How to Reverse Video Footage in After Effects and Best Alternative

January 04, 2023Jenny Ryan

Adobe After Effects is a professional video editing application available to both PCs and Mac computers. Similar to other members of Adobe, After Effects is famous about extensive pro-level video editing tools and impressive output quality. So, if you are sensitive to audiovisual experiences, it is one of the best ways to reverse video clip. But the problem is that After Effects is so professional that average people cannot grasp it easily. Is it possible that non-tech savvy make reverse clip using After Effect? We are going to tell you how to reverse clip in After Effects in this tutorial. And that may be the best answer to the question.

Reverse Video Clip After Effects

Part 1. How to Reverse Video Clip in After Effects

If you are ready, let's start to learn about how to reverse video clip in After Effects right now.

Step 1. Import a video clip to reverse in After Effects
Make sure that After Effects program has been installed on your computer. It is not freeware, but if you have an Adobe account, you can download it from the website. Launch it, open the "File" menu and import the video file contains the clip you want to reverse.
Import a Video Clip
Step 2. Cut the video clip before reverse
Drag the video file onto the timeline layer; select the video clip to reverse using your cursor and click Export Selected in File > Export. Then import the video clip and drag it to the New Composition icon.
Cut Video
Step 3. Use After Effects to reverse clip
Right click on the video clip composition on timeline to activate the menu list, select Time and then click Time reverse Layer. Or you can go to Layers > Time and click the Time reverse Layer option.
On the popup window, there are several custom options to let you create a unique reverse video, such as speed, contrast and more.
Reverse Video Clip
Step 4. Preview or merge the reversed clip into the video file
After reverse, click the RAM Preview button in the Preview panel on right side, you can view the reversed clip. If you want to merge the reversed clip into the original video file, you can arrange them on the timeline and use the Pre-Compose option in Layers menu to do it.
Merge Video File
Step 5. Export the result
If you are satisfied with the result, go to File > Export to start making a video go backwards and save the result in your favorite video format. And then you can playback the reversed clips to the devices with After Effects now.

Part 2. An Easier Way to Reverse Footage in After Effects Alternative

Though After Effects is a professional photo editor, it is a little complicated to average people to reverse clip in After Effects, not to mention the unaffordable price. If you are looking for the best alternative to After Effect to revise clip, we will recommend Aiseesoft Video Converter Ultimate. It is one of the best video editors on market and its powerful features include:

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The steps of making a video clip reverse are pretty easy.

Step 1. Download video clip reverser
Download and install the latest version of Aiseesoft Video Converter Ultimate on your Windows or Mac computer.
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Run the best reverse video editor. Switch to the Toolbox tab.
Toolkit New
And choose the After Effects video reverser alternative tool to click the big plus icon to load the video clip you want to reverse to the media library.
Or you can drag and drop the video into the library directly.
Add Video Clip For Reversing
Step 2. Reverse the video in on click
Then you can preview the video effect at the top, and drag the playback progressing bar to set the clip start and ending time for reversing, if you only want to reverse a portion of a video clip.
Surely, you can keep the clip as the original, and reverse the whole one without setting the start and ending time.
Step 3. Export the video reversed
When it is done, click the Export button to start reversing your video.
Once it is done, you can find the reversed video clip in the pop-up folder.
Export Reversed Video
The speed depends on the video size you reverse. If you reverse an entire movie, for example, it will take a while to complete it.
In addition to reverse video, Aiseesoft Video Converter Ultimate also has plentiful video editing tools, such as rotate, crop, watermark, speed up a video; adjust the text, audio, video effects, and more. You can use them to edit the reversed video.

Part 3. FAQs of Reversing a Video Clip in After Effects

1. Can you reverse an animation in After Effects?

Yes. To reverse a GIF file, you just need to select the layers keyframes and right-click it, choose Keyframe assistant, and finally click Time-Reverse-Keyframe to reverse an animated GIF file.

2. How to add a keyframe in After Effects?

Select the Stopwatch icon next to the keyframe to activate it. Then After Effects will create a keyframe automatically. After that, choose Animation, then add the keyframe, where the keyframe will be added to After Effects.

3. How to reverse an audio file in After Effects?

To reverse an audio file in After Effects, you just need to import the audio file into the timeline editing pane. Select the audio track, and go to Effect, then Reverse. After that, select the exporting formats like WAV, AAC, FLAC, OGG, and more to save the reversed audio file.

Conclusion

Reversing a video clip is a heavily requested feature in Adobe After Effects. There are several tutorials about how to reverse video clips in After Effects on forums, but all of them are too simple or run through many manual steps. Therefore, we have shared the workflow of After Effects reverse clip in detail above. If you follow our guides, you will discover that it is fun to make a video reversing. It is well known that Adobe software is expansive, so is After Effects. So, we offered a cost-effective alternative to help you make fun with video reverse, Aiseesoft Video Converter Ultimate. It has the ability to reverse video clips in one click. Moreover, it also offers several easy-to-use video editing tools and plentiful video effects. More importantly, it supports to save or share the reversed video in full resolution and high quality.

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