Photoshop is mainly a raster-based graphics tool. However, you can use Photoshop CS6 and later CC versions to create, save and edit basic videos. Photoshop does not directly save videos as MP4 as you would, say, a JPEG image. Instead, you can create and export by rendering to MP4 video.
To export a Photoshop video as MP4:
- You first create or open the video in Photoshop
- Click on File > Export > Render video
- Finally, choose your file destination and click Render to save your mp4 video
Can you export a GIF as MP4 in Photoshop?
You can use Photoshop to open GIF files and export them as MP4.
To export GIFs as MP4 in Photoshop:
- Open the GIF file in Photoshop by clicking on File > Open and selecting your GIF file then click Open
- Once opened, click on File > Export > Render video
- Finally, choose your file destination and click Render to save your mp4 video
Can Photoshop open MP4 files?
You can open or import MP4 video in Photoshop by directly opening a video file or adding a video to an open document. To open MP4 files in Photoshop:
- Open Adobe Photoshop
- choose File > Open
- Navigate to the MP4 video location on your computer and click Open
- If you want to import a video into a document, go to Layer > Video Layers > New Video Layer from the File
- Select your MP4 File and click Open, and the video will open in a new layer.
Find out different types of files Photoshop can open.
Photoshop render video taking too long/not working/slow
When you experience slow video rendering in Photoshop, or the render won’t complete, the first thing to do is to close any other programs running on your computer that are unnecessary during the duration of rendering the video.
Above all, you must know that Photoshop is mainly for image editing, so a video editing program like Adobe Premiere Pro will handle rendering much better.
At the same time, think of upgrading your computer memory if you think it is lower than required to support rendering video in Photoshop. Photoshop recommends 8GB of RAM to run. Meanwhile, you can try the following to render Photoshop video faster:
- Reset Photoshop settings
- Adjust memory usage
- Disable the Export Clipboard
- Reduce the number of history states
Is your Photoshop Brush Lagging?
Reset Photoshop settings
Resetting Photoshop settings will help especially if your preferences were customized to an old Photoshop version. These preferences may conflict with the current installed Photoshop.
To reset photoshop settings, close the Photoshop program, then relaunch Photoshop and immediately hold down Shift + Option + Cmd (Windows: Shift + Alt + Ctrl). Then, click Yes to the message, “Delete the Adobe Photoshop Settings file?” Now you will be working with default Photoshop settings.
Adjust memory usage
Rendering video in Photoshop requires more memory. You can allocate more memory by adjusting the default Photoshop memory size to run faster. To increase the memory, go to Edit > Preferences > Performance. Increase the memory usage to 95%, which should improve the video rendering speed.
Disable the Export Clipboard
Photoshop does not delete the data in the clipboard when you copy something into another program, so if you don’t use copy and paste a lot in workflow, you can disable the clipboard and save memory. To disable the clipboard, go to the General tab and uncheck the Export Clipboard Option.
Reduce the number of history states
Photoshop saves the last actions you performed as history states. The more history states it saves, the more memory is used up hence your videos render slower.
You can reduce the number of history states that Photoshop saves by going to Edit>Prefernces>Perfomance. Under History and Cache, you’ll see a number of history states (default is 20). Reduce the set number to increase performance.
How do I export a video from Photoshop without media encoder?
Photoshop cannot export a video without a media encoder. You have limited video editing features in Photoshop. You can use video editing programs like Adobe Premiere Pro CC and After Effects which have options to export video without a media encoder.
However, you can export your video to a file format that After Effects can open, like the AVI or MOV.
How to export video from Photoshop with transparent background
To export your video from Photoshop with a transparent background, follow these steps:
- Open or create your video in Photoshop
- Select File > Export > Render Video.
- In the Render Video settings, change the format to QuickTime
- In the Alpha Channel, select Straight – Unmatted
- Click on Render
Wondering Why You Can’t save as PNG in Photoshop?
Conclusion
Photoshop can create, open and export MP4 videos. However, you cannot do advanced manipulation because Photoshop has limited video editing features. Photoshop is best used for image editing. If you want to create, convert and save videos in different formats, use video editing software such as Adobe Premiere Pro.
