File Size Too Large (with alpha)

Report · Nov 20, 2020

Hey everyone, I’m having trouble with high cpu usage when using my first animated overlays.

The files are saved in .MOV format with alpha layers. They avg anywhere from 50MB to 250MB in size when exported. They aren’t complex. Just simple glowing borders.

I need to reduce the file size as much as possible while retaining as much quality as possible. I also need to keep the transparent background.

Currently I have my overlays on a 1920x1080 workspace, but the animated bits only take up a small amount of that space.

I'm brand new to AE, so I apologize if this is a blatantly obvious solution for most of you. I am oblivious.

Appreciate any and all help! 🙂

Report · Nov 21, 2020

Nothing obvious and nothing wrong. that's just how "stuff with transparencies" works. after all, you are adding a whole new channel to the file and depending on compression efficiency, the underlying processing of the transparency (in programs that use it) and so on this is simply a lot of data to chew through. In your case the file sizes could likely be optimized by using ProRes, DNxHD and similar CoDecs, but be aware that support for CoDecs with transparency is all over the place since Apple declared Quicktime dead and old methods liek using the PNG CoDec don't work reliably anymore. In case of doubt, rendering a plain PNG or TIFF sequence might in fact be the most efficient and less troublesome way to go about it. anyway, no magic recipes here. You have to read up on this stuff, experiment around and figure out what will work best for your use case.

Mylenium