An After Effects template is a pre-made animation or motion project built in Adobe After Effects, a professional motion graphics and visual effects program. These templates are created by professional motion graphics artists and are completely customizable so you can edit them to make them fit any project or brand.
How they work
For more in-depth instructions, read our dedicated tutorial on how to use and edit After Effects templates.
Templates come as a .zip file. You’ll need to unzip and extract the contents - if your computer can’t do that natively, you can use a program like WinRAR (Windows) or Archive Utility (Mac).
Inside, you’ll find an .aep or .mogrt file — this is the After Effects project file or Motion Graphics Template you can open and edit in Adobe After Effects.
Many contributors also include a ReadMe file or video with guidance on how to customize text, logos, footage, or images inside the template.
What you need to know
After Effects templates are animation-based, not just video clips. Editing them requires learning your way around After Effects - check out our AE tutorials or Adobe’s official resources.
While they can take time to master, templates give you access to professional-quality animations without needing to design them from scratch.