How do I loop a video in After Effects?
Enable time remapping on the layer (Ctrl+Alt+T or Cmd+Option+T), Alt-click or Option-click the Time Remap stopwatch, type loopOut() and drag the layer longer.
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How to loop a video in After Effects
Three ways to repeat a clip in After Effects, from a one-field setting to an expression, plus how to hide the join and export the loop for the web.
Drop a video to loop
Or choose one from your computer. MP4, MOV, WebM and GIF all work.Pick a clip or a GIF from your photos or files.
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Looped on your device. Nothing is uploaded.
To loop a video in After Effects, select its layer, choose Layer → Time → Enable Time Remapping, then Alt-click (Option-click on a Mac) the Time Remap stopwatch and type loopOut(). Drag the layer’s end out as far as you need; the footage repeats for the whole length.
For plain footage there is an even quicker route, a loop count in Interpret Footage, and for a crossfaded loop, Sequence Layers does the overlapping for you. All three are below, along with the one-frame glitch that catches most people out with time remapping, and the export settings that keep a loop small.
If the job is just “repeat this clip for ten minutes” or “make this seamless”, the looper on this page does it in the browser without opening After Effects, and copies the original frames when nothing needs re-encoding.
Loop a layer with time remapping and loopOut()
Enable time remapping
Select the footage layer (or a precomp) and choose Layer → Time → Enable Time Remapping (Ctrl+Alt+T, or Cmd+Option+T on a Mac). A Time Remap property appears with a keyframe at each end.
Fix the last keyframe
The end keyframe sits one frame past the last real frame, which shows as a held or black frame at every repeat. Move one frame back, add a keyframe there, and delete the original last keyframe.
Add the loopOut() expression
Alt-click (Option-click) the Time Remap stopwatch and type
loopOut(). With no argument it uses"cycle", which plays the keyframed range again and again.Extend the layer
Drag the layer’s out point to the right, up to the end of the composition. With time remapping on, the layer can run past the footage’s own length.
Preview the join
Play across the point where the footage restarts. If it jumps, see the crossfade methods below before you render.
The quickest loop: Interpret Footage
For a clip that should simply repeat a set number of times, After Effects can do it at the footage level. Select the clip in the Project panel, choose File → Interpret Footage → Main, and under Other Options set Loop to the number of times. Every layer that uses that footage now has the longer duration.
- It works on imported footage and image sequences, not on compositions or precomps.
- There is no join treatment; any jump at the end of the clip repeats with it.
- Changing the count later changes every use of the footage in the project.
loopOut() options, and looping a whole composition
loopOut() repeats keyframes, and on Time Remap that means repeating the footage. Its first argument changes how:
loopOut("cycle"), the default: play the range and start again.loopOut("pingpong"): play forwards, then backwards, then forwards.loopOut("offset"): each repeat continues from where the last one ended (for position or rotation, not footage).loopOut("continue"): carry on at the final speed, with no repeat.
Looping a composition
To loop a group of layers, select them and choose Layer → Pre-compose (Ctrl+Shift+C, or Cmd+Shift+C). Then enable time remapping on the precomp layer and add loopOut() as above. Make the precomp exactly one loop long, or put the time-remap keyframes at the start and end of the loop, so nothing extra repeats.
Making the loop seamless
A loop only looks endless when the last frame leads naturally into the first. When the footage doesn’t, dissolve the end into the start:
- Duplicate the footage layer a few times (Ctrl+D or Cmd+D).
- Select the layers in order and choose Animation → Keyframe Assistant → Sequence Layers.
- Tick Overlap, set the Duration to the crossfade length (half a second to a second), and choose Cross Dissolve Front and Back Layers as the transition.
For a background that must run seamlessly for a long time, a cleaner approach is to build one perfect pass where the end dissolves into the start, render it, and repeat that file. That is what the looper on this page does with Crossfade, and Find the best loop can find a cut that needs no dissolve at all; the seamless loop video guide explains how.
Exporting a loop from After Effects
- For the web, social or a presentation: add the composition to the Render Queue and choose H.264 (available there since After Effects 2023), or send it to Adobe Media Encoder with Composition → Add to Adobe Media Encoder Queue.
- For further editing: render a short, high-quality master of one pass (ProRes or a lossless format), then repeat it in your editor or here. Rendering an hour of repeats from After Effects is slow, because it renders every frame of every pass.
- As a GIF: After Effects has no GIF output, but Adobe Media Encoder has an Animated GIF format. Or render an MP4 and convert it with the MP4 to GIF converter, which lets you cap the file size.
To make a long loop file quickly, export one clean pass from After Effects and open it in the tool above. It encodes the pass once and writes it again for every repeat, so an hour takes about as long as the pass itself. For editors with a loop playback toggle rather than a render, see looping in Premiere Pro.
Looping in After Effects: common questions
Why does my loop show a black or frozen frame?
The last time-remap keyframe sits one frame after the footage ends. Step back one frame, add a keyframe there and delete the original end keyframe.
Can I loop footage without an expression?
Yes. Select the clip in the Project panel, open File → Interpret Footage → Main and set Loop under Other Options. It works for imported footage, not compositions.
How do I loop a composition in After Effects?
Nest it in another composition (or pre-compose its layers), enable time remapping on the nested layer and add loopOut() to Time Remap.
How do I export a seamless loop from After Effects?
Build one pass whose end leads into its start (or crossfades into it with Sequence Layers), render that pass, and repeat the rendered file rather than rendering every repeat.
Can After Effects export a looping GIF?
Not directly. Use Adobe Media Encoder’s Animated GIF format, or render an MP4 and convert it in a browser-based converter.