Can I open After Effects or Premiere Pro projects?

No. smooth.video opens its own .smooth projects, and imports images, video, audio and layered PSD files.

Can I use the exports in Premiere Pro or After Effects?

Yes, as regular video files. MP4 imports everywhere; for transparency, export a WebM and check that your version reads it.

Yes. It runs in your browser with no server doing the work, so there's no subscription and no watermark.

Can I generate many videos from a spreadsheet?

Not automatically. A script or an AI assistant can write one .smooth file per row, but each one is opened and exported by hand in the editor.

Can an AI assistant make the video?

Yes. The whole format is published at smooth.video/llms.txt: point ChatGPT, Claude or another assistant at it, describe the animation, and open the file it gives you.

Do I need to install anything?

No. The editor and the export both run in your browser.

After Effects vs Remotion

After Effects and Remotion side by side, as of September 2026: what each one costs, what it's made for, and when smooth.video, a free animation tool that runs in your browser with no account, does the job instead.

Open the editorFree, no signup, nothing to install

After Effects vs Remotion at a glance

	After Effects	Remotion	smooth.video
Price	From US$22.99 a month on an annual plan, 7-day free trial	Free for individuals and companies of up to 3 people, then a company license	Free, no paid plan
Transparent video	Yes	WebM or ProRes 4444	Free, as WebM

As of September 2026. Plans change, so check those of After Effects and Remotion before you decide.

After Effects

Install: Desktop app
Account: Adobe account required
How you animate: Keyframes, graph editor, effects and expressions across compositions
3D, visual effects, tracking: Yes
Plugins and scripting: Yes

When After Effects fits better

You need 3D, particles, motion tracking, rotoscoping, compositing over footage, expressions or plugins, or you hand project files to a studio that works in After Effects. smooth.video does none of that.

After Effects vs smooth.video

Remotion

How you make a video: React code
What you need: Node.js, a code editor and some React
Rendering: On your machine, a server or AWS Lambda
Videos generated from data, at scale: Yes
AI assistants: Agent skills and a Claude Code plugin

When Remotion fits better

You generate videos from data, personalize them for each user, render them on servers, embed a player in your app, or build your own video product. smooth.video has no API and no server rendering.

Remotion vs smooth.video

When smooth.video fits better

You need a title, a lower third, a logo sting or an animated stat for this week's video, you don't open After Effects every day, and a monthly subscription for a few seconds of animation doesn't add up.

You want one video, not ten thousand: you'd rather see it and drag things into place than write components, or the person making it doesn't code.

Open the editor

Start from a template

See all 172 templates

Logo reveal

1080×1080

A name that pops into place

Lower third

1920×1080

Name and title, on cue

Bold statement

1080×1920

Three lines, one point

Product drop

1080×1350

An announcement that lands

Count-up stat

1080×1080

A number that climbs

Quote card

1200×630

A line worth sharing

Questions

Can I open After Effects or Premiere Pro projects?: No. smooth.video opens its own .smooth projects, and imports images, video, audio and layered PSD files.
Can I use the exports in Premiere Pro or After Effects?: Yes, as regular video files. MP4 imports everywhere; for transparency, export a WebM and check that your version reads it.
Is it really free?: Yes. It runs in your browser with no server doing the work, so there's no subscription and no watermark.
Can I generate many videos from a spreadsheet?: Not automatically. A script or an AI assistant can write one .smooth file per row, but each one is opened and exported by hand in the editor.
Can an AI assistant make the video?: Yes. The whole format is published at smooth.video/llms.txt: point ChatGPT, Claude or another assistant at it, describe the animation, and open the file it gives you.
Do I need to install anything?: No. The editor and the export both run in your browser.