After Effects Render Failed in Media Encoder (Error Compiling Movie)

How to fix it

Try these in order — the most common fix is first.

1. 1. Find the failing frame

   Copy steps
   1. Open the Media Encoder log and note the timecode in the error
   2. Go to that frame in the comp and disable effects or replace the footage there
   3. Re-export to confirm
   Did this fix it? Yes No

2. 2. Turn off Multi-Frame Rendering

   Copy steps
   1. Edit > Preferences > Memory & Performance
   2. Untick 'Enable Multi-Frame Rendering'
   3. Re-queue the render
   Did this fix it? Yes No

3. 3. Render lossless then encode

   Copy steps
   1. Add the comp to the Render Queue instead of Media Encoder
   2. Use Best Settings with a Lossless or ProRes output module
   3. Drop the resulting file into Media Encoder to make the final MP4
   Did this fix it? Yes No

Symptoms

Media Encoder shows 'Render failed', 'Error compiling movie' or error code -1609629695, often at the same frame each time.

Why it happens

• Corrupt media or a problematic effect at the failing timecode
• Multi-Frame Rendering instability with certain plugins
• H.264 export path problems between AE and Media Encoder
• Out of memory during export

This guide also covers

• after effects render failed
• after effects error compiling movie
• media encoder after effects render failed
• error code 1609629695

The same problem in other apps

All export, render & quality loss guides →

• DaVinci Resolve Render Job Failed Error (DaVinci Resolve)
• Blender Crashing When Rendering (Blender)

Other Adobe After Effects errors

• After Effects Preview Not Playing or RAM Preview Slow
• After Effects Error: Crash / Can't Continue (GPU or Graphics Driver Issue)
• After Effects GPU Acceleration Not Available / Display Acceleration Disabled
• After Effects Missing Fonts or Missing Effects/Plugins
• After Effects Out of Memory / Unable to Allocate Memory Error
• After Effects Audio Out of Sync After Render
• After Effects Expression Error (Expression Disabled / Object of Type Found)
• After Effects Disk Cache Full or Won't Clear