Impact of Project Bit Depth on Render Settings in After Effects

Blurs, blend modes, 16-bit effects, color corrections, anti-aliasing, and everything else get a boost from 256 colors per channel (16.7 million possible colors) and only 256 different levels for an alpha channel to 281 trillion colors. That's a massive difference in the quality of everything from gradients to motion blur. Even if you start with 8-bit images or footage, the final render will be significantly better if you add any effect or animation.  I only create about one 8-bit comp for every hundred created at 16 or 32-bit. Almost all of my production master renders also have a higher bit depth. I only render 8-bit H.264 files as quick tests for client approval. All delivered production masters are at least 10-bit in color, and most are higher.