How to convert properly?

[Amit Zinman]

MKV is a lossy type of MPEG-2 as far as I know.
But you would have to “open” the frames anyhow to do anything with them. You would be served well with converting to Quicktime Animation or Photo-JPEG.

[Todd Kopriva]

> But someone said converting one format into another always results in (minor) quality loss.
Is this true?

Not precisely true.

Each time that you compress a movie using a lossy codec, you lose some quality. However, there are many lossless codecs, and you can compress with those with no loss in quality. Amit mentioned one such codec: Animation.

Personally, I use the PNG video codec in a QuickTime (MOV) container when I want a losslessly encoded/compressed movie. It’s about 50% better at saving file size, but it’s also a little more processor-intensive.

Other folks use Lagarith and some other codecs that don’t come with the standard QuickTime installation.

———————————————————————————————————
Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
———————————————————————————————————

[Richard Smith]

[Todd Kopriva] “I use the PNG video codec in a QuickTime (MOV) container”

Can this be done in Windows, with AE?

[Todd Kopriva] “losslessly encoded”

Is it really lossless? You don’t lose any quality?

[Todd Kopriva]

> Can this be done in Windows, with AE?

Yes.

> Is it really lossless? You don’t lose any quality?

Yes, it’s really lossless. No, you don’t lose any quality.

The lossless codecs are good for archiving and for using in intermediate stages of a post-production workflow, but they aren’t good for playback or streaming or other final distribution.

———————————————————————————————————
Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
———————————————————————————————————

[Todd Kopriva]

Back to your original question, though—After Effects doesn’t open MKV files. So, you have to convert them using something else to even get them into After Effects.

Yes, After Effects can losslessly encode movies after you’ve imported your source files into it, but you still have to clear that first hurdle.

There are other software packages that can convert MKV files. I can’t recommend any specifically, though. Just make sure that you use a lossless codec for the output when doing the conversion.

The real solution for next time is to not use MKV format to start with, if you can help it.

———————————————————————————————————
Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
———————————————————————————————————

[Richard Smith]

[Todd Kopriva] “you have to convert them using something else to even get them into After Effects.”

Yes. I mean to convert the file via Total Video Converter. And as I don’t want quality loss to occur, I’ll use your suggestion- Quicktime Animation codec.

I selected MOV as converted filetype but.. in the Codecs list there is no mention whatsoever of any Animation codec.
Where can I find it?

[Todd Kopriva]

Here’s a page that gives some information about enabling the “legacy” QuickTime codecs:
https://kb2.adobe.com/cps/403/kb403333.html

———————————————————————————————————
Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
———————————————————————————————————