and now I can't work. This needs to be fixed ASAP

C

Caroline27001166shnx

Participating Frequently

Exactly the same issue for me! Was fine the last two months, and up unitl Monday . Now yesterday and today I can't use it at all! I have tried older versions, uninstalling, reinstalling both ae and animate. I'm on a deadline. It's ridicuolous!

M

Matt Bean

Participating Frequently

I'm seeing that this has been a problem for years. It appears there's no solution. I was learning the adobe suite but maybe I'll try another software too for animation.

nishu_kush

Community Manager

Hi Matt,

What version of After Effects are you using? Would you mind sharing the FLA file so that we can investigate the issue on our end? Feel free to DM me the file if you do not want to share it publicly.

Looking forward to your response.

Thanks,
Nishu

Sloppy DrozAuthor

Participating Frequently

I have installed and uninstalled all versions of After Effects from
2024-2025 and Animate . No FLA file works; the bug is impacting all FLAs .
I have attached a test FLA that does not work.

M

Matt Bean

Participating Frequently

Same problem. Any solution?

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