Imported .mov files don't play (no video, no audio, NOTHING!)....just a green rectangle appears in the viewer...

[marcom61400286]

I'm currently using AE CS6 version 11.0.4.2 on a Mac platform OS Sierra version 10.12.6.....

PLEASE HELP QUICKLY!

[Rick Gerard]

You probably have an incompatible video codec. Will the video open in the QuickTime player? Without details it's pretty hard to point you in the right direction.

[marcom61400286]

Yes, it plays in QT.

Also to note, if I change the extension from .mov to either .m4v or .mp4, there is no problem with importing into After Effects. But frankly, I don't want to keep doing that workaround for hundreds of video clip files.

I'm using a Canon Vixia hf g20. Used it in the past with no problems importing into AE.

When I import into AE, the clip icon is a green rectangle....I drag the file down into the editor and a green rectangle appears in the viewer screen....I hit the space bar, and nothing plays....the play line doesn't even move.

Any other details I can offer?

Thanks for your response...

[Rick Gerard]

If you are on a Mac you can use automator to change the extension to mp4 with a couple of clicks. It's really easy to use.

The problem probably comes from using Quicktime as the container for mp4 files. Adobe removed the ability to encode Quicktime MP4's quite a while ago. MP4 in a QT container never worked well and Apple did not support it and has not for a long time. This is more of an Apple problem than an Adobe one.

I'd put your video files in a folder, open up Automator and set it up something like this.

Once you get all the .mov files in there it will rename them all in a couple of seconds. As you can see, I recently had to do this with a bunch of videos I got from a client.

[marcom61400286]

"The problem probably comes from using Quicktime as the container for mp4 files. Adobe removed the ability to encode Quicktime MP4's quite a while ago. MP4 in a QT container never worked well and Apple did not support it and has not for a long time. This is more of an Apple problem than an Adobe one."

I'm not having a problem with mp4 files.

It's the .mov files that are giving me the problem, and how does QT play any role in this issue, when I'm not even using QT? (I just download the clips to photos, drag them to a folder or desktop, and then import into AE.)

[Rick Gerard]

A .mov file that will play when you change the extension to mp4 is an MP4 file in a QuickTime container and these can be problematic. You said

Also to note, if I change the extension from .mov to either .m4v or .mp4, there is no problem with importing into After Effects. But frankly, I don't want to keep doing that workaround for hundreds of video clip files.

That tells me that you have MP4's in a QT container so Automator changing the name of a bunch of them is the easiest and fastest solution. The first clue that they were MP4 files in a .mov container was that they will play in QT but won't import into AE.

I gave you a solution that would change the extension from .mov to mp4 in a couple of seconds. That's the best I can recommend if you have the problem you described. Change the extension of a couple hundred MOV files, like in my screenshot in under a minute and you can drag them from finder to AE and they will work if your quote is accurate. That's how I solved the same problem you are describing about a week ago. It's the workaround you asked for.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi MarcoM,

Did Rick's or any of our experts provide the right solution for you to get your project done?

Thanks,
Kevin

[elenaf68552420]

There are various factors that cause MOV failure importing into AE projector. So you can try the methods below one by one to check which method will work.

1. MOV Can't Import to AE issues might cause by the blocked communication between AE and QT. You can double check your QT version.

2. Do you have a firewall software installed that affected the communication? Exit it and try again.

3. Some third-party component in the QT Library also can cause the issue. You can remove all of those third-party components and try again. If After Effects works with QuickTime fine after that, then put the components back in one by one until you find the one (or more) that's causing the problem.

4. Try setting your default player for .mov files to QuickTime.

Right click on one of the mov files you are having a problem opening in AE.

Select the "Open with" and select "Choose default program..." at the bottom.

Select Quick Time. (Make sure the "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" box is checked.)

Reboot your computer.

Open AE and see if it works.

5. MOV is a container which can contain some other video codec that After Effects can't support. In this case, you need to transcode AE unsupported MOV to AE supported QuickTime MOV files with a video converter:Can't Import MOV to After Effects (CC, CS6, CS5)? See Solutions Here.