Save and export video and animations

After you've created video or animation content in Photoshop, you can easily optimize, render, and export it.

You can save animations as GIF files for viewing on the web. Videos and animations can be saved as QuickTime movies or PSD files. If you’re not rendering your work to video, then saving the file as PSD is best because it preserves the edits and saves the file in a format that’s supported by Adobe digital video applications and many motion picture editing applications.

Optimize animation frames

After you complete your animation, optimize it for efficient download to a web browser. You optimize an animation in two ways:

• Optimize the frames to include only areas that change from frame to frame. This greatly reduces the file size of the animated GIF file.

• If you are saving your animation as a GIF image, optimize it as you would any GIF image. A special dithering technique is applied to animations to ensure that dither patterns are consistent across all frames and to prevent flickering during playback. Due to these additional optimization functions, more time may be required to optimize an animated GIF than to optimize a standard GIF.

Flatten frames into layers

When you flatten frames into layers, a single layer is created for each frame in a video layer. This can be useful, for example, if you’re exporting the individual video frames as separate image files, or if you’re planning to use the video of a static object in an image stack.

Export video files or image sequences

QuickTime export file formats (Photoshop Extended)

A file format developed for third-generation mobile devices.

An animation format for playback of computer-generated animations on workstations, Windows, and Mac OS. This format is also referred to as FLI.

The Apple Computer multimedia architecture that includes a number of codecs. (To export audio, you must use this format.)

Audio Video Interleave (AVI) is a standard format for audio and video data on Windows computers.

A video format with intraframe compression that uses FireWire (IEEE 1394) interface to transfer video to nonlinear editing systems.

A sequence of still images that can reside within one folder and use the same numeric or alphabetic filename pattern (such as Sequence1, Sequence2, Sequence3, and so on).

A multimedia standard for delivering audio and video streams over a range of bandwidths.

Understanding QuickTime key frames

In QuickTime terminology, the term key frames refers to something different than the animation keyframes in Photoshop. In QuickTime, key frames occur at regular intervals in the movie and are stored as complete frames. Each intermediate frame that separates them is compared to the previous frame, and only changed data is stored. Using key frames greatly reduces movie size and greatly increases the memory required to edit and render a movie. Shorter intervals between key frames enable faster seeking and reverse playback, but can significantly increase the size of the file.

3G export settings (Photoshop Extended)

For more information on 3G settings, search for 3G on the Apple Computer website.

3GPP and 3GPP2 are standards for the creation, delivery, and playback of multimedia over third-generation high-speed wireless networks. 3GPP is for GSM networks and 3GPP2 is for CDMA 2000 networks. 3GPP (Mobile MP4), 3GPP2 (EZmovie), and AMC (EZmovie) are for specific networks. 3GPP (Mobile MP4) is for NTT DoCoMo’s i‑motion 3G service. 3GPP2 (EZmovie) is for KDDI’s 3G network service. AMC (EZmovie) is for KDDI subscribers with AMC-capable phones.

Choose Video from the pop‑up menu below the File Format menu and specify the following:

Selects the codec used during video export. If your source movie has only one video track and it is already compressed, you can choose Pass Through so that the video doesn't get compressed again.

Specifies the kilobits per second (kbps) during playback. A higher kbps rate usually improves movie playback quality; however, don't choose a data rate higher than the available bandwidth.

Specifies the intended delivery method if you choose H.264 from the Video Format menu, click Video Options, and select Best Quality. This setting tells the codec how much the data rate can vary above and below the data rate you choose.

Specifies a standard for sending the file to a mobile phone. Current maintains the source material size; the resulting file may not play on a mobile phone. Choose Custom to specify a size not listed in the menu.

Specifies an option when you’re changing the image size and the movie must be scaled to the new dimensions. Letterbox scales the source proportionally to fit into the clean aperture, adding black bars to the top and bottom or sides as necessary. Crop centers, scales, and trims to the clean aperture.

Specifies the frames per second (fps) during playback. In most cases, your video looks better if you choose a number that your source fps is exactly divisible by. For example, if your source is captured at 30 fps, choose a frame rate of 10 or 15. Don't choose a rate larger than that of your source material.

Specifies how frequently key frames are created in the exported video. A higher key frame rate (lower number) improves video quality, but increases the file size.

