[After Effect MKV] How to Import MKV to After Effect for Proper Video Editing

Updated on Feb 19, 2024

Does Adobe After Effects support MKV import? Even in the latest AE version, the answer is negative. But you can still import your MKV videos to AE for editing by
1: changing the file extension
2: converting MKVs to supported file types.

Converting MKV to After Effects is a 100% workable way. So download the recommended MKV to After Effects converter now and follow the guide below to fix the After Effects MKV import issue:

https://www.videoconverterfactory.com/download/hd-video-converter-pro.exe hd-video-converter-pro.exe

Q1: "I've installed AE, but it cannot import my MKV files even when I've installed QuickTime. How to avoid that limitation? Thanks advance."

Q2: "I need to edit some videos but some of them are in .mkv extension, is there any way to import it to AE? The videos are just screen capture with no audio. I've tried mkvToVob in order to try to unpack to another type of file but because there is no audio mkvtovob was unable to work."

Q3: "Hi, I have an MKV file I would like to import into AE. What is the best way to do it in order to keep the highest possible quality?"

After Effects video/audio formats

A: The picture indicates the types of file you can import into Adobe After Effects. Also, note that despite the QuickTime installation, not only MKV is an AE unsupported container format, you also need to ensure that the media codecs packed within MKV are supported by After Effects. So remuxing and transcoding process are both needed. Meanwhile, there’s no MKV codec for After Effects to my knowledge.

Thus the gist here, to properly edit MKV videos in After Effects, is converting MKV to any of those video formats. But which to choose? You might ask.

So, my recommendations here are:

MOV container, H.264 video + AAC audio; Good compatibility and performance in editing.

MP4 container, H.264 video + AAC audio; Best compatibility for any-platform import and export.

To convert MKV files to After Effects supported formats/codecs, you can follow the two ways below:

1. Change the File Extension

If you are sure that the video and audio codecs wrapped in your MKV files are compatible with After Effects, you can change the file extension from .mkv to .mp4 to fix the MKV import error. But note that you should also ensure the new container format supports the codecs inside your MKV files. Otherwise, you may damage the original footage. If you're not sure, backup your original files before changing the file extension.

Step 1. Find the video file in your file folder.

Step 2. Right-click on an MKV file you want to edit. Choose “Rename”.

Step 3. Input the new extension name that ends with .mp4 or other After Effects-friendly container formats.

Step 4. Press “Enter”. Hit “Yes” on the pop-up confirmation box.

2. Convert MKV to After Effects Video Formats with HD Pro

If you hope to find a 100% workable way to import MKV to After Effects, try WonderFox HD Video Converter Factory Pro to convert MKV to After Effects-compatible formats and codecs. It supports many output presets and provides high output quality.

Convert MKV to After Effects with Ease

WonderFox HD Video Converter Factory Pro is a powerful and professional video converter program, drove by NVIDIA® NVENC, CUDA, Intel® QSV (HD Graphics hardware acceleration tech), Multi-CPU, Hyper Threading and Hardware encoding technology, it can swiftly and losslessly convert any videos to MP4, MOV, WMV, After Effects, Premiere Pro, and 500 + formats and devices. With its intuitive user’s guidance and sleek layout, it suits beginners as well. Download it and fix After Effects MKV import issue.

How to Convert MKV to After Effects Video Formats with HD Pro

Before start, please free download free download the After Effects MKV converter software and install it on your Windows PC.

Step 1. Load Unsupported MKV Videos into the Program

Launch WonderFox HD Video Converter Factory Pro, click “Converter” module to enter the converter workplace. Go to the upper-left corner and click on “Add Files” button to add unsupported MKVs into the program. Then define the destination path at “Output folder” box underneath.

Tips: You can simply trim, crop, rotate videos, etc. with the built-in simple video editing tools on the toolbar below the video list.

Step 2. Convert MKV to After Effects Video Formats

Click on the output format section on the right side of the main workplace, locate “Video” category from the category box above. From “Video” category, to correctly import your videos into After Effects later, you can convert MKV to MOV (H.264+AAC) or MKV to MP4 (H.264+AAC) as per need by clicking on the corresponding video format icon. Hit “Run” to start the conversions, videos in queue will be batch converted.

Hint: If you find AE buffers a lot while processing your videos, before hitting “Run”, go to “Parameter settings” to lower the video bitrate to a certain degree to fix that. You can also downsize the video files in other ways.

At last...

That's the whole thing about how to import MKV to After Effects. Now download the MKV video converter and convert your MKV videos to After Effects compatible formats. This time the videos will be perfectly recognized and look pretty good in the program. Happy editing!