How to make a layer, a comp or the last frame longer in After Effects

Which way should I extend a layer in After Effects?

Pick the fix by what you need: a longer comp, a longer layer, a held last frame or a slower clip. Most jobs take two shortcuts. When we checked on 3 November 2026, Adobe's help articles on composition basics and time remapping showed no readable step text. Every key on this page therefore comes from Adobe's official After Effects keyboard shortcuts reference, with the Windows and macOS keys side by side. Try each route on a copy of your comp first.

Moving and trimming are different jobs. Moving ([, ], Alt + Home, Alt + End) slides the whole layer so an In or Out point lands at a time. Trimming (Alt + [, Alt + ]) changes where the layer starts or ends. To extend a layer, you want trimming.

How do I extend the composition length in After Effects?

Open Composition Settings with Ctrl + K (Command + K on a Mac), set a longer duration and click OK. Then bring the work area, and any layers that should run to the end, up to the new length.

1. Open the comp in the Timeline, or select it in the Project panel.
2. Press Ctrl + K. Adobe lists this as opening the Composition Settings dialog box for the selected composition.
3. Enter the longer duration and click OK.
4. Click an empty part of the Timeline so no layer is selected, then press Ctrl + Alt + B (Command + Option + B). With nothing selected, Adobe lists this as setting the work area to the composition duration, so your preview covers the new time.
5. Check the layers. Select the ones that should run to the new end and press End to go to the end of the comp. Then press Alt + ] to trim their Out points to the current time.

To shorten a comp, set the work area first. Put the playhead at the new start and press B, then at the new end and press N. Then press Ctrl + Shift + X (Command + Shift + X) to trim the composition to the work area. To fit the comp to a set of layers, select them and press Ctrl + Alt + B, which sets the work area to their duration, then trim.

How do I make a layer longer in After Effects?

Put the playhead where the layer should end, select the layer and press Alt + ] (Option + ]). Adobe lists this as trimming the Out point of the selected layers to the current time.

1. Select the layer. Press O to jump to its current Out point, so you can see where it stops.
2. Move the playhead to the new end. Use End for the end of the comp, or Page Down to step forward one frame at a time.
3. Press Alt + ]. The Out point is trimmed to the playhead.
4. To make the layer start earlier, put the playhead there and press Alt + [. Press I to check the In point.

New solids (Ctrl + Y) and adjustment layers (Ctrl + Alt + Y) are trimmed the same way. Maybe you are cutting a layer into pieces rather than lengthening it. Ctrl + Shift + D splits the selected layers, or every layer if none is selected. Our guide to cutting and trimming video in After Effects covers that side.

If the layer is a video clip, the next section shows the time-remap route to a held last frame. If nesting gets in the way of a trim, Ctrl + Shift + C precomposes the selected layers. Our pages on unprecomposing in After Effects and precomposing each layer on its own show both directions.

How do I extend the last frame in After Effects?

Enable time remapping on the clip, then trim its Out point to where the hold should end. This is the same setup mouzekit's Time remap makes in one click, further down.

1. Select the video layer in the Timeline.
2. Press Ctrl + Alt + T (Command + Option + T). Adobe lists this as enabling time remapping for selected layers.
3. Press RR to show only the Time Remap property, so its keyframes are in view.
4. Move the playhead to where the hold should end. End goes to the end of the comp.
5. Press Alt + ] (Option + ]) to trim the Out point there.
6. Press Spacebar to preview and check the end of the clip. U shows every property with keyframes if you need to find what changed.

If the comp is too short for the hold, lengthen it first with Ctrl + K. If you want the clip to repeat rather than freeze, see our loopOut expression guide.

How do I make a freeze frame in After Effects?

Build it from listed shortcuts. The rows we checked in Adobe's shortcut reference have no command called freeze frame. They do list splitting (Ctrl + Shift + D), time remapping (Ctrl + Alt + T), showing Time Remap (RR) and setting keyframe interpolation to hold (Ctrl + Alt + H).

Freeze for a while, then carry on playing

1. Put the playhead on the frame you want to freeze, select the layer and press Ctrl + Shift + D (Command + Shift + D) to split it. You now have two pieces.
2. Select the first piece and press Ctrl + Alt + T to enable time remapping. Move the playhead to where the freeze should end and press Alt + ] to trim its Out point there, the same way you hold a last frame.
3. Select the second piece and press [. Adobe lists this as moving the selected layers so their In point is at the current time, so the second piece starts where the hold ends.
4. Preview with Spacebar and adjust the playhead and trims if the timing is off.

Hold a Time Remap keyframe

If you have keyframed Time Remap yourself, select the keyframe and press Ctrl + Alt + H (Command + Option + H). Adobe lists this as setting the keyframe interpolation method to hold or Auto Bezier. Check which of the two the keyframe shows after you press it.

Can I slow a clip down to fill the gap instead of freezing it?

Yes. Put the playhead where the clip should end, select the clip and press Ctrl + Alt + , (Command + Option + ,). Adobe lists this pair of keys for setting the In or Out point by time-stretching, so the clip plays slower over the longer span instead of stopping on one frame.

• Ctrl + Shift + , (Command + Shift + ,) is the other key in that row, for the In point.
• Ctrl + Alt + R (Command + Option + R) reverses the selected layers in time, if a backwards play suits the shot better than a hold.

Stretching suits B-roll and graphics. On talking heads, slowed mouth movement shows, and a short hold usually reads better. For speed ramps and reverse playback in more depth, see how to speed up, slow down or reverse video in After Effects.

Which After Effects shortcuts extend, trim and hold layers?

These are copied from Adobe's shortcut reference, grouped by task. Our full After Effects keyboard shortcuts list has the rest.

Composition and work area

Layer timing

Time remap and keyframes

Moving around

Why won't my layer extend in After Effects?

Check these in order: the comp length, the clip, the precomp, the work area and the panel that has focus.

• The comp ends too soon. Press Ctrl + K and set a longer duration.
• A video clip stops at its last frame. Enable time remapping with Ctrl + Alt + T before you trim the Out point, or stretch it with Ctrl + Alt + ,.
• A precomp layer stops early. Open the precomp and check its own duration with Ctrl + K too.
• The preview stops early. The work area may still be the old length. With no layers selected, Ctrl + Alt + B sets it to the composition duration.
• A key does nothing. Panel-specific shortcuts only work while that panel is active, so click in the Timeline and try again. In the shortcut editor, green keys are panel shortcuts and purple keys work across the app. When a panel shortcut shares keys with an application shortcut, the application one does not work while that panel is active.
• The freeze moves again. Ctrl + Alt + H sets the keyframe interpolation to hold or Auto Bezier. Check which one the keyframe has, and press it again if needed.
• On a Mac, an F key does something else. Adobe notes that shortcuts using F9 to F12 may conflict with macOS shortcuts.

How do I change these shortcuts in After Effects?

Open Edit › Keyboard Shortcuts, or press Ctrl + Alt + ' on Windows or Option + Command + ' on macOS. Search for the command, click its shortcut column and press the new keys.

1. The editor has three parts: a keyboard layout, a Command list and a Key modifier list.
2. On the keyboard layout, gray keys are free, purple keys hold application-wide shortcuts and green keys hold panel shortcuts. Hover over a key to see the full command name and whether it is an Application or Panel shortcut.
3. Search the Command list for the command, for example the time remapping one. Select it and type the shortcut, or click in the shortcut column and press the keys, modifiers included.
4. You can also drag a command onto a key in the layout, or onto the Key modifier list.
5. If the keys are taken, a conflict warning appears at the bottom. The command in conflict is highlighted in blue, and Undo and Clear in the lower right become available.
6. Press Save As to keep your set.

Adobe does not let you reassign A, E, F, L, M, P, R, S, T and U, or their doubles, so RR stays as it is. On macOS, F9 to F12 may clash with system shortcuts. Our guide to changing After Effects keyboard shortcuts goes further.

How do I put extend and freeze shortcuts on mouse buttons?

Map the two or three keys you press most, such as Ctrl + Alt + T, Alt + ] and Ctrl + Shift + D, to the side buttons for After Effects only. We make mouzeclick, and this is what its mouse app does, on Windows and Mac.

• It works with any mouse your computer sees, using up to five standard buttons (left, right, middle, Mouse 4 and Mouse 5) plus scroll and tilt. There is no driver. DPI, lighting and battery stay with your mouse maker's software.
• Buttons work per app. Mouse 4 can trim an Out point in After Effects and do something else in Chrome, and it switches the moment you change windows.
• Each button has eleven slots: tap, hold and move in four directions, a chord with another button, or hold and scroll. For example, Mouse 5 tap enables time remapping, Mouse 5 hold and move right trims the Out point, and Mouse 4 tap splits the layer.
• Macros chain keys, clicks, waits and typed text. One button can press Ctrl + Alt + T, then End, then Alt + ]. That runs the whole last-frame route from above in one press.
• The Options wheel (F8) holds 48 favourites per app on three rings. That is a good home for the less frequent keys: Ctrl + K, Ctrl + Alt + B, Ctrl + Shift + X, Ctrl + Alt + H and the stretch keys.

One clash to fix early: the Orbit switch opens with F9, and F9 is Easy Ease in After Effects. Any key or mouse button can open the Orbit switch, so move it. Our Easy Ease page covers the F9 keys. On a Mac, record the shortcuts with Command and Option, and allow Accessibility and Input Monitoring as described in the Mac install steps.

Where mouzekit's Time remap fits (we make it)

mouzekit is our one-click tool panel for After Effects, one of its 15 extensions. Its Time remap turns on time remapping with keys only at the start and end, ready for a held last frame. You select the clip, click once and trim the Out point.

• mouzekit is sold as 28 After Effects tools in 7 groups: Rigs, Properties, Layers and time, Looks, Text, Tidy and Make. The mouzekit feature list shows each one.
• Each tool is one undo step, so a wrong click is one Ctrl + Z.
• It runs on Windows and Mac. Install the After Effects bridge from the app's Tool wheel page, restart After Effects and open it from Window › Extensions. The setup is on the extensions page.
• Once a layer is longer, mousecut shows the comp as an editor's timeline, with layers as clips on tracks, and G closes gaps.
• On Windows only, the After Effects workspace's Toolbox adds Split layer and keyframe utilities such as Reverse and Loop dup. The workspace is part of mouzeclick on Windows. The Mac app does not include it.

The native shortcuts above do the same job; mouzekit makes it one click. One plan covers everything: $25 a month, $249 a year, or $499 once for one of the first 100 lifetime keys. See pricing. The trial is 3 days with no card, and every Premiere Pro and After Effects tool works fully.

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Sources

Checked on 2026-11-03. Prices and features change: each link goes to the maker's own page.

1. Adobe: After Effects keyboard shortcuts reference (checked 3 Nov 2026)

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