vangel76andClaude Sonnet 5.5
19e4fc7c60
Open-issue count, crash list, closed-issue references, localization
catalog counts, export formats and #include status checked against
upstream/main 470ea7a3. Rows 7, 14 and 21 of gaps.md untouched (pending
in PRs #1102, #792, #1098).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
9.0 KiB
File format parity
Last reviewed: 2026-10-12 · Last updated: 2026-10-12 · Change: minor (closed issue references re-audited against
upstream/main470ea7a3) · Target: Adobe After Effects 2026
Every format After Effects reads or writes, with EffectCraft's support. After Effects' list comes
from its installed bundle (26.5.0.89: Info.plist CFBundleDocumentTypes, Plug-ins/Format,
Resources/usd_plugins) and its public documentation; ours from crates/media/src/lib.rs
(STILL_EXTENSIONS, VIDEO_EXTENSIONS, MODEL_EXTENSIONS, FilmCraft's AUDIO_EXTENSIONS),
crates/engine/src/commands/file.rs (DATA_EXTENSIONS) and OutputFormat::ALL in
crates/project/src/render_queue.rs. Video codecs come from FilmCraft's pure-Rust crates
(architecture.md).
Overall ≈ 50% (estimated, weighted by use): modern delivery and interchange formats are strong, but After Effects' own project, template and preset formats, which decide whether existing work moves over, are 0%.
Fidelity key: exact (bit-exact or within a stated tolerance of a reference), good (round trips and renders, checked by tests, not against After Effects), partial (named limitations), none.
After Effects' own formats
| Format | After Effects | EffectCraft read | Write | Fidelity / notes | Tested by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Project .aep |
R/W (native) | none | none | Main file format; needs an owner decision on clean-room scope (#190; #248, closed as its duplicate: py-aep as an external converter; open PRs #251 and #860). Blocks beta | — |
XML project .aepx |
R/W | none | none | Same decision as .aep |
— |
Templates .aet / .aetx |
R/W | none | none | Own .ectemplate (Home ▸ Templates, Save as Template) |
templates.rs tests |
Motion Graphics template .mogrt |
W (and R in Premiere) | none | none | Own .ectemplate Essential Graphics templates; FilmCraft rejects our .fcgt export (#611) |
essential.rs tests |
Animation preset .ffx |
R/W, 621 bundled | none | none | Own JSON .ecpreset; .ffx is out of clean-room scope (AGENTS.md §2) |
animation.rs tests |
Render Settings / Output Module templates .ars / .aom |
R/W | none | none | Templates are stored in the project and settings instead | render_templates.rs tests |
Scripts .jsx |
R (run) | yes | — | After Effects object model and ScriptUI (scripting-parity.md) | crates/script tests |
Binary scripts .jsxbin |
R (run) | none | — | No public specification: out of scope | — |
Motion graphics JSON .mgjson |
R (data) | none | none | Media Browser lists it; import accepts only .json / .csv / .tsv data |
— |
Captions .aecap, graphics .aegraphic |
R/W | none | none | — | — |
Native .ecproj |
— | yes | yes | Versioned JSON; schema migrations tested; absolute footage paths, no relinking (gap 18) | engine project tests |
Footage: stills
| Format | After Effects | Read | Write | Fidelity / notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PNG | R/W | yes | yes (sequence) | good |
| JPEG | R/W | yes | yes (sequence) | good |
| TIFF | R/W | yes | yes (sequence) | good |
| OpenEXR (multi-layer, Cryptomatte) | R/W | yes | yes (32-bit sequence) | good; HTJ2K compression fails (#482); EXRs without an unnamed RGB layer decode twice (#474) |
| Photoshop PSD / PSB | R (footage, composition) / W (layers, sequence) | yes (layers, groups, masks, styles, smart objects) | Save Frame As ▸ Photoshop Layers; no Photoshop sequence output | good, from Adobe's published spec |
Illustrator .ai, PDF, EPS |
R | yes (vector, Continuously Rasterize, Create Shapes) | — | partial: no JPX / JBIG2 images, no Illustrator procset EPS |
| SVG | R | yes | — | good; SVG markup on the clipboard pastes as a shape layer (26.3, #738); Illustrator's own clipboard data (PDF/AI) doesn't |
| GIF | R/W | yes | yes (animated) | good |
| BMP | R | yes | — | good |
| WebP | — | yes (still; animated WebP as footage with its frames, timing and alpha, #762) | — | beyond After Effects |
Targa .tga |
R/W | yes (still and sequence; alpha interpreted on import) | none | good for import (#745); no Targa output |
DPX / Cineon .dpx .cin |
R/W | yes (still and sequence; 8/10/12/16-bit luma, RGB, RGBA, both byte orders; log code values shown as stored) | none | partial: import (#756); no Interpret Footage ▸ Cineon Settings (log to linear), no DPX output; common in film VFX |
Radiance .hdr |
