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Troubleshooting After Effects templates

After Effects templates are useful for speeding up animation and motion design workflows, but they can occasionally cause problems—especially if system settings or software versions don’t align. This article outlines common issues you may encounter when working with After Effects templates and offers reliable solutions to resolve them efficiently.

How to check software compatibility

Ensure the Template Matches Your After Effects Version

If a template fails to open, shows errors, or doesn’t behave as expected, version incompatibility is often the cause. After Effects templates may include features only supported by newer versions of the software.

What to Do:

  • Confirm your After Effects version by going to Help > About After Effects
  • Check the template's version requirements on the product page before use
  • Do not use After Effects templates with Premiere Pro—they are not cross-compatible

💡 Pro Tip: All template compatibilities are listed on the right-hand of a template asset page.

How to update your operating system and graphics drivers

Crashes, display glitches, or sluggish performance can stem from outdated system software or GPU drivers. Keeping both up to date ensures compatibility with the latest After Effects features.

For macOS Users: macOS updates include graphics driver updates by default.

  1. Click the Apple menu.
  2. Open System Settings (or System Preferences on older versions).
  3. Go to General > Software Update. Install available updates by clicking Update Now or Upgrade Now.

For Windows Users:

Step 1: Update Windows

  1. Open the Start Menu > Settings.
  2. Select Windows Update.
  3. Click Check for updates > Download and install.
  4. Restart your system if prompted.

Step 2: Update graphics drivers

Option 1: Device Manager method:

  1. Right-click the Start button > Device Manager.
  2. Expand Display adapters.
  3. Right-click your GPU > Update driver > Search automatically.

Option 2: Manufacturer tools:

  1. NVIDIA: Use GeForce Experience
  2. AMD: Use Adrenalin Software
  3. Intel: Use Intel Driver & Support Assistant

💡 Pro Tip: Use GPU tools from your hardware provider for more accurate and frequent driver updates.

How to fix media and disk cache performance issues

Slow hard drives or corrupted cache files can cause After Effects to lag, crash, or freeze when loading templates.

Set Disk Cache to a Fast Drive

Using a fast SSD for your disk cache improves performance—especially with heavy template files.

Steps:

  1. Go to Edit > Preferences > Media Cache.
  2. Under Disk Cache, click Choose Folder.
  3. Select a local SSD with 30GB+ of free space.

💡 Pro Tip: Avoid external or USB drives for caching—they are typically too slow.

How to clear corrupted cache files

Sometimes cache files become corrupted or too large, slowing down the software. Clearing the cache allows After Effects to rebuild performance data.

Steps:

  1. Go to After Effects > Settings > Media & Disc Cache.
  2. Click Empty Disk Cache.
  3. Then go to Edit > Purge > All Memory & Disk Cache.
  4. Confirm when prompted.

Note: This is safe. Your project won’t be deleted—just preview data is cleared.

How to allocate more RAM to After Effects

If your system has enough RAM, adjusting memory allocation can help After Effects handle large templates, high-resolution assets, and complex animations more smoothly.

Adjust RAM Allocation Settings:

  • On Windows: Edit > Preferences > Memory
  • On macOS: After Effects > Preferences > Memory

Reduce the amount of RAM reserved for other applications.

Recommendations:

  • 32GB RAM: Reserve 4–6GB for other apps
  • 16GB RAM: Reserve 3–4GB
  • Do not go below 2GB—your system needs memory for essential background processes

💡 Pro Tip: More RAM = faster rendering, smoother previews, and fewer crashes.

How to relink missing footage or files

“Missing Footage” Warning Explained

This message means After Effects can’t locate a media file used in the template—usually due to file movement, renaming, or deletion.

How to relink footage:

  1. In the Project panel, locate the file marked with a missing media icon.
  2. Right-click it > Replace Footage > File.
  3. Navigate to the correct file location.
  4. Select the file and click Open.

After Effects will relink the footage. If multiple missing files are in the same folder, they are often reconnected automatically.

💡 Pro Tip: Keep all project assets in a single folder to avoid relinking problems when moving or archiving projects.

How to improve timeline playback and preview performance

Problem: Laggy Timeline or Jerky Playback

Heavy After Effects templates with motion graphics or 4K footage can cause the timeline to lag, making it difficult to preview edits. These issues are typically tied to preview settings or lack of caching.

Solution 1: Adjust Preview Panel Settings

Lowering preview quality settings helps After Effects render frames faster, which improves responsiveness.

  1. Open the Preview panel (go to Window > Preview if hidden).
  2. Adjust the following settings:
    Resolution: Set to Half or QuarterSkip:
    • Choose Skip 1 to preview every other frame
    • Play From: Select Current Time or Start of Range
    • Cache Before Playback: Check this box for smoother preview playback

Solution 2: Use Fast Previews for Editing

  1. In the Composition panel, click the lightning bolt icon (top right).
  2. Choose:
    Adaptive Resolution – best balance between speed and quality
    Fast Draft – fastest, great for layout edits
    Final Quality – use this only when you’re done editing.

💡Pro Tip: Stay in Fast Draft or Adaptive Resolution while working. Only switch to Final Quality before rendering.

Still need help? Head back to the Help Center.