Import After Effects compositions

Last updated on Apr 2, 2026

Learn to use the Import command or Dynamic Link to bring After Effects compositions into your Adobe Premiere project.

You can bring After Effects compositions into Premiere to integrate motion graphics, visual effects, and animations into your video projects. Premiere treats imported compositions as standard assets that update automatically when you modify them in After Effects.

Import After Effects compositions when you need to incorporate motion graphics or visual effects created in After Effects. This method works for both standard imports and Adobe Dynamic Link workflows. If the After Effects project contains multiple compositions, you can select specific ones to import. Requires After Effects installed on your system for Dynamic Link functionality.

For projects created on different computers, verify that all associated After Effects project files and assets are available on your current system before importing.

Import compositions from After Effects

Select File > Import > Import Adobe Premiere Project and browse to the After Effects project (.aep) file, or select File > Adobe Dynamic Link > Import After Effects Composition.

After Effects interface with the File menu open, showing Import and Adobe Dynamic Link options.
Import Premiere content into After Effects from the File menu using Import or Adobe Dynamic Link.

Select the .aep file and select Open.

If the project contains multiple compositions, select the compositions you want to import in the Import After Effects Composition dialog box. Shift-click to select contiguous compositions or Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (macOS) to select non-contiguous compositions.

Select OK.

Premiere places the imported compositions in the Project panel. When you import multiple compositions, Premiere creates a bin named after the .aep file and places all selected compositions inside that bin. You can drag compositions from the Project panel to your timeline like any other asset.

Changes you make to compositions in After Effects are automatically reflected in Premiere via Dynamic Link, eliminating the need to re-import or render updated versions. Double-click a linked composition in the Project panel to open it directly in After Effects for editing.