Exporting video
File ▸ Export ▸ Video (MP4/WebM)… writes MP4, MOV, animated WebP or WebM, with the codec, alpha, bitrate, audio and timecode options each of them actually supports.
One dialog covers all four moving-image containers, and its Format combo is what decides everything else on the panel. The menu item is named Video (MP4/WebM)…, but MOV and animated WebP are in the same list.
Start with Browse: the Output box is read-only and Export stays disabled until a destination exists. The extension is appended for you, and changing Format afterwards rewrites it.
The four formats
| Format | Codec | Alpha | Audio | Bitrate control |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MP4 | H.264 or HEVC (H.265) | No | Yes, AAC | Yes, or auto |
| MOV (QuickTime) | Lossless PNG frames | Yes, straight | No | None: every frame is lossless |
| WebP (animated) | WebP | Yes | No | None: fixed quality |
| WebM (VP9) | VP9 | Yes | No | Auto only |
MOV is the safest handoff to a compositor and by far the largest file: each frame is stored as a full lossless PNG, so a few seconds of HD runs to hundreds of megabytes. WebM is the small one with transparency. Animated WebP is fine for the web and gives you no quality control at all.
Codec and channels
The Codec row appears only for MP4, because the other containers have exactly one codec. H.264 plays everywhere; HEVC (H.265) gives smaller files at the same quality and fewer players accept it. Codec resets to H.264 every time the dialog opens.
Channels chooses RGB or RGB + Alpha. For MP4 it is greyed out and locked to RGB, since neither H.264 nor HEVC carries an alpha channel. Choosing RGB + Alpha reveals a Color row with Straight and Premultiplied. See Alpha and transparency for which to use.
Resolution, preset and frame rate
Width and Height start from your canvas size, rounded down to an even number, and are forced even again on export: MP4 and WebM require it. The widget accepts up to 7680 x 4320. The chain-link Lock aspect button is on by default.
Preset fills the two fields with a common size (1920x1080, 1280x720, 3840x2160, 1080x1920, 1080x1080 or 640x480) and Custom leaves them alone. FPS starts at the project's frame rate and accepts 1 to 120.
Bitrate
Bitrate is in megabits per second and appears for MP4 only. Left at 0 it reads auto, which works out roughly 0.1 bits per pixel per second and is then held between 2 and 40 Mbps, about 5 Mbps for 1080p at 24 fps. Raise it for grain, fine line work or heavy motion; the ceiling is 400.
WebM sizes itself the same way with no control on the panel. MOV and animated WebP ignore bitrate entirely. Like Codec, Bitrate resets to auto each time you open the dialog.
Audio
Include audio is on by default and appears for MP4 only, because none of the other three containers can hold an audio track. Every audio layer in the frame range is mixed down first, then written as one AAC track at 48 kHz stereo, around 192 kbps.
The timecode overlay
Under Overlay, Timecode burns an SMPTE HH:MM:SS:FF readout into every frame, counted from frame 0 of the project at the export frame rate, so a range that starts at frame 48 starts its timecode at 00:00:02:00 rather than at zero. Position is a 3x3 grid of anchors (the centre is inert) and defaults to bottom right. It is drawn as white text on a dark pill so it survives on any footage, and it is part of the picture: there is no way to switch it off later.
Timecode is a video-only overlay. The image, sequence, sprite-sheet and GIF dialogs do not offer it.
The preview, and starting the render
The right half of the dialog plays your chosen range at the project frame rate with its own transport bar, so you can check the crop, the range and the matte before committing. Alpha previews sit on a checkerboard.
Export closes the dialog and hands over to the Exporting… progress modal, described in Exporting. If the encoder cannot start at all (an unavailable format, a path you cannot write to), the dialog simply stays open and no file appears.