AVIs no longer working after Catalina update

AVIs no longer working after Catalina update

by Xavier Paredes

on Nov 13, 2019 at 6:32:12 pm

Dear forum members,

I recently upgraded to macOS Catalina and to my surprise when I opened an old After Effects project, I got two error messages (please see below).

As you can see, the AVI source files are not supported.

This was working perfectly in Mojave (in which I had Flip4Mac installed).

Problem is I see that Flip4Mac is no longer being developed.

I'm wondering what is everyone doing when encountering this problem.

I was looking at Telestream's Switch but am not sure it that's just a player or if it will enable any codecs need on my machine — just like Flip4Mac did in Mojave.

ERROR MESSAGES:

After Effects error: The file format is not supported. ( 86 :: 1 )

After Effects error: ﬁle 'PTZ- Video 10 (Question 30).avi' cannot be imported — this
‘.avi' ﬁle is damaged or unsupported.

Thank you!

Xavier

Re: AVIs no longer working after Catalina update

by Xavier Paredes

on Nov 13, 2019 at 8:03:33 pm

OP UPDATE:

So I heard back from Telestream Tech Support. Please see below:

It seems I have to convert all my videos (hundreds of them!) and then swap out all the assets in AE. This is going to be a lot of work! 😩

If I do wind up having to convert all the original AVI files I will probably convert them to some sort of MOV *but* then replacing one by one is going to be very time consuming.

I wonder if perhaps there's a way to create a script that will automatically map the original AVIs to the new MOVs. As long as I keep the base file name the same I think this might be possible?

PLEASE if anyone knows about any other solution I'd appreciate it.

==================================
Hi Xavier,

Thank you for contacting Telestream.

You could use Switch to encode your AVI files to an MP4 or MOV. You would need Plus or Pro for this feature.

Switch wouldn't work in conjunction with After Effects though. It'd be a two step process.

Please let me know if you need further assistance.

Best regards,
Telestream Desktop Sales
==================================

Xavier

Re: AVIs no longer working after Catalina update

by Walter Soyka

on Nov 14, 2019 at 5:25:45 pm

Are you saving the MOVs alongside the original AVIs?

I'd try saving your project as an After Effects XML file (File > Save As > Save a Copy as XML...). Open that AEPX file in a text editor, then do a search and replace operation, changing all ".AVI" to ".MOV"

Re-open the AEPX in Ae, and it should connect to the MOV media instead of the original AVI media.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive [twitter] | RenderBreak [blog] | Profile [LinkedIn]

Re: AVIs no longer working after Catalina update

by Xavier Paredes

on Nov 14, 2019 at 6:36:58 pm

Hi Walter,

I didn't know you can save an AE project as XML. I'll try that later and report back.

As always you come to the rescue. You've saved me before and now again.
You have no idea how grateful I am for all your help.

- Xavier

Xavier