If available, click the Video Options button to open the 3G Advanced Video Settings dialog box. Depending on the video, you can specify whether to add re‑sync markers inside the video frames to help with packet loss recovery when streaming. With H.264 video, you can also speed up the compression process (for preview purposes, for example) by choosing Faster Encode (Single‑pass). The default option, Best Quality (Multi‑pass), allows the codec to determine how many passes are needed to compress the data for the best quality.

All audio options are disabled because Photoshop Extended does not include audio in exported 3G files.

All text options are disabled because Photoshop Extended does not include text tracks in exported 3G files.

Choose Streaming from the pop‑up menu below the File Format menu and specify the following:

Creates a file for RTSP streaming to QuickTime Player. This option creates a hint track (instructions necessary for streaming a file).

Helps the server to process the file faster, but increases the file size.

Choose Advanced from the pop‑up menu below the File Format menu and specify the following:

Specifies how many times the file can play back on the handset once downloaded. Also specifies file expiration options: set the file to expire in a number of days or enter a date. If your file is in Mobile MP4 or EZmovie format, you can restrict distribution so that once the file is on a handset it can't be sent or copied elsewhere.

Enables the file to download via HTTP in small pieces so that playback can start faster and so that larger files can be played on the handset (only the fragment, not the entire movie, must fit on the handset at one time).

FLC export settings (Photoshop Extended)

The following options are available in the FLC Export Settings dialog box:

Specifies the color table using the Windows system colors or Mac OS system colors in the exported movie.

Sets the playback frame rate.

Specify AVI export settings (Photoshop Extended)

DV Stream export settings (Photoshop Extended)

The following options are available in the DV Export Settings dialog box:

Specifies either the DV or DVCPRO format for your exported video.

Specifies either NTSC or PAL video broadcast standard.

Specifies whether the exported video has interlaced fields or no fields (Progressive Scan).

Specifies an aspect ratio of 4:3 or 16:9.

Specifies an option if the movie is scaled to new pixel dimensions. Letterbox scales the source proportionally to fit into the clean aperture, adding black bars to the top and bottom or sides as necessary. Crop centers, scales, and trims to the clean aperture.

Image sequence settings for QuickTime export (Photoshop Extended)

Typically, QuickTime is used to export video files. However, you can also select Image Sequence from the QuickTime Export pop-up menu. Click Settings to access the following options:

Chooses a file format for the exported images.

Sets the frame rate for the image sequence.

Inserts a space between the name and generated number in the image’s filename.

If available, click the Options button and set format-specific options.

For more information on the specific file formats and their options, see also Saving and exporting images and File formats.

Specify MPEG4 export settings (Photoshop Extended)

Specify QuickTime Movie settings (Photoshop Extended)

QuickTime standard video compression settings (Photoshop Extended)

The following options are available in the Standard Video Compression Settings dialog box:

Choose the codec to apply when exporting a file.

Specify the frame rate for your video by choosing the number of frames per second (fps). Some codecs support a specific set of frame rates. Increasing the frame rate may produce smoother motion (depending on the original frame rates of the source clips) but uses more disk space. If available, specify how often the key frames are generated. (See Understanding QuickTime key frames.)

Select (if available for the selected compressor) and type a data rate to place an upper limit on the amount of video data produced by the exported video when it is played back.

Set compressor options specific to the selected codec. Click the Option button (if available) to specify further compressor options. If the Depth menu is available, choose the number of colors to include in exported video. (This menu is not available if the selected codec supports only one color depth.)

If the Quality slider is available under Compressor, drag the slider or type a value to adjust the exported video’s picture quality and, consequently, its file size. If you are using the same codec to capture and export, and you’ve rendered previews of a sequence, you can save rendering time by matching the export quality setting with your original capture quality setting. Increasing quality above the original capture quality does not increase quality, but may result in longer rendering times.

QuickTime movie size settings (Photoshop Extended)

The following settings are available in the Export Size Settings dialog box:

Specifies the frame size for your exported movie. If you want to specify a frame size not included in the Dimensions menu, choose Custom and enter values for Width and Height.

Specifies an option if the movie is scaled to a new frame size. Letterbox scales the source proportionally to fit into the clean aperture, adding black bars to the top and bottom or sides as necessary. Crop centers, scales, and trims to the clean aperture. Fit Within Dimensions adjusts to the destination size by fitting to the longest side, scaling if necessary.

Deinterlaces the two fields in each interlaced video frame.