---
title: "How to Stabilize Video in After Effects | stabilize.video"
description: "Stabilize footage in After Effects with Warp Stabilizer or Stabilize Motion, then fix leaning lines and shake blur with Rolling Shutter Repair and Deblur."
url: https://stabilize.video/stabilize-video-after-effects
---

1. [Home](https://stabilize.video/)
2. [Stabilisation software](https://stabilize.video/video-stabilization-software)
3. After Effects

Guide · free tool included

# How to stabilize video in After Effects

Two built-in ways to steady a shot, automatic and by hand, plus the After Effects tools for the rolling-shutter lean and the blur that stabilising leaves behind.

After Effects has two ways to stabilise footage. The automatic one is **Warp Stabilizer**: select the layer, then in the **Effects & Presets** panel open **Distort** and apply **Warp Stabilizer**; it analyses and steadies the layer in the background. The manual one is the point tracker: select the layer, choose **Animation › Stabilize Motion**, place a track point on a sharp, high-contrast detail, track it, and apply the result so the layer moves against the shake.

Use **Warp Stabilizer** first; it is quicker and handles most handheld shots. Reach for **Stabilize Motion** when Warp bends the picture, when the shot is a locked-off frame with a small jolt, or when you need keyframes you can edit. Warp Stabilizer’s settings are the same as in Premiere and are explained by symptom in the [Warp Stabilizer guide](https://stabilize.video/warp-stabilizer); this page covers what only After Effects adds.

## Stabilise a shot with the Tracker’s Stabilize Motion

The manual route, for when you want control over exactly what is held still. It moves the layer, so the frame edges show afterwards; the last step deals with them.

1. ### Select the layer and start a stabiliser track
Select the footage layer in the **Timeline** panel and choose **Animation › Stabilize Motion**, or click **Stabilize Motion** in the **Tracker** panel (open it from the Window menu). The layer opens in the **Layer** panel with a track point.
2. ### Choose what to stabilise
In the **Tracker** panel, tick **Position**, and **Rotation** or **Scale** if the shot tilts or breathes. Rotation and scale need a second track point, ideally on the same object or at the same distance, as far from the first as possible.
3. ### Place the track points
Go to the first frame you want to track. Drag each feature region onto a small, sharp, high-contrast detail that stays in shot and doesn’t move by itself (a window corner, not a leaf), and size the search region to cover how far it jumps between frames.
4. ### Track
Click **Analyze Forward** (or **Analyze Backward**). If a point slips off its detail, stop, drag it back on that frame and continue.
5. ### Apply, then hide the edges
Click **Apply** and choose **X and Y** in **Motion Tracker Apply Options**. The layer now moves against the shake, so scale it up slightly or put it in a smaller composition to keep the moving edges out of view.

## Warp Stabilizer in After Effects: what’s different

The effect and its main settings match Premiere’s: **Result**, **Smoothness**, **Method**, **Framing**, **Rolling Shutter Ripple** and the rest, all explained in the [Warp Stabilizer settings guide](https://stabilize.video/warp-stabilizer). After Effects adds a few things that make difficult shots easier.

* **Track points you can delete.** With the effect selected, the points it tracked can be shown in the **Composition** panel. Select the ones on a moving subject and delete them; with **Auto-delete Points Across Time** on, the same points disappear from the other frames too. **Track Point Size** makes them easier to see.
* **Objective.** Besides **Stabilize**, it offers **Reversible Stabilization** and **Reverse Stabilization**, a pair used to steady a shot, paint or composite on the steady version, then put the shake back, and **Apply Motion to Target**, which moves another layer with the shake.
* **Masks and effects are invisible to it.** The analysis ignores masks and effects on the same layer. Pre-compose the layer with them, and stabilise the pre-comp, if they should count.

## Warp Stabilizer or Stabilize Motion?

__Choosing between After Effects’ two stabilisers__
| Warp Stabilizer | Stabilize Motion (Tracker)                                     |                                                                            |
| --------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| How it tracks   | Automatically, with points all over the frame                  | One or two points you place by hand                                        |
| Result          | A smoothed or locked camera, slightly zoomed                   | A locked frame on the tracked detail; smoothing it means editing keyframes |
| Good at         | Handheld walks, pans and general shake                         | Locked-off shots with a jolt, clips Warp bends, VFX plates                 |
| Weak at         | Shots with strong depth or a large moving subject              | Shots where the detail leaves the frame, or many minutes of footage        |
| Edges           | Hidden by its own crop and scale, or filled from nearby frames | Up to you: scale, crop or reframe the layer                                |

## Rolling Shutter Repair and Camera-Shake Deblur

### Rolling Shutter Repair

Phone, drone and many DSLR sensors read a frame from top to bottom, so fast movement makes verticals lean and shake look like jelly. **Rolling Shutter Repair**, in the **Distort** category, undoes that without stabilising the shot. Set **Rolling Shutter Rate**, the share of the frame time the sensor takes to read out, until leaning lines stand upright; Adobe’s guide suggests 50–70% for most DSLRs and close to 100% for iPhones. **Scan Direction** matters if the camera was turned or upside down. Under **Advanced**, **Method** chooses between **Warp** (tracked points) and **Pixel Motion** (optical flow).

