dotCooCoo
9de2c5ee8a
DPX and Cineon footage showed its log code values as stored, with no way to convert them. Interpret Footage now has the Cineon Settings that After Effects' help page describes: Logarithmic Conversion, the Converted Black and White Points, the 10 Bit Black and White Points, Current Gamma, Highlight Rolloff and Units. With Logarithmic Conversion on, the code values of each decoded frame are converted from printing density to the Current Gamma between the converted points, before Separate Fields, Frame Blending, Interpret As Linear Light and the working space use them. With it off (the default), the values stay as stored. file.interpretFootage and file.interpretProxy take the settings as parameters and report them. They return an error for out-of-range values, and for Cineon parameters when none of the items is a DPX or Cineon file. Apply Interpretation copies the settings between DPX and Cineon files.
9.1 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; Composition and Composition - Retain Layer Sizes, #1536) | — | 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, or converted by Interpret Footage ▸ Cineon Settings ▸ Logarithmic Conversion) | none | partial: import (#756) and Cineon Settings; 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 |