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mike233
Inspiring
April 4, 2018
Answered

H.264 in After Effects H.264

  • April 4, 2018
  • 6 replies
  • 91445 views

In After Effects version 15.1, Quicktime H.264 codec is missing and according to Adobe as of this version it is no longer support H.624 on Windows. Does anyone have a way around this? The TV stations we sends spots to REQUIRE Quicktime H.264.  

    Correct answer mike233

    Our solution is the reinstall AE CC 15.0 and not update it.

    6 replies

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    Longbrake81
    Participant
    February 7, 2021

    Here is your fix.

    Render it in HD 1920x1080, then open your file in photoshop. Create a file in 1920x1080 then set it for motion. Import your file that you made in after effects, then resize to fit your canvas, then render in h.264 from there. 

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    pnchx
    Participant
    September 22, 2019

    Hi guys! I just discovered the solution... i hope can help. (sorry for my bad english)

     

    First... make sure that you have installed the Quicktime Player 7 in your Computer.

    1.- The issue is that "Apple Aplication Support" is not running with AE.

    2.- Download Quicktime Player 7 from Apple Website.

    3.- Using winrar... Right Click on Quicktime7 Installer... and click on "Etract Archives" or "Extraer Ficheros". Put that files in an independent folder.

    4.- In the extracted files you´re gonna find this file: "AppleApplicationSupport.msi" Double Click and install. And Done!

     

    Open AE... try to Export in Quicktime and look for the H264 compressor.

    E
    eyarbrough619
    Participant
    October 9, 2018

    Is there a comparable codec in the list similar to H.264?

    R
    Community Expert
    Rick GerardCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 9, 2018

    Not really. H.264 is a high-quality interframe MPEG compression scheme with a defined set of standards for frame size, frame rate, and audio format. Right now it is the standard for multi-platform delivery and is supported on virtually all current devices that will play a movie (video).

    H.264 also works best when you use multipass rendering. Compression and color artifacts almost completely disappear. The Output Module (Render Cue) has never supported multipass rendering and unless it is redesigned from the ground up, it never will. H.264 rendering in a Quicktime container is also no longer supported by Apple so that is why it was removed.

    There are some new compression schemes that look like they may gain wide acceptance and deliver higher quality playback with lower demands on the CPU, but there are still compatibility issues. Most of these new formats are not compatible with the frame based rendering that the Output Module uses so you'll have to use the Media Encoder for them too.

    The Output Module is very efficient at producing frame-based visually lossless digital intermediates and production masters using many of the standard Mezzanine codecs. A Mezzanine codec (or format) is a compression scheme widely accepted and adopted by many production companies and/or professional freelancers for use as digital intermediates and production masters because you can re-render them many many times without introducing any compression or color artifacts. They are not intended for distribution to the public.

    I hope this clears a few things up for you. If you intend on delivering your product to the public then it is extremely important that you use an app that is specifically designed to render to common delivery formats. The Adobe Media Encoder is a fairly full-featured and widely accepted tool for that job and it will run in the background while you continue to work in After Effects or Premiere Pro.

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      eyarbrough619
      Participant
      October 9, 2018

      Thank you so much. It’s very important to have the right codec especially for file size and compatibility. I appreciate it.

      Ellen Yarbrough

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        mike233AuthorCorrect answer
        Inspiring
        April 4, 2018

        Our solution is the reinstall AE CC 15.0 and not update it.

          S
          sequence W4
          Known Participant
          April 4, 2018

          I agree with Mike, some warning would have saved me a lot of money today. We have reinstalled old versions of After Effects, Premiere and Media Encoder on all our machines. We have 10 years of H264 legacy projects we need to be able to access. Also a lot of stock footage we buy from Getty and Shutterstock is H264 and PNG.

          Maybe we will look at upgrading our Macs so that we can run the latest Adobe software updates

          A nightmare day for us all.

            Kyle Hamrick
            Community Expert
            Kyle HamrickCommunity Expert
            Community Expert
            April 4, 2018

            I'm sorry for the headache you've encountered, but they *do* put out a pretty exhaustive list of the things changing (good or bad) from version to version. They don't just throw this stuff out there with "no warnings," as you put it. If you have workflows you believe may be impacted by an update, it's your responsibility to check that before updating.

            New features summary | April 2018 release of After Effects CC
            Dropped support for Quicktime 7 era formats and codecs

            Also, not that it really matters, but I suspect Apple is probably the entity who deserves your ire.

              S
              sequence W4
              Known Participant
              April 4, 2018

              I have this same problem since update morning 040418 and Media Encoder won't launch... nightmare!

                Kyle Hamrick
                Community Expert
                Kyle HamrickCommunity Expert
                Community Expert
                April 4, 2018

                Try sending it through Media Encoder. Has always been superior for H264 encoding anyway.

                M
                mike233Author
                Inspiring
                April 4, 2018

                IT has to be Quitcktime (.mov) not regular H.264 (.mp4)

                R
                Community Expert
                Rick GerardCommunity Expert
                Community Expert
                April 4, 2018

                We use a custom program that was designed to encode QT H.264 mov files to the specific format the TV stations need. We push out around 50 spots a week, to five different broadcast stations, so you can see we this disrupts the system.


                I would look for a different program to process your files. QT h.264 never worked well. You are heading down a dead-end road.

                Compressed formats are never a good idea for production masters. Color and motion artifacts quickly turn into big problems. You cannot produce the highest quality product if you start with a compressed file. Your rendered masters should be visually lossless and frame based. H.264 is not, never was, and is a very poor choice for a master file. I would be very surprised if your custom program would not accept a frame based visually lossless Quicktime format. H.264 QT is a really bad idea.

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