Warp Stabilizer has its own reduction built in, but Adobe notes the separate effect has more controls. Apply it first, then stabilise, when the lean is strong. [Rolling shutter, explained](https://stabilize.video/rolling-shutter) shows what causes it and how to spot it.

### Camera-Shake Deblur

Stabilising holds the frame still but leaves the blur of the original shake in individual frames, so a steadied shot can pulse between sharp and soft. **Effect › Blur & Sharpen › Camera-Shake Deblur** rebuilds the blurred frames from the sharp ones either side. **Blur Duration** sets how many frames around each blurred one it looks at, and **Deblur Method** trades **High Quality (slower)** against **Standard**. No stabiliser on its own can do this, including the one on this page.

## Without After Effects: the same job in a browser

For a shot that just needs steadying, the stabiliser at the top of this page skips the tracking by hand: it tracks hundreds of points across every frame on your device, plans a smooth path, and shows the result **Side by side** with the original. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is installed.

__After Effects tools and their counterparts here__
| After Effects                                                   | Here                                                                             |
| --------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Warp Stabilizer** defaults                                    | The **Recommended** preset, under **How was it filmed?**                         |
| **Stabilize Motion** with **Position**, **Rotation**, **Scale** | **Steady these**: **Left–right**, **Up–down**, **Rotation**, **Zoom**            |
| A locked track on one detail                                    | **Camera**: **Locked**, or the **Tripod** preset                                 |
| Deleting track points on a moving subject                       | **Ignore an area** (analyses the clip again)                                     |
| **Rolling Shutter Repair**: **Rolling Shutter Rate**            | **Rolling shutter**: **Auto** estimates it; **Manual** with **Strength** sets it |
| Scaling the layer to hide the edges                             | **Framing** and **Zoom limit**, or **Full frame** with filled **Edges**          |
| **Camera-Shake Deblur**                                         | No equivalent: blur in the frames stays                                          |

Press **Export video**, choose **MP4** if it is going back into a composition, press **Export video** again in the sheet, and import the file like any other footage. The frame size and frame rate stay as they were.

## After Effects stabilisation questions

### Where is Stabilize Motion in After Effects?

Select the layer and choose **Animation › Stabilize Motion**, or open the **Tracker** panel from the Window menu and click **Stabilize Motion**. Both start a tracker whose result moves the layer itself against the shake.

### Is Warp Stabilizer in After Effects the same as in Premiere?

The core settings are the same. After Effects adds visible track points you can delete, the **Objective** options for reversing a stabilisation or moving another layer with the shake, and it ignores masks and effects on the layer unless you pre-compose.

### Why does my stabilised layer show black edges?

Stabilising moves the layer to cancel the shake, which uncovers its edges. With **Stabilize Motion**, scale the layer up a little or crop the composition. With **Warp Stabilizer**, keep **Framing** on one of the crop options, or use **Stabilize, Synthesize Edges**.

### Does Rolling Shutter Repair stabilise the shot?

No. It only straightens the lean and wobble a rolling-shutter sensor adds to movement. Stabilise afterwards with **Warp Stabilizer** or the tracker if the camera also shook.

### Can After Effects remove the motion blur from camera shake?

Partly. **Camera-Shake Deblur** replaces blurred frames with picture rebuilt from sharp frames nearby. It works best when only some frames are blurred; it can’t sharpen a shot that is blurred throughout.

### Which should I use: Warp Stabilizer or the Tracker?

Try **Warp Stabilizer** first. Switch to **Stabilize Motion** when Warp bends the picture, when the shot should be completely still and has one clear detail to track, or when you need keyframes you can edit.

## More on stabilising in other apps

* [ Stabilize a video online Smooth out shaky footage in your browser, with nothing uploaded. ](https://stabilize.video/)
* [ Compare video stabilisation software Free and paid stabilisers side by side, from Resolve and Warp Stabilizer to Gyroflow and FFmpeg. ](https://stabilize.video/video-stabilization-software)
* [ Warp Stabilizer settings explained Each setting by symptom: wobble, jelly, crop, errors and slow analysis. ](https://stabilize.video/warp-stabilizer)
* [ Stabilize video in Premiere Pro Warp Stabilizer step by step, and what to do when it refuses or wobbles. ](https://stabilize.video/stabilize-video-premiere-pro)
* [ Fix the rolling shutter (jello) effect Straighten leaning lines and stop the wobble phones and drones add to fast movement. ](https://stabilize.video/rolling-shutter)
* [ Make handheld footage look locked off Hold the frame completely still, like a tripod shot, instead of just smoothing it. ](https://stabilize.video/locked-off-shot)