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J
Judge0
Inspiring
February 16, 2021
Question

"After Effects cannot open files in the “After Effects Project” format." ?!?

  • February 16, 2021
  • 2 replies
  • 519 views

Lately I've been getting this annoying popup when trying to open an .aep from Finder:

 

I have to go into Ae and "File>Open..." from there.
Anyone else have this? Is there a fix?

2 replies

W
workflow_entertainmen1171
Participant
October 28, 2025

Please help

 

nishu_kush
Community Manager
nishu_kushCommunity Manager
Community Manager
October 28, 2025

Looks like the project has been corrupted. Sorry about that. I can try opening it if you can send it to me. Feel free to share via DM if you prefer not to share it publicly.

 


Thanks,
Nishu

W
workflow_entertainmen1171
Participant
October 29, 2025

Thanks for sharing the file. It shows the same error on my end as well, but it ultimately opens the project file and it seems to be working fine. Does it behave the same on your end, or does it fail to open the project at all? Have you tried importing your project into a new one? This sometimes fixes such issues.

Let me know.


Thanks,
Nishu


nishu_kush
Community Manager
nishu_kushCommunity Manager
Community Manager
February 19, 2021

Hi Judge0,

 

Thanks for reaching out.

It could be related to the user account permissions. Please try the steps mentioned in the following article: https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/repair-disk-permissions-running-disk.html

Let us know if it helps.

 

Thanks,

Nishu

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