R/W | yes (still and sequence, 32-bit linear float like OpenEXR) | none | good for import (#745); no Radiance output |
| SGI, PICT, ElectricImage, RLA/RPF images | R | none | none | Legacy; RPF camera data import exists (keys.rpfCameraImport) |
| Camera Raw (DNG, CR3, NEF…) | R (Camera Raw) | none | none | LightCraft has decoders that could be shared |
| HEIF / AVIF | R (platform) | none | none | — |
Footage: video and audio
| Format | After Effects | Read | Write | Fidelity / notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MP4 / MOV with H.264 | R/W | yes | yes (own encoder, + AAC) | decoder bit-exact on conformance streams (FilmCraft) |
| HEVC (H.265) | R/W | yes | yes (MP4 hvc1, Main / Main 10) |
encoder bit-exact with ffmpeg's decode; no B-frames / SAO, larger files |
| AV1 | R | yes | yes (MP4 av01, WebM) |
beyond After Effects' export; no B-frames / CDEF |
| Apple ProRes (422 family, 4444) | R/W | yes | yes | good; 4444 colour tag wrong (#340); no ProRes RAW |
| WebM / Matroska (VP9, AV1, Opus) | R (limited) | yes, incl. VP9 alpha | yes | beyond After Effects |
| MXF (OP1a / OP-Atom) | R/W | yes (FilmCraft's demuxer: AVC, MPEG-2 incl. XDCAM / D-10, VC-3 / DNxHD, ProRes; PCM audio) | none | partial: import (#767), checked against ffmpeg; no MXF output |
| AVI | R | none | none | Media Browser lists it |
| DNxHD / DNxHR | R/W | unverified (FilmCraft decodes it; reachable only inside .mov) |
none | — |
| BRAW, R3D, ARRIRAW | R (plug-ins / SDKs) | none | none | proprietary SDKs |
| Variable-frame-rate phone video | R | unverified | — | needs a real-media corpus |
| WAV, AIFF | R/W | yes | yes (16-bit PCM) | good |
| MP3, AAC / M4A, FLAC, Ogg, Opus | R | yes | AAC and Opus inside video only | MP3 silence (#324) is closed |
3D models
| Format | After Effects 26 | Read | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| glTF / GLB | R | yes (meshes, PBR, skins, animations) | good |
| OBJ / MTL | R | yes | good |
| FBX | R (usdFbx) |
yes (7.x binary and ASCII: meshes with normals, UVs and per-polygon materials, the Model hierarchy with pivots and pre/post rotation, Lambert/Phong materials with embedded or relative textures, axes turned to Y-up; no animation, skinning, cameras or lights; 6.x rejected) | partial |
| USD / USDZ | R (usd_plugins) |
none | gap 13 |
| STL | R (usdStl) |
yes (binary and ASCII, VisCAM and Magics facet colours; Z-up turned to Y-up) | good |
Substance 3D materials .sbsar |
R (26.0) | none | gap 13 |
Interchange and data
| Format | After Effects | Read | Write | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Premiere Pro .prproj |
R (import) | none | none | Out of clean-room scope pending a decision; we interchange through FCP7 XML, FCPXML, OTIO, EDL, AAF and OMF instead (beyond After Effects) |
| Lottie JSON / dotLottie | via third-party plug-ins | yes | yes | beyond After Effects; a warnings list names what Lottie can't express |
| JSON / CSV / TSV data | R | yes (footage(), data layers) |
— | good |
LUTs (.cube, .3dl, .csp, .spi1d/3d, CDL) |
R | yes (Apply Color LUT, OCIO effects) | — | Apply Color LUT bug (#514) is closed |
| OpenColorIO configs | R (OCIO 2.5.1, ACES 2.0 in 26.5) | yes (OCIO v2 subset, Blender configs) | — | partial: no ACES 2.0 output transforms |
| Fonts (TTF, OTF, TTC, variable) | R | yes | — | good |
| Mocha shapes | R (Mocha AE) | own documented JSON | — | Mocha's format is not public |
Vanishing Point .vpe |
R | none | — | no public specification; the menu entry explains why |
Render queue outputs (OutputFormat::ALL, 13)
H.264 MP4, HEVC MP4, AV1 MP4, ProRes MOV, uncompressed 8-bit RGB / RGB + Alpha MOV (raw , + PCM;
#372), WebM (VP9 or AV1 + Opus), PNG / JPEG / TIFF / OpenEXR sequences, animated GIF, WAV, AIFF.
Missing against After Effects + Media Encoder: 16-bpc uncompressed, AVI and lossless-compressed
single-file video (Animation / PNG codecs), DPX / Targa / Photoshop sequences, MXF, DNxHR, hardware
encoders (hardware-parity.md), and rendering safely over an existing file
(#325).
Estimate
≈ 130–230 h: .aep / .aepx import 80–160 h (after the owner decision), wiring TGA / DPX /
HDR / MXF / AVI / DNx import and DPX/TGA output 10–20 h, FBX animation and skinning, USD and Substance 20–40 h,
relinking 6–12 h, .mogrt-compatible templates 15–30 h (partly parallel with the rest).
Revision history
| Date | Change | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-12 | minor | #324 and #514 marked closed; open .aep PRs #251 and #860 noted |
| 2026-10-10 | major | First file format parity document, from the After Effects 26.5 bundle and this repository's import/export registries |