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MoonStudio06
MoonStudio06
Participant
May 19, 2026

Colour issue with H.264 files without color metadata

  • May 19, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 88 views

When an artist exports a video from After Effects in H.264 format, AE doesn't include colour metadata, unlike QuickTime or other software.
When we perform certain operations after exporting from After Effects, we lose the exported colours because the metadata is missing
Tested on 2025 and  2026
 

Fichier : AFTERh264.mp4
codec_name : h264
width : 2048
height : 2048
r_frame_rate : 25/1
pix_fmt : yuv420p
color_range : unknown
color_space : unknown
color_transfer : unknown
color_primaries : unknown

Fichier : DavinciH264.mp4 or QuicktimeH264_AE.mov
codec_name : h264
width : 2048
height : 2048
r_frame_rate : 25/1
pix_fmt : yuv420p
color_range : tv
color_space : gbr
color_transfer : bt709
color_primaries : bt709

    2 replies

    MoonStudio06
    MoonStudio06Author
    Participant
    June 1, 2026

    Hi, ​@Nishu Kushwaha 
    Have you had a chance to look into this bug?

    Nishu Kushwaha
    Community Manager
    Nishu KushwahaCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    May 19, 2026

    Hi MoonStudio,


    Thanks for reaching out. Please provide the following details:

    • You're exporting using the After Effects render queue. Is that right? Have you tried exporting using Media Encoder? Do you get the same results?

    • What are your Project Color Settings (File > Project Settings > Color)? Specifically, is the project color-managed, and what's the working color space set to?

    • Can you share a screenshot of your export settings?

    It'll help us replicate the issue in-house. Looking forward to your response.


    Thanks,

    Nishu

    MoonStudio06
    MoonStudio06Author
    Participant
    May 19, 2026

    Hi, 
    Thank you for the answer. 

    Yes, I’m using the render queue in After Effects, but I’m working in Aces 1.3.
    So I can’t use Adobe Media Encoder? In Media Encoder, we cannot select the colour space
    The project is in Aces 1.3 and the workspace is Aces-CG.

    And we’re render an MP4 in sRGB.

    However, After Effects does not include metadata in its H.264 Format which remains a problem

     

    Nishu Kushwaha
    Community Manager
    Nishu KushwahaCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    May 20, 2026

    Thanks for sharing the details. I checked on my end using the same settings, and I’m actually able to see the metadata that appears to be missing on your side.

     

    For further investigation, could you share the file exported from After Effects? Also, which application are you using to read the metadata?

    Let me know.

     

    Thanks,

    Nishu

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