What’s the Best Way to Make End Credits for Films and Videos?
Full disclosure: We built Epilogue, an After Effects extension for creating end credits. Why was Epilogue made? Well because all the existing solutions out there were either far too expensive, or required downloading a random app you’d never used before.
If you’re searching for the best way to make end credits, you’re probably facing a deadline and need a reliable solution fast. Whether you’re finishing a feature film, documentary, corporate video, or YouTube production, creating professional scrolling credits is one of those tasks that seems simple until you actually try to do it at scale.
We’ve been there. Hours of manual text layer creation. Copy-paste nightmares. Last-minute name changes that require repositioning hundreds of credits. We tried every solution on the market, and they all fell short in different ways.
So we built our own. But to help you understand why we made the choices we did, let’s walk through the other methods for creating end credits in 2026.
Quick Navigation
- Why Is Making End Credits So Difficult?
- The Old Ways of Making End Credits
- Why We Built Epilogue
- How Epilogue Solves the Credit Problem
- Step-by-Step: Creating End Credits with Epilogue
TL;DR: After trying every method available, we built Epilogue for After Effects because nothing else offered the combination of automation, quality, and flexibility needed for professional productions. Below is an honest comparison of all your options.
Why Is Making End Credits So Difficult?
Before we dive into the solutions, let’s talk about why creating end credits is such a pain point in post-production:
Volume of Information - A typical feature film has hundreds of names across cast, crew, production companies, and special thanks. That’s a lot of data to manage.
Formatting Consistency - Every name needs to be properly formatted, aligned, and spaced. One inconsistency stands out immediately.
Last-Minute Changes - Someone’s name gets added, removed, or corrected hours before delivery. Now you need to reposition everything.
Time Pressure - Credits are usually the last thing completed in post-production, meaning you’re already under deadline pressure.
Professional Standards - Film and TV credits have established conventions for order, spacing, and timing that must be followed.
The best way to make end credits is the method that handles all these challenges efficiently while producing professional results. Here’s every method we evaluated before building our own solution.
The Old Ways of Making End Credits
Method 1: Adobe Premiere Pro Roll Credits
Best for: Quick projects with simple credit needs
Premiere Pro has a built-in Roll/Crawl title feature that lets you create basic scrolling credits directly in your timeline.
Pros:
- Built into Premiere Pro (no additional cost)
- Simple for basic credit rolls
- Fast setup for short credit lists
- Good for quick corporate videos or simple productions
Cons:
- Becomes cumbersome with large numbers of credits
- Limited formatting flexibility
- Manual text entry for every single credit
- Difficult to update or reorganize
- No CSV import or bulk editing
- Spacing and alignment requires manual tweaking
Verdict: Premiere Pro roll credits work fine for simple projects with fewer than 50 names. Beyond that, the manual approach becomes inefficient and error-prone.
Method 2: Final Cut Pro Credits
Best for: Mac-based editors with straightforward credit needs
Final Cut Pro offers scroll credits through its title system, with templates available for basic credit rolls.
Pros:
- Integrated with Final Cut Pro workflow
- Templates available for common credit styles
- Relatively intuitive for simple credits
- Good performance on Mac hardware
Cons:
- Still requires manual text entry for each credit
- Limited flexibility for complex credit sequences
- No CSV import functionality in the native version
- Difficult to maintain consistency across large credit lists
- Updates require manual editing
Verdict: Like Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro handles basic credits adequately but struggles with the scale and complexity of professional film credits.
Method 3: Dedicated Credit Roll Software
Best for: Specialized post-production houses
Several dedicated applications exist specifically for creating film credits, offering features like credit order templates and formatting presets.
Pros:
- Purpose-built for credit creation
- Often include industry-standard templates
- Some offer CSV import
- Can handle large credit lists
Cons:
- Additional software cost (often expensive)
- Learning curve for new application
- May not integrate with your existing workflow
- Still requires significant setup and formatting
- Limited creative flexibility
Verdict: These tools solve some problems but add complexity and cost to your workflow.
Method 4: After Effects with Manual Text Layers
Best for: Motion designers comfortable with After Effects
Creating credits manually in After Effects using individual text layers gives you complete creative control.
Pros:
- Total creative freedom
- Professional-grade output at any resolution
- Full animation capabilities
- Perfect for custom credit sequences
Cons:
- Extremely time-consuming for large credit lists
- Hundreds of individual text layers to manage
- Manual positioning and spacing
- Updates require significant rework
- Prone to errors and inconsistencies
Verdict: The most flexible option but also the most time-intensive. Great for creative credit sequences, terrible for straightforward credit rolls.
