Render Settings

Control output format, codec, quality, frame range, engine version, and Multi-Frame Rendering for every render job

The settings object on a job payload controls how After Effects renders and what format the output takes. All fields are optional - omitting settings entirely uses the composition’s default output settings.

settings and preview are mutually exclusive. preview: true on its own renders with draft settings, and a job that sends both is rejected with SETTINGS_PREVIEW_CONFLICT.

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Fields

settings.type · string

Output type. One of:

• video - renders to a video file (default)
• image - renders a single frame or frame range as still images
• aep - packages the project as a rendered AEP archive
• lottie - exports the template to Lottie and returns a zip; see Lottie Export

settings.quality · string

Render quality. One of:

• full - full quality output (default)
• draft - faster, lower-quality render useful for testing. It renders at reduced resolution: a 1920×1080 composition comes out at 640×360

settings.codec · string

Output codec. Must be compatible with the chosen type. See the codec list below.

settings.frames · integer | array

Frame specification. Required when type is image.

• Single integer - renders one frame at that position (e.g. 125)
• Two-element array - renders a frame range (e.g. [0, 120])
• Three-element array - renders every n-th frame of a range (e.g. [0, 120, 10]). The step must be between 1 and 100.

Use -1 in any position for the default: the composition’s first frame as start, its last frame as end, or every frame as the step (e.g. [-1, -1, 25]).

settings.engine · string

After Effects engine version to use for this job. One of:

• ae2026 (default)
• ae2025

settings.multiFrame · boolean

Turns After Effects Multi-Frame Rendering on (true) or off (false) for this job. If omitted, the render node’s default applies.

Multi-Frame Rendering renders several frames at once and is usually much faster. Turn it off for templates whose effects, plugins or expressions don’t render correctly with it.

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Codecs

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Video codecs

Codec	Description
video_h264_vbr_1mbps	H.264 variable bitrate, 1 Mbps
video_h264_vbr_5mbps	H.264 variable bitrate, 5 Mbps
video_h264_vbr_15mbps	H.264 variable bitrate, 15 Mbps
video_h264_vbr_40mbps	H.264 variable bitrate, 40 Mbps
video_h264_cbr_1mbps	H.264 constant bitrate, 1 Mbps
video_h264_cbr_5mbps	H.264 constant bitrate, 5 Mbps
video_h264_cbr_15mbps	H.264 constant bitrate, 15 Mbps
video_h264_cbr_40mbps	H.264 constant bitrate, 40 Mbps
video_prores_422	Apple ProRes 422
video_prores_4444	Apple ProRes 4444 (with alpha)
video_vp8	VP8 in a WebM file, 1 Mbps, Vorbis audio
video_vp9	VP9 in a WebM file, 1 Mbps, Opus audio
video_vp8_alpha	VP8 in a WebM file with alpha, 1 Mbps, Vorbis audio
video_vp9_alpha	VP9 in a WebM file with alpha, 1 Mbps, Opus audio

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Image codecs

Codec	Description
image_png	PNG (lossless, supports transparency)
image_jpeg	JPEG (lossy, smaller file size)
image_gif	Animated GIF made from a frame range

Image codecs require type: "image". Video codecs require type: "video".

You can also use a codec’s short name, without the video_ or image_ prefix: h264_vbr_15mbps, prores_4444, vp9, png, gif.

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WebM and GIF

After Effects can’t write WebM or GIF files, so these codecs take one more step. The job renders to a source format first, and the render node then converts it with ffmpeg and uploads only the converted file:

• video_vp8 and video_vp9 render to H.264 at 15 Mbps first, then encode to WebM at 1 Mbps.
• video_vp8_alpha and video_vp9_alpha render to ProRes 4444 first, so the alpha channel is kept. Transparent areas of your composition are transparent in the WebM file.
• image_gif renders PNG frames first, then makes one looping GIF from them, 480 pixels wide (the height keeps the aspect ratio) at 12 frames per second. Set frames to a range, such as [0, 90]. Other image ranges upload a ZIP of frames; a GIF range uploads one .gif file.

The output URL ends in .webm or .gif.

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Examples

H.264 video

{
  "settings": {
    "type": "video",
    "quality": "full",
    "codec": "video_h264_vbr_15mbps"
  }
}