(OBSOLETE—SEE DESCRIPTION) How to simulate VHS damage in After Effects

When I made this video back in 2018, YouTube was filled with videos that had awful looking, obviously fake VHS degradation effects. This was meant to improve on the old “make it blurry and displace the color channels” technique that was so prevalent back then. In recent years, people much more talented than I have made much more convincing analog video simulations. These days, you can easily get something considerably better using free open‐source software. If you want to get a realistic VHS effect without using real hardware, I recommend that you use one of the following:

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Have any suggestions for how to improve the effect? Be sure to leave a comment sharing your ideas. I’d also love to see anything that’s been done with this effect.

[BRZguy]

This is by far the most accurate VHS effect I've seen online. Most other tutorials do it the cheap way by splitting the colors, but you actually analyzed the true way VHS does it, which gives you a very convincing effect. The only thing is that in actual VHS footage uploaded to YouTube, the film grain seems much bigger and less noticable. I notice more Jpeg style compression in the videos but that could be due to a crappy way of converting them to digital.

[AramiMusic]

The only tutorial that takes the real analog aspects into account. Great video!

[RiveroftheValley]

Thanks, everyone, for all your kind words! This was just a last minute class project, but I’m glad that so many people have found it useful.
Here’s a bonus idea for you: NTSC video runs at 60 (really 59.94) fps interlaced. On CRT televisions, the interlacing isn’t visible, so it looks more like 60p with half the vertical resolution. For something that was supposed to have been originally recorded and edited on tape (e.g. home videos, daytime TV, low budget music videos), shoot and edit your source at 60p, and make the height of the luma and chroma channels 50% of what it will be in the render (240px high if you’re exporting at 640x480). Then, in the output, scale their heights back by 200%. Render progressive, not interlaced, because digital interlacing looks totally different from analog. This should help you get closer to that low budget “soap opera” effect without having to leave your computer.

[rorypelzel]

I know you say that this is obsolete now, but as someone who only has access to AE on my university's computers and doesn't have the administrative permissions to install any plugins on those machines, this is still super handy!

[brvlikk]

omg this is the most accurate VHS effect i've ever seen. my jaw literally dropped after following your steps and changed the mode of chroma. THIS was what i was looking for, not those fake glitch effects. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! your video def needs to get more likes. people are sleeping on this 😭😭

[qwe]

I found out that adding a black & white effect to the Luma comp helps reproducing the color separation that VHS tape does. Also, if you want some more "bad tracking look" you can probably move the Chroma comp just a frame forward so the color moves at a slightly different moment than the luminance. Great tutorial!

[nuraantoffey]

How is he not famous ? This guy deserves an award for what his doing 😩 thank you so much for this 🦋🦋🦋

[Peter_]

Finally someone who actually creates a _realistic_ VHS effect, instead of just using chromatic abberation and having a bunch of lines sweeping across the screen all the time.

[i.rogers]

How do you not have 100, 00k yet, at this point it's deserved.

[millenial_in_the_middle]

This puts me right back to childhood with crappy vhs copies of my favourite movies. Thank you. Best tutorial on that effect by far.

[TheSlendermang]

All the other tutorials I've seen had an uncanny digital effect, but this is great. Unsurprising after seeing your explanation, seeing as how you've emulated it by literally destroying the information. Thanks.

[HaydenLee]

This is the best VHS effect tutorial I've come across and I've done many of them trying to find the right look. Yours produced the accurate chroma bleed effect I was looking for. Thank you very much!

[JulioFloresCortos]

Thank you very much!

I was sickened of always seeing the same tutorial of how to get the VHS look

“Add rgb split and a VHS overlay”

I was looking for a video that showed how to get the authentic VHS look.

Again, thank you man. This effect is better than the Red Giant Universe plugin (Yeah I used that one but it looked awful)

[Darkchao_berserko]

I'm been trying to find a tutorial for vhs conversion. but the most i found so far are just modern versions or just simple video splits and scatters. but your videos actually shows what a vhs effect look in the old school style. you're a lifesaver, thank for the video

[bobalinx]

I noticed your sloshy shirt; you’re a man with taste, my friend.

[Alexie]

Holy shit this is the best vhs tutorial on Youtube

[prettyontheoutside-hlyl]

my class is making a short film, this was really helpful!

[dmudshark]

Absolutely sensational. I've been using some VHS template for ages but it never gave me what I want. This is accurate and easy to use. I will be referring to this a lot!

[vino]

Nice video, but I was wondering how you'd do this with 1:1 ratio (1080 x 1080)?

[fingacriminal]

hey this is really cool, through doing this i found out that for extremely simplistic visuals (i.e. what i made, a simple animation of circles moving) you can forgo the Chroma comp and just leave Luma in, toy around with the effects and it looks perfect. thanks man this tutorial is awesome.