Reduce Your After Effects Project Without Breaking It: Meet Filmit Reducer
If you’ve ever tried using After Effects’ built-in Reduce Project function and ended up nuking something important—like your color controller setup—you’re not alone.
Yes, After Effects can technically reduce unused items from your project, but it often does it blindly. Expression-driven layers? Gone. Custom controller comps? Deleted. Suddenly, your streamlined project is missing the brains that hold it all together.
That’s why we built Filmit Reducer—a smart, creator-first plugin that cleans up your After Effects projects without wrecking expression-linked assets or critical background comps.
🧹 What After Effects Gets Wrong About “Reduce Project”
Here’s what the native process looks like:
You select a comp →
File > Dependencies > Reduce ProjectAE removes unused items
It also deletes anything not directly referenced by layers—like expression-only controls
Even Adobe warns you: “Items referenced only by expressions are not preserved”
For example, let’s say you’re using a centralized color control comp (like Color Master) to drive fill colors across dozens of assets. AE sees that as unused—even though it’s powering your whole project via expressions. Result? Deleted.
🛠️ How Filmit Reducer Works
Filmit Reducer gives you total control over your project cleanup:
✅ Main Comp–Driven Cleanup
You choose your main comp, and the plugin keeps anything directly or indirectly tied to it. That includes footage, precomps, solids, and everything the comp depends on—just like AE does, but smarter.
✅ Expression-Safe Reductions
Filmit Reducer preserves layers, effects, or comps that are referenced only by expressions—the exact thing AE misses. That means your project stays functional, even after trimming the fat.
✅ The “Keep Folder” Workaround
Here’s where it gets clever: we introduced a special “Keep Folder” workaround. You drop any controller comps, expression-only items, or UI elements into this folder—and Filmit Reducer guarantees they’ll stay intact.
It’s simple:
Create a folder in the Project panel
Place any comps or assets you want preserved (even if they’re unused)
Filmit Reducer keeps them during cleanup
This method gives you full manual override when needed—perfect for custom setups.
📦 Real Example: Color Control Preservation
Say you're using Color Master to apply colors across your entire project via expressions.
AE’s native reducer deletes it—even though it’s essential
Filmit Reducer keeps it by recognizing expression links
Or you can manually drop it into the Keep Folder for safety
Now, when you change a color in Color Master, all your layers still update dynamically—even after reducing your project by dozens of unused items.
🔥 Why Creators Love Filmit Reducer
Preserves logic: No more broken expressions or missing links
Saves space: Trim down your project file size before handoff or archive
Smarter than native: AE’s built-in tool can’t match this level of control
Simple UI: One-click reduction, clear prompts, clean results
No surprises: You always know what’s being kept and what’s being cut
This plugin was built from firsthand frustration working on large After Effects projects. It’s now part of every cleanup and delivery workflow we use.
💬 From the Creator
"After Effects does a great job at reducing your project size—but it often deletes the exact things we rely on to keep projects dynamic. With Filmit Reducer, I can trim out the bloat while keeping every expression controller intact. The Keep Folder trick alone makes this worth it."
— Maxwell Ridgeway, Creator of Filmit Reducer
✅ Try Filmit Reducer Today
Ready to clean up your AE projects without breaking them?
👉 Download Filmit Reducer on Filmit.io
Includes install instructions, UI walkthrough, and free updates.
Looking for other tools like Color Master, GridMaker, or smart split-screen generators? Browse our growing library of creator-first tools in the Filmit.io Tools Store.
🎬 Keep Creating. We’ll Handle the Cleanup.
Whether you’re prepping a project for client delivery or just trying to streamline your file before archiving, Filmit Reducer is the tool that makes sure nothing important gets tossed in the trash.
Want more helpful editing tools and motion design tricks?
Check out our YouTube Channel for fast tutorials, creator guides, and plugin demos.