Exit
  • Global community
    • Language:
      • Deutsch
      • English
      • Español
      • Français
      • Português
  • 日本語コミュニティ
  • 한국 커뮤니티
2

Missing quicktime codecs in After Effects

Community Beginner ,
Apr 06, 2018 Apr 06, 2018

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

99.9K
Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines

correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Expert , Apr 06, 2018 Apr 06, 2018

Adobe has dropped support for Quicktime 7 in After Effects 15.1 so a lot of legacy codecs will not be available anymore.

The link you are referencing is very old and not applicable to newer versions of AE.

Translate
Community Expert ,
Apr 06, 2018 Apr 06, 2018

Adobe has dropped support for Quicktime 7 in After Effects 15.1 so a lot of legacy codecs will not be available anymore.

The link you are referencing is very old and not applicable to newer versions of AE.

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Apr 06, 2018 Apr 06, 2018

So how do we export using 3rd party quicktime codecs now?

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Apr 06, 2018 Apr 06, 2018

Dont understand why adobe would do that, when a lot of people still use these codecs?

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Apr 06, 2018 Apr 06, 2018

Read this:

Dropped support for Quicktime 7 era formats and codecs

Essentialy: Transcode your old files to a newer codec.

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Apr 06, 2018 Apr 06, 2018

I agree, I'm really pissed!

I use the h.264 codec on a daily basis. Now I have to go to Media Encoder.

Which adds an extra step in my processing.

Thanks Adobe!

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Apr 06, 2018 Apr 06, 2018

I was literally just about to say the same thing...this is nonsense. I use H264 exports from AE on a daily basis, so its mad having to now go through media encoder every time, not the end of the world but it just seems like a bizarre thing for Adobe to change. Im guessing one of the few options that you now get is meant to be a replacement ?

Ill need to look into it more, and ALSO I have other quicktime codecs that I use daily that I installed which are now gone too...so Im going to try figure out how to get them back, not great when I have constant deadlines

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
New Here ,
May 30, 2018 May 30, 2018

I'm not as advanced as most people what would be the equivalent to h.264 codec with the new limited selections to choose from?

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
LEGEND ,
May 30, 2018 May 30, 2018

It would be to use Adobe Media Encoder to make an mp4 file in the H.264 codec.

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
New Here ,
May 30, 2018 May 30, 2018

OK. How would I do that from the Output Module Settings?

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
LEGEND ,
May 30, 2018 May 30, 2018
OK. How would I do that from the Output Module Settings?

you can select the queue item and click Queue in AME

After Effects CC 2015.3 In-Depth: Queue in Adobe Media Encoder | Creative Cloud blog by Adobe

or alternatively use the Add to AME Queue in the Composition menu:Basics of rendering and exporting in After Effects CC

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
New Here ,
Jul 09, 2025 Jul 09, 2025

Hi with all these changes how do I export with a transparent background since quicktime codecs are not working

 

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Adobe Employee ,
Jul 10, 2025 Jul 10, 2025
LATEST

You can export as QuickTime ProRes 4444 to export with alpha using the After Effects render Queue.

Hope it helps. Feel free to reach out if there are any other questions.


Thanks,
Nishu

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
New Here ,
Apr 06, 2018 Apr 06, 2018

Me too!!! I use the HAP codecs and now cannot render to HAP or even transcode to HAP in Media Encoder.

HAP is a very modern codec that is used by most of the world's professional media servers. Luckily I have AfterCodecs installed in After effects for windows which does allow HAP encoding (and many other formats such as all versions of ProRes, etc). AfterCodecs - aescripts + aeplugins - aescripts.com

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Apr 08, 2018 Apr 08, 2018

This is madness, how are we supposed to use HAP codec now?

WTF Adobe?

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Apr 11, 2018 Apr 11, 2018

Yes I'm having the same issue. I used to export transparent files with a png codec in a .mov wrapping. How does one do this now without using lossless codecs which have ridiculously large file sizes?

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
LEGEND ,
Apr 11, 2018 Apr 11, 2018

as painful as this is, looks like for Windows, AfterCodecs provides the best option with ProRes4444 as the high quality + alpha lossess replacement for good old obsolete Quicktime PNG. for those who are using QT H.264 - it was always very bad, poor quality and 10x file size and AfterCodecs gave much better option for native x.264 right in Ae.

it's either using that or compressing the video output file to .zip after you render, if you need to deliver it...

here's a small comparison of a 5 seconds video with a simple graphic on transparent background:

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Apr 27, 2018 Apr 27, 2018

Thanks for the comparison.  You saved me some time this morning.  On the advice of a friend I was going to do file size comparisons between QT PNG and ProRes4444 for alpha channel needs. Looks like I'll need to make that switch.

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Apr 12, 2018 Apr 12, 2018

Not a smart move Adobe. A lot of pros are dependent on the HAP codec.

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
New Here ,
Apr 19, 2018 Apr 19, 2018
Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Apr 30, 2018 Apr 30, 2018

What are you doing then? we have the work of the whole studio got up, due to the fact that we have the whole pipeline to a third-party codec for quicktime built (HAP) it can not be replaced, it's the only one that normally works with video at 10k. Return it as it was. it is impossible to work with your products.

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Apr 30, 2018 Apr 30, 2018

Then the only you can do is to downgrade your AE to version 15.0.1. Avoid installation of AE 15.1

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Apr 30, 2018 Apr 30, 2018

This is an impudent offer from you, or maybe it's worth it to drive out your optimizers and hire people who really want to develop the product? or at least ask people who use AE what they need. and then in the last updates of the trap of useless junk and cut out the necessary things ..

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Apr 30, 2018 Apr 30, 2018

What is imprudence is treat me like an adobe employee. I'm not part of the Adobe team. All the ACP are people trying to help the community so if you think my help is imprudent try to fill in a claim to the adobe team using the correct channels.

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Apr 30, 2018 Apr 30, 2018

I'm sorry. just fed up with the fact that with each new version of AE it becomes slower and less functional. how will developers and managers try to kill him. lately more and more hands are reaching out to get CS6 and refuse to subscribe ..

Translate
Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines