Should I update?
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Should I update After Effects?

to 27.0.0 · out 4 daysWindows and macOS

Update

No known problem stands in the way for most users. It’s safe to update.

Your update:27 fixes · 0 new issuesDetails

Not updating?

Three things that help while you wait.

  • So the app doesn’t update on its own.
  • If you have already updated.
  • Why there isn’t one answer, and what comes closest.

Go back to an earlier After Effects version

In the Creative Cloud desktop app, on macOS and Windows.

  1. To keep your settings: first uninstall the current After Effects (⋯ › Uninstall) and choose Keep when asked about your preferences.
  2. Open the Creative Cloud desktop app and find After Effects in your apps.
  3. Select ⋯ (More actions) next to After Effects, then Other versions.
  4. Choose the version you want and select Install.

Your projects: an earlier version of After Effects cannot open a project saved in a newer one. Keep a copy of your projects from before the update if you might go back.

So it doesn’t update again: Apps tab › ⋯ (More actions) › Manage auto-updates, and turn off Auto-update for After Effects.

Adobe lists previous major versions there, so not every release may be offered. With a school or work account, your organisation may have hidden some of these options.

Adobe’s instructions

Which version should I install?

There isn’t one answer, and here is why.

There is no one version that is safe for everyone: which of the open issues affect you depends on how you work. A bug on Windows says nothing to a Mac, and a bug in a tool you never open says nothing to you. Naming one version for everyone would mean pretending that difference away.

So read the issues behind the verdict and see whether they touch your work. Each one says how bad it is, how many people it affects, which system it happens on, and whether there is a workaround.

If the current release doesn’t work for you: .

Turn off automatic updates for After Effects

In the Creative Cloud desktop app, on macOS and Windows.

  1. Open the Creative Cloud desktop app.
  2. In the Apps tab, select ⋯ (More actions) in the Installed apps panel, then Manage auto-updates. If it says Enable auto-updates instead, they are already off.
  3. Turn off Auto-update for all apps, or leave it on and turn off only the switch next to After Effects.
  4. Select Done.

To update later: check the verdict here, then in the Home tab select Updates and Update next to After Effects.

Keeping auto-update on for other apps? Under Advanced options, leave Remove older versions unchecked, so you can still go back.

If the Auto-update switch is locked or missing, your organisation manages updates for you.

Adobe’s instructions

Fixes · 27

From Adobe’s release notes.

Stability

  • After Effects no longer crashes when entering a value in an expression applied to the Shatter effect’s Camera System property.
  • After Effects no longer crashes when using Copy with Relative Property Links on layers with the Puppet tool applied and Puppet pins linked through expressions.
  • After Effects no longer crashes when a copied Rotation value is pasted into incompatible properties, such as Position.
  • After Effects no longer crashes when modifying a copied Color Stabilizer effect after pasting it onto another layer.
  • Quick Offset no longer causes After Effects to crash.
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when previewing or rendering compositions containing expression-driven or layer-styled text.
  • Fixed a crash when closing the Graph Editor or a Composition panel while an audio waveform render was being processed.
  • Fixed a crash when importing or rendering very large or complex PDF or Adobe Illustrator files. These files now show a clear message instead of crashing.
  • Updated MochaAE to version 2026.5.2.19, which fixes a crash that can occur when opening or closing the MochaAE UI or creating track data.

3D, materials and rendering

  • Substance 3D Materials are now included by all Collect Files methods.
  • Substance 3D Materials that accept a Project panel source now refresh immediately after each input selection.
  • The Material Override menu in the timeline is no longer truncated to a fixed width.
  • The Displacement Intensity property on Parametric Meshes with Substance 3D Materials is now supported in expressions.
  • On Windows, Substance 3D Material displacement now renders correctly from the command line when the first frame has a nonzero value.
  • 3D models with missing or invalid textures can now be imported, and textures placed next to the model load automatically.