Why We Built Epilogue
Creating end credits shouldn’t be painful. Whether you’re using NLE tools, dedicated software, or manual After Effects workflows, the process is unnecessarily complicated and time-consuming.
We built Epilogue with a simple mission: take the pain out of the entire end credit process.
The guiding principles were clear:
- Simplicity first - No steep learning curves, no complex workflows
- Full creative control - Professional quality without compromising flexibility
- Speed without sacrifice - Automation that doesn’t limit what you can create
Instead of forcing you to choose between “fast but limited” or “flexible but tedious,” Epilogue gives you both. Simple CSV import for the data management, full After Effects integration for creative control.
How Epilogue Solves the Credit Problem
Epilogue is an After Effects extension that automates the tedious parts of credit creation while preserving complete creative control.
Take a look at the Epilogue run-through to get a feel for how easy it is:
Here’s what makes Epiilogue great:
CSV-Based Workflow
Instead of creating hundreds of text layers manually, you maintain credits in a simple CSV file (or Excel/Google Sheets). Four columns: Section ID, Section Name, Title, and Name. That’s it.
Your producer can maintain this spreadsheet. When names change (and they always do), update the CSV and regenerate. No manual repositioning.
Six Production-Ready Credit Styles
We designed six professional credit section types based on what we actually needed in real productions:
- Hero - For director, starring, and other featured credits
- Scroll - Classic scrolling format for cast and crew lists
- Collections - Perfect for large teams (VFX, production crews)
- Music - Specifically designed for music and performance credits
- Text - For legal disclaimers and thank you messages
- Image - Insert company logos and other images
Every style is fully customizable. Edit the template comp once, and your styling applies to all credits in that section.
4K Professional Output
Epilogue creates credits at 4K by default (though you can use any resolution you need). No render limits, no watermarks, no usage restrictions.
CSV Updates
If you change a name in the CSV all you have to do is refresh the file in After Effects and recreate your credits to bring in those changes.
Still Native After Effects
Unlike dedicated credit software, everything happens inside After Effects. Your credits are AE comps and text layers meaning you have full creative control over your credit text.
Time Savings That Actually Matter
What used to take 6-8 hours now takes 5-10 minutes. Even complex feature film credits with hundreds of names generate in moments.
Step-by-Step: Creating End Credits with Epilogue
Here’s our recommended workflow for creating professional end credits:
Step 1: Gather Your Credit Information
Request a complete cast and crew list from your producer early in post-production. The earlier you get this, the better.
We provide a simple CSV template with just four columns:
- Section ID (this is used to separate credits into groups)
- Section Name (E.g: Cast & Crew)
- Title (E.g: Director)
- Name (E.g: Sherlock Holmes)
Producers can easily maintain this in Excel or Google Sheets and export to CSV when ready. Epilogue comes with a Google Sheets template ready to go.
Step 2: Install Epilogue and Set Up Your Project
Install the Epilogue extension in After Effects CC 2024 or later. When you load up the extension you’ll see a simple checklist of the steps you need to take next.
Step 3: Import Your Credits CSV
Open the Epilogue panel in After Effects (Window > Epilogue) and import your CSV file. The extension validates your data and shows you a preview of how many credit sections will be created.
Step 4: Customize Your Styles (Optional)
The Epilogue extension also uses a pre-defined Ae Template that provides six production-ready section styles for your credits.
Before generating your credit list, you can customize any of these credit sections to suit your project. Simply open the style template comps and adjust:
- Fonts and typography
- Colors and styling
- Spacing and positioning
- Any other visual element
Your customizations apply automatically to all credits using that style.
Step 5: Generate Your Credits
Click the “Create Credits” and watch as Epilogue generates your complete credit sequence. All credits will be properly formatted, spaced, and organized into sections.
The whole process takes just moments.
Step 6: Fine-Tune and Animate
Use Epilogue’s spacing controls to adjust the layout if needed. Add custom animations, branding elements, or background graphics using standard After Effects tools.
Because everything is native AE comps and layers, you have complete creative freedom.
Step 7: Export
Render your credits at 4K (or your required resolution) for final delivery. Your professional end credits are ready to go.
When Credits Change (And They Will)
When you get that inevitable email with name changes:
- Update your CSV file
- Regenerate in Epilogue
- Done
What used to require hours of manual repositioning now takes just moments.
Book a Free Trial Demo of Epilogue
Check out Epilogue here and book your free 7 day trial to see how much time and pain it could save you!