How to Export MP4 Videos from After Effects for Easy Playing, Sending, and Uploading

Whenever you want to send After Effects videos to colleges, playing them on mobiles, or uploading these videos on YouTube, Facebook, etc, export After Effects videos to MP4 format is the best choice. As a versatile format, MP4 is the most compatible and commonly used format in every field. But it’s sad to find that you can’t save videos as MP4 through After Effects.

Actually, since Adobe After Effects CC 2014 (13.0), this video editor doesn’t support H.264 codec for MP4 format, MPEG-2, and WMV. And the official recommended method is to export After Effects videos as MP4 through Adobe Media Encoder, a simple encoding software designed for Adobe users. This way will be introduced with detailed steps in this article. But opening two big software will occupy too much space and take more time to export. Thus, you can also learn the easiest way to save MP4 videos from After Effects from this article.

• Part 1. How to Export After Effects Videos as MP4 through Media Encoder
• Part 2. The Easiest Way to Export After Effects Videos to MP4 without Media Encoder
• Part 3. FAQs of Exporting After Effects Videos as MP4 Format

Part 1. How to Export After Effects Videos as MP4 through Media Encoder

Adobe Media Encoder is the official recommended software to save After Effects videos as MP4. And the detailed steps are listed below:

Step 1.Click the Composition menu on the top list, and then choose the Add to Adobe Media Encoder Queue option to add the composition to Adobe Media Encoder.

Step 2.The Adobe Media Encode will open automatically. Then click the Format button and select the H.264 codec. You can also change the settings as you like or just choose the preset one.

Step 3.After you change the Output File settings and choose the desired storage path, click the Green Play icon to start exporting After Effects videos to MP4 format.

This way looks very easy and convenient for Adobe users. But sometimes, the Adobe Media Encoder just has no response and fails to open for unknown reasons. Moreover, the rendering in Media Encoder is much slower than using Adobe After Effects because the Media Encoder only executes in the background with no access to GPU acceleration. Thus, you should try the best way in the following.

Part 2. The Easiest Way to Export After Effects Videos to MP4 without Media Encoder

The easiest way to get MP4 videos from After Effects is to export the videos to other formats and then convert After Effects videos to MP4 format in a few minutes. To convert After Effects video to MP4 while keeping high quality, Blu-ray Master Video Converter Ultimate is your best choice. It supports 500+ formats to import and export. And with the customized settings, you don’t need to worry about losing quality.

• Convert the exported After Effects videos to MP4 format with simple clicks.
• Supports importing and exporting videos in 500+ formats with a maximum 8K resolution.
• Able to adjust the video codec, resolution, and bitrate to keep high quality.
• Export a batch of After Effects videos to MP4 in a few minutes.

Step 1.Download Blu-ray Master Video Converter Ultimate on Windows/Mac and launch it. Then click the Add Files button to choose the rendered videos from After Effects in any format.

Step 2.Click the Convert All to menu to select the MP4 format in the video list. Then choose the original resolution to keep high quality and click the Custom Profile icon. You’d better choose the H.264 codec and keep the original frame rate. Click the Create New button to save the settings.

Step 3.After going back to the main interface, choose the storage path. Then click the Convert button to transform the exported After Effects videos to MP4 quickly with high quality. In this way, you can export After Effects videos as MP4 to send, and upload them easily.

If you just find a more convenient way to convert After Effects videos to MP4 format without downloading any software, you can try Blu-ray Master Free Online Video Converter. But you should note that this converter only supports exporting videos in a maximum 1080p resolution. If you don’t care about the video quality, just go for it now.

Part 3. FAQs of Exporting After Effects Videos as MP4 Format

• Can I directly export MP4 videos from Adobe After Effects CC 2017?

  No. Adobe After Effects CC 2014 and later versions don’t support exporting After Effects videos as MP4 directly. Thus you should rely on Adobe Media Encoder or convert After Effects videos to MP4 format through Blu-ray Master Video Converter Ultimate.

• Will converting videos to MP4 lose more quality than exporting After effects videos with Media Encoder?

  No. The quality will be the same. Although converting After Effects videos to MP4 may decrease the video quality, that’s because the format and codec are different. Thus, if you keep the original resolution and other parameters when converting videos to MP4, the quality will be the same.

• What parameters should I choose when exporting After Effects videos as MP4 for Facebook?

  The recommended settings for Facebook are H.264 codec, 720p resolution, 30 fps frame rate, and less than 1.75 GB video size. Or you can simply choose the preset Facebook settings in Blu-ray Master Video Converter Ultimate.

Wrapping up

It is very troublesome that the later versions after Adobe After Effects CC 2014 don’t support H.264 (MP4), MPEG-2, and WMV. So if you want to export After Effects videos in MP4 format, you can choose to add the composition to Adobe Media Encoder. In addition to this slow way, you can also export After Effects videos to other formats and then convert the videos to MP4 quickly. If you have any other questions, please leave your comment below.