Adobe After Effects 2026
Version 26.3.0.87 · Adobe Inc. · Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit) · ranked #4 in the library
The compositing and motion graphics workhorse, where a title sequence, a clean-up job, a screen replacement and a full 2.5D animated explainer all get built in the same layered timeline.
Read the installation section below before you start. The order of the steps matters on this release.
About this release
Overview
After Effects works on compositions rather than sequences. Every layer has transform properties, blending modes, masks, track mattes and an effect stack, and every one of those parameters can be keyframed or driven by an expression. That structure is why it covers such a wide range of work: the same tool that animates a lower third also does rig removal, sky replacement, screen inserts and full character animation with the puppet tools.
Tracking and stabilisation are the backbone of the clean-up side. The 3D camera tracker solves a shot and hands you a camera plus a point cloud you can parent artwork to, the planar tracker via Mocha handles surfaces that a point tracker gives up on, and warp stabiliser fixes handheld footage without the rubbery artefacts older smoothing produced. Rotobrush isolates a moving subject from a plate with a fraction of the manual rotoscoping it used to take.
For motion design, shape layers with trim paths, repeaters and merge operations produce animation that stays resolution independent. Expressions link properties to each other so a rig drives itself, and the essential properties system exposes a small set of controls to whoever has to use your template downstream. Renders go out through the render queue locally or through Media Encoder if you want to keep working while it writes.
What it does
Feature breakdown
Compositions and nesting
Build a comp, drop it inside another as a layer, and keep going. Precomposition is how complex work stays manageable and how the same element gets reused across a project.
3D camera tracking and Mocha planar tracking
Solve a moving shot and place artwork that sticks. Point tracking, planar tracking and full camera solves cover almost anything a live plate throws at you.
Rotobrush and Content Aware Fill
Isolate a subject across a shot with edge refinement, or remove an unwanted object frame by frame with a generated fill that reads from surrounding frames.
Shape layers and trim paths
Vector shapes with strokes, dashes, repeaters, offsets and merge paths, animated with trim paths for line-draw work that never pixelates.
Expressions and essential properties
Drive any property from any other with JavaScript expressions, then publish a clean control panel so a template is usable by someone who has never opened the file.
3D workspace with real geometry
Extruded text and shapes, image based lighting, environment layers, draft 3D preview and an advanced renderer that handles reflections and shadows in comp.
Changed in this build
Version 26.3.0.87
- New 3D workspace with a unified camera navigation model and faster draft preview on complex scenes.
- Properties panel surfaces the most used parameters for the selected layer without opening the timeline tree.
- Rotobrush edge quality improved on hair and semi transparent regions, with fewer manual correction frames needed.
- Multi-frame rendering extended to more effect categories, using all cores during preview as well as final render.
- Cleaner import of Illustrator files, keeping layer groups and named layers intact.
Installation
Follow these in order
- Disconnect from the network.
- Extract the archive to a local folder.
- Suspend antivirus real time protection.
- Run setup as administrator and pick your language set.
- Let it finish and close the installer.
- Launch After Effects, point the disk cache at a fast drive in preferences, then re-enable protection.
Release notes
From whoever packed it
- Third party plugins from a previous install are not carried over. Reinstall them after this build is in place.
- Media Encoder is included and handles background rendering.
- The disk cache defaults to the system drive. Move it before you start a heavy project or you will fill the drive.
System requirements
Minimum and recommended
| Operating system | Windows 10 version 22H2 or Windows 11, 64-bit only |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel or AMD quad core minimum, eight cores or more strongly recommended |
| Memory | 16 GB minimum, 32 GB recommended, 64 GB for 4K compositing |
| Graphics | GPU with 4 GB VRAM, 8 GB for the advanced 3D renderer |
| Storage | 15 GB for installation plus a fast dedicated disk cache volume |
Questions about this release
Answered before you ask
- Does Mocha come with it?
- Yes, Mocha AE is bundled as an effect and opens from inside the application.
- Will my old expressions still run?
- Yes. The legacy ExtendScript engine is selectable per project in project settings if a script needs it.
- Can it render while I keep working?
- Send the comp to Media Encoder and it renders in a separate process while After Effects stays interactive.
Download
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