remotion-dev/remotion · error · Error

The --png flag has been removed. Use --sequence --image-form

Error message

The --png flag has been removed. Use --sequence --image-format=png from now on.

What it means

Thrown by parseCommandLine if the legacy --png flag is present. PNG image sequences are now expressed via --sequence combined with --image-format=png, so the standalone --png shortcut was removed and is hard-rejected.

Source

Thrown at packages/cli/src/parse-command-line.ts:15

import {BrowserSafeApis} from '@remotion/renderer/client';
import {Config} from './config';
import {parsedCli} from './parsed-cli';

const {licenseKeyOption} = BrowserSafeApis.options;

export const parseCommandLine = () => {
	if (parsedCli['experimental-rspack'] !== undefined) {
		throw new Error(
			'The --experimental-rspack flag has been removed. Use --rspack from now on.',
		);
	}

	if (parsedCli.png) {
		throw new Error(
			'The --png flag has been removed. Use --sequence --image-format=png from now on.',
		);
	}

	const {value: licenseKey, source} = licenseKeyOption.getValue({
		commandLine: parsedCli,
	});
	if (source === 'cli' && licenseKey?.startsWith('rm_pub_')) {
		Config.setPublicLicenseKey(licenseKey);
	}
};

View on GitHub (pinned to 78fe4bb3fd)

Solutions

1. Replace `--png` with `--sequence --image-format=png`.
2. Update npm scripts and CI YAMLs that still pass --png.
3. Remember the output location for --sequence must be a directory (no extension).

Example fix

// before
$ npx remotion render MyComp out --png
// after
$ npx remotion render MyComp out --sequence --image-format=png

const ensureNoLegacyPng = (argv: string[]) => {
  if (argv.includes('--png')) {
    throw new Error('Use --sequence --image-format=png instead of the removed --png');
  }
};

ensureNoLegacyPng(process.argv);

const usesSequenceFlags = (argv: string[]): boolean =>
  argv.includes('--sequence');

When it happens

Trigger: Invoking render with `--png` to produce a PNG image sequence using the old shortcut.

Common situations: Old tutorials, scripts, or CI commands that used `remotion render --png`; copy-pasted commands from pre-migