Missing quicktime codecs in After Effects

[mattk36897434]

Hi Ive recently updated my After Effects and since then I now do not have most of my quicktime codecs, I followed the suggestion on the problem on adobe solutions page: Some QuickTime codecs missing in After Effects

but with no luck. Pls help

[Dave_LaRonde]

@ Adobe thoughts?

I'll guess Adobe didn't even think beyond its own in-house coding problems surrounding 32-bit codecs. 

I'll bet they gave NO REGARD WHATSOEVER to the real-life fact that its users -- i.e. the people who rent the software -- have their own paying customers who expect work delivered in a specified media container and a specified codec.  It matters not one whit to those paying customers whether Adobe dropped support; they want what they specified.

So Adobe renters are forced into extra time-consuming steps to deliver what their clients specify.  In short, Adobe cut its own customers off at the knees. 

Be sure to say "Thank You" to them.

[andrew_hildebrand]

This move by Adobe is similar to the kinds of user-bullying that Apple does. It's frustrating for sure. I've chosen not to upgrade for now.

I'm told that this pluggin does a good job as a work around, for output at least. I don't think it allows you to use mov files as input though.

AfterCodecs - aescripts + aeplugins - aescripts.com

And if you're savvy in the Terminal or Command Line, ffmpeg does a great job of converting imag seq to mov.

[Stephen Barrante]

I've gotten used to the "brand" pushing the "customers" out of their comfort zones. After all, I've been an Apple customer for 30 years. However, this is one particular instance we wasted time trying to find a work around, until we discovered what the actual cause was, had to backtrack and nearly missed making a hard deadline because we were forced into specific codecs.

We've learned our lesson many times before to not update software mid-project, this was an instance where we had other issues and were hoping that the update would resolve those problems. However, it created many more.

Preaching to the choir, but I'll hope for some sort of "use legacy Codec" checkbox in an incremental release.

[Dave Merchant]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Stephen+Barrante  wrote

Preaching to the choir, but I'll hope for some sort of "use legacy Codec" checkbox in an incremental release.

The problem there is that the removed codecs are not part of Adobe's codebase, they were obtained by bundling Apple's QT library (which is EOL for security reasons). So either Apple does a complete U-turn and resurrects software that it has categorically said is dead and gone, or Adobe has to recreate everything that Apple wrote, from scratch, without stepping on any patents. Given that it's usually possible to convert affected footage to a standard mezz codec (e.g. ProRes or DNx) using free third-party tools, and that sources of footage are inevitably moving away from the older codecs as new cameras and recorders come to market, I don't see Adobe spending their development budget on that work. Yes of course some people work with lots of old files, or stuff sent by clients who refuse to change, but that's just the cost of legacy; same as people insisting every Word document is saved to RTF or every PSD has to be a TIFF. Just bill them for the time it takes to convert things.

I'm not defending how Adobe implemented this change, just saying it's not as much of an absolute show-stopper as some of the other gaping holes in AE's functionality (such as zero support for compressed DNGs or scriptable text formatting).

[Alek_V]

Another option for Adobe would be to license or buy the code from AfterCodecs or similar, and incorporate it into their product.

[RichDufty]

yep/ I've had trouble trying to reimport these AfterCodec prores files. they tend to crash after effects when if tries to render using one as an asset. Hopefully my clients dont get the same problem!

[Cymascopic]

This is so bad! I have project that use videos encoded in the DVX3 codec and premier won't load those files. which means I have to re-encode all those files, I have to waist so much time.

[e2x10]

Adobe does not give a — about it's customers... tell me no one thought this would be a problem.. All the stock sights ask for motion jpeg .thanks adobe.

Moderator Warning: Do not use profanity on these forums. It is against Adobe community guidelines.

[Cymascopic]

Another thing that sucks about this is that Media encoder seems quite buggy on Windows. sometimes it takes up to 30 mins for a render to connect via Dynamic link, I've begun trailing 3rd party rendering plugins and rendering out to cineform, then converting them to H264 in media encoder, but I should not have to take these unnecessary steps. They should have added H264 to the output module in After Effects before doing this.

[LearnDev]

Has anyone found a replacement codec for QuickTime files that are transparent (alpha channel)? I have 120 instances of a transparent QuickTime file in After Effects and I'm not sure what format replaces it. Help!

[andrew_hildebrand]

Cineform, Animation, ProRes 4444 should all still work for this.

[Dave_LaRonde]

That doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot when your client SPECIFIES a QT in Photo JPEG.  You make a QT in Photo JPEG.  Clients care absolutely nothing about the lack of QT codecs in Adobe software.  Clients want what they specify.

Adobe has made it a whole lot more difficult and time-consuming to do so. 

Please be sure to pass on your gratitude to Adobe for making it ever so much easier to do.

[LearnDev]

Thank you Andrew! Do you know of any program that can convert QuickTime files to Cineform, Animation, and/or ProRes 4444 on Windows? By the way, what is an Animation file format (I'm familiar with .swf; is it similar)?

[murmer]

Helpful except that Animation codec is ancient and unsupported.

[andrew_hildebrand]

LearnDev​

The easiest way to convert as of now, would be just to install a previous version of AE, Premiere, or Media Encoder. You may have to poke around in the settings to make it accessable, but with Creative Cloud, you can install I think any version of AE all the way back to CS6.

And Animation is just a lossless codec for Quicktime. On a mac it used to be AE's default output, but now you'll have to twirl down the mov codecs to find it.

[LearnDev]

Thank you Andrew! Thank you for clarifying about the QuickTime animation file. You suggested that I could roll back my Adobe products and I found confirmation in this blog post: Install a previous version of any Creative Cloud application

I don't know if this will help anyone else, but I ended up using Compressor on Mac to change my QuickTime files to ProRes 4444. Luckily, there were only two files that I needed to convert, but they were used over 150 times in my After Effects file. By the way, I use After Effects in Windows and I edit in Final Cut Pro on Mac (I know, weird).

I will have to use a previous version of Media Encoder on Windows, as you suggested, next time. Some of my older files have tons of legacy QuickTime files that I will need to convert. Thanks again!

[Dave_LaRonde]

If you revert to, say, CC 2017, you shouldn't have to convert.

[e2x10]

Thanks Adobe you really made my life miserable

[Kevin-Monahan]

e2x10,

Kindly see this response from Dave Merchant for an explanation: Re: Missing quicktime codecs in After Effects

It's a directive from Apple that we are abiding by. Sorry for the frustration.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Alek_V]

Adobe could address this by licensing or buying code from a product like AfterCodecs and incorporating it into After Effects.

[dylanb16916393]

found a work around for this issue.  tutorial on: How to Get QuickTime H.264 Video Codec in after effects cc 2018 | Subtitles - YouTube

[olgad10933995]

Hey, the video is unavailable, could you resend the URL, please?

[alberto_g.g]

I have converted a mov video with alpha channel that can be opened in After Effects CC 2018. I have used QuickTime:

File > Export... > Options... > Settings...

Compression Type: Animation

Key Frames: All <- Important!!

Depth: Millions of Colors+

By the way, thanks Adobe!!

[davidp36798909]

Great also that a bunch of my projects now have unsupported quicktime files in them. Thanks Adobe (sarcasm).

[Kevin-Monahan]

David P,

Great also that a bunch of my projects now have unsupported quicktime files in them. Thanks Adobe (sarcasm).

Sorry about that. We are only reacting according to the wishes of our partners at Apple. Though devs have been working very hard to create 64 bit versions of these codecs for some years now, it would be difficult to engineer every single one under the sun. Better to make feature requests for 64 bit versions of codecs that you need the most here: After Effects: Hot (683 ideas) – Adobe video & audio apps

Thanks,
Kevin