Transparent video in Premiere Pro, After Effects and Figma
Updated October 21, 2026·7 min read
How do you export an animation with a transparent background that Premiere Pro, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve or Figma will actually import?
Export a PNG image sequence. MP4 cannot store an alpha channel, Premiere Pro cannot open WebM without a plugin, and Figma rejects any video that carries alpha, so a numbered folder of PNG frames is the one transparent format every editor and design tool reads without conversion. Set the background to Transparent, choose PNG sequence, and import the first frame as an image sequence.
The most common support message we get is a screenshot of a black rectangle. Someone set the background to Transparent, exported, dropped the file into Premiere Pro and found the animation sitting on solid black. Nothing went wrong with the export. Transparency in video is a format question rather than a setting, and most of the formats editors reach for cannot carry it. This guide covers which formats hold an alpha channel, which tools open each one, and the exact import steps for Premiere Pro, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro and Figma.
Why your transparent export came out black
An alpha channel is a fourth value stored beside red, green and blue for every pixel. MP4 with H.264 or HEVC has nowhere to put it. When a transparent frame is encoded to MP4 the encoder drops the alpha, and whatever sat behind the animation, which in a transparent render is nothing at all, becomes black.
WebM with VP9 does carry alpha, and it plays perfectly in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and on any web page. The catch is that Adobe never added WebM support to Premiere Pro or After Effects. Without a third-party importer the file will not open, and with some importers the alpha is ignored and you are back to a black background.
Figma is stricter still. It plays MP4, MOV and WebM inside prototypes, but the uploader refuses any file that contains an alpha channel, and WebM alpha that seems to work at first renders on black after a reload. There is no transparent video format Figma accepts.
The formats that carry alpha, and who reads them
ProRes 4444 and Animation inside a MOV container are the broadcast standard for alpha. Premiere Pro, After Effects, Resolve and Final Cut all read them. They are also enormous, and no browser can encode them, which is why browser-based tools cannot offer them.
WebM VP9 with alpha is read by browsers, CapCut, OBS, DaVinci Resolve on most systems and any web page. It is not read by Premiere Pro, After Effects or Figma.
A PNG image sequence stores every frame as its own lossless PNG with an 8-bit straight alpha channel, numbered in order. Premiere Pro, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro, Motion, Nuke and Blender all import a numbered folder as one clip, and every design tool reads a single PNG. It is the one transparent format with no exceptions, which is why it is the one we added.
That is what the PNG sequence option in the export panel produces. Set the background to Transparent, pick PNG sequence beside MP4 and WebM, choose a resolution and frame rate, and the ZIP you download holds a frames folder with every PNG, a metadata folder with the CSV, TXT and license, and a WAV of any audio clips on the timeline.
Premiere Pro: import the first frame as an image sequence
Unzip the download and keep the folder somewhere permanent. Premiere links to the frames rather than copying them, so moving the folder later means relinking.
Choose File, then Import, open the frames folder, click the first file (the one ending in 00001) and tick Image Sequence at the bottom of the dialog before pressing Import. Premiere brings the whole folder in as a single clip named after the first frame.
Image sequences arrive at the project's default rate, so right-click the clip, choose Modify, then Interpret Footage, and set Assume this frame rate to the rate you exported: 24, 30 or 60. Skip this and a 60 fps sequence plays at the wrong speed.
Drag the clip onto a track above your footage. The alpha is straight rather than premultiplied, so it composites cleanly with no matte, no Ultra Key and no blend mode. If you ever see a dark fringe, open Interpret Footage again and make sure Alpha Channel is set to Straight.
After Effects, DaVinci Resolve and Final Cut Pro
After Effects: File, Import, File, select the first frame and tick PNG Sequence. The folder becomes one footage item that behaves like any layer with alpha, ready for precomposing, masks, track mattes and effects. Set its frame rate under Interpret Footage, as in Premiere.
DaVinci Resolve: drag the frames folder into the media pool and Resolve reads the numbered files as one clip automatically. If it shows individual stills instead, right-click in the media pool and toggle Show Individual Frames. Set the frame rate in Clip Attributes.
Final Cut Pro: Final Cut treats image sequences as stills, so the clean route is to open the folder in Compressor or Motion, which both accept a numbered sequence, and hand Final Cut a ProRes 4444 MOV. Alternatively import the frames into a Motion project at the exported frame rate and publish it as a generator.
Figma: use the frames as images
Because Figma cannot play alpha video, the PNG sequence is the right export for it too, used differently. Drag any frame onto the canvas and it arrives as a transparent image at full resolution, which is what you want for mockups, hero sections, app screens and presentation slides.
For motion inside a prototype, build a Smart Animate flow from a handful of frames spaced along the animation, or use a community plugin that turns a PNG sequence into an animated layer. For a real video in a Figma prototype where transparency does not matter, export MP4 instead and set a matching background colour in the editor first.
Keeping the sequence small
A PNG sequence is lossless, so its size scales with the number of frames and with how much of each frame is opaque. A five-second 1080p clip with a transparent background is typically 50 to 100 MB. The same clip at 60 seconds and 60 fps is over 3000 frames and more than a gigabyte, which is why some resolutions grey out for very long clips.
Export at 24 or 30 fps unless the project genuinely runs at 60. Most broadcast and social timelines are 24, 25 or 30, and the clip will be conformed to the sequence anyway.
Export at the size you will use, not the largest available. A lower third on a 1080p timeline gains nothing from 4K frames except a slower import.
Keep transparent backgrounds transparent. An image or solid background turns every frame into a full picture and multiplies the size several times over.
When WebM is still the right choice
WebM with alpha remains the best format for the web. A video element plays it over any background at a fraction of the weight of a GIF, with no player library. It is also the right choice for CapCut and for OBS stream overlays.
The rule is short. Going to a web page, CapCut or a stream: WebM. Going to Premiere Pro, After Effects, Resolve, Final Cut or Figma: PNG sequence. Going anywhere as a flat video with its own background: MP4.
Frequently asked
Can you export ProRes 4444 or a MOV with alpha?
Not from a browser. No browser ships a ProRes encoder, so every web tool that offers ProRes renders it on a server. A PNG sequence is lossless and imports into the same editors, and you can convert it to ProRes 4444 in one step with Adobe Media Encoder, Compressor or Shutter Encoder if a client asks for a MOV.
Why does the sequence import at the wrong speed?
Editors give image sequences the project's default frame rate because the files carry no timing. Set the rate under Interpret Footage in Premiere and After Effects, or Clip Attributes in Resolve, to the rate in the file name, which records the resolution, frame rate and duration of every export.
Try the workflow this describes
Open a preset, put your own text and colors in it, and export the file. Editing and previewing cost nothing.
A shape transition is a graphic wipe where a circle, bar or tile grid travels across the frame and hands the shot over to the next one. It hides the cut, carries your brand color and works in any editor once exported as MP4 or transparent WebM.
Pick a text preset, type your line, choose a font and weight, then set the colors, easing and duration. The preview renders the real animation, and the export is an MP4 or a transparent WebM you drop straight onto a track in your editor.
Choose an icon preset, pick an icon from the built-in library, set its color, size and stroke, then adjust how it draws, pops or pulses. Export a transparent WebM and the icon animates over any slide, app screen or footage without a matte.
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