Want to know how you can fix corrupted Adobe After Effects files?
Adobe After Effects is a well-known visual effect, compositing, and motion graphics application developed by Adobe Systems. It’s packaged with Adobe Creative Cloud and is usually used hand in hand with Adobe Premiere Pro.
Most professionals use it to generate 3D motion pictures, CGIs, and other animated effects for films and videos.
Despite being one of the best tools for the job, Adobe After Effects isn’t flawless.
One of the worst issues you’ll ever encounter in the app is corrupted files. When this issue occurs, you won’t be able to open your After Effects files, which you probably worked on for hours.
This is a frustrating issue that needs to be addressed by Adobe.
Fortunately, some workarounds might be able to salvage your corrupted After Effects projects.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to fix corrupted After Effects files.
Let’s begin!
1. Check for Autosave Files.
Adobe After Effects has a built-in autosave feature that routinely generates backups of your projects. This is a handy feature that can save you from losing all your progress if something goes wrong with the app.
If you can’t open your After Effects projects, try checking the autosaves folder. You might be able to find previous versions of your project. While this won’t restore all your progress, it’s still a decent option if you can no longer access your saved projects.
Sadly, the autosave feature of After Effects isn’t enabled by default. If you haven’t enabled it on your computer, this method won’t work for you.
2. Start A New Project.
For some users, they were able to fix their corrupted After Effects files by creating a new project and importing the problematic saved file. If you can’t open your After Effects file directly, this option might work.
Here’s what you need to do:
- First, open Adobe After Effects on your computer.
- After that, start a new project.
- Now, go to File > Import.
- Lastly, click on the File.. option and select the project you want to open.
Once done, you should be able to access your corrupted After Effects file.
3. Update After Effects.
If you’re trying to access an After Effects file from a different computer, it’s possible that the version you’re running isn’t compatible with the project. To avoid this issue, update After Effects to the latest version possible.
Here’s how you can update the app:
- On your computer, launch the Adobe Creative Cloud app.
- Next, click on the Updates tab in the side drawer.
- Finally, install the update for After Effects if available.
After the update, restart your system and try accessing the project to check if the problem is solved.
4. Try Thrid-Party Tools.
At this point, the last thing you can do is try third-party recovery software to fix the corrupted After Effects file. There is a handful of software available in the market, and some might require a subscription or payment to use its full features.
On the other hand, there are also free alternatives but they might not work as well as premium programs.
That ends our guide on how to fix corrupted After Effects files on your computer. If you have questions or other concerns, please don’t hesitate to voice them out in the comment section, and we’ll do our best to answer them.
If this guide helped you, please share it. 🙂