Timeline, compositions and projects

  • Quick Apply no longer shows disabled menu commands when opened from the Timeline button.
  • The tooltip for the timeline’s Quick Apply button is now localized when After Effects runs in a non-English language.
  • The Effects menu now displays Object Matte & Refine Edge instead of the previous Roto Brush & Refine Edge name.
  • No error is shown when applying Object Matte to a layer whose existing effect is selected.
  • Collect Files for Selected Comps now includes only files used by the currently selected compositions.
  • Text and shape layers with Curl Noise applied now render when placed completely outside the composition bounds.

Text, scripting and navigation

  • Tab and Enter can now be used to navigate and activate controls on the Home screen.
  • The propertyValueType of a variable font axis is now correctly reported as PropertyValueType.OneD.
  • Moving and editing text layers is now much faster in compositions containing many text layers.
  • Fixed intermittent text corruption, such as All Caps rendering as lowercase, when rendering After Effects motion graphics templates in Adobe Premiere and Adobe Media Encoder.
  • Combining marks (such as tone marks, vowel signs, and diacritics) in scripts like Thai, Arabic, and Indic languages no longer detach from their base characters when text animators change Scale, Skew, Rotation, Tracking, or variable font width.

Performance improvements

  • Improved PNG sequence export performance, with a new compression level control that lets you further optimize for faster write times or smaller file sizes.

New issues · 0

First reported after 26.5. Nothing so far.

Fixes are Adobe’s own list; issues are what users reported, listed under the version the report names.

MajorCommon workflowsince 26.0Reported on 26.0.0Adobe: Investigating
Workaround: In Preferences > Disk, turn off Enable Compressed Frames (Lossless); several reporters said performance returned to normal.
Reported February 2, 2026DetailsRead the report

Known issues in After Effects 27.0Earlier releases: 26.5, 26.3, all of 2027, all of 2026

How we decide

Based on public bug reports, not Adobe statements. Small numbers, read as a trend.

Every night we read the After Effects bug reports on the Adobe Community board. An issue is listed once Adobe tracks it (sets a status such as “Investigating” or “Acknowledged”), or once it has 3 votes. Tracked doesn’t mean Adobe has reproduced it, only that someone at Adobe has taken it up. Issues Adobe isn’t tracking yet only count toward the verdict from 10 votes, so a handful of reports can’t swing it.

The verdict covers the whole 27.0 release, including its updates: an issue reported on an earlier build still counts until Adobe marks it fixed, since an update only fixes what it says it fixes.

Each issue is rated for how bad it is and how many people it affects, with AI assistance following a published rubric and checked by hand where it matters. The worst open issue decides the verdict: a problem practically everyone runs into means “Don’t update”, a problem in a common workflow means “Check known issues”.

Windows and macOS get their own verdict: the same rule over the issues that happen on that system. They are shown side by side when they differ, and as one box when they agree. Which system an issue affects is counted from its thread: an AI reads every reply that names Windows or macOS and decides whether it is a report of the bug. Instructions, questions and “works fine on my Mac” don’t count. If the reports come from Windows users and at most one person reports it on macOS, it counts as a Windows issue.

“Not marked fixed from earlier versions” lists issues from the previous 5 releases with 3 or more votes that Adobe tracks and hasn’t marked fixed: they are most likely in the current release too. Issues Adobe marks as released are fixed in a later update.

The line under the verdict is about your own update. It starts from the release before the current one, which is also the view the verdict takes, and you can pick the version you have. The fixes it counts are Adobe’s own list from its release notes; the new issues are the reports first made after your version that are worth a check.

What we don’t do is name one version to install instead. There is no one version that is safe for everyone: which of the open issues affect you depends on how you work. A bug on Windows says nothing to a Mac, and a bug in a tool you never open says nothing to you. That is why every issue is listed with who it affects, and why the verdict is a starting point rather than an instruction.

Something look wrong, or missing? Write to shouldiupdate@pixelsucht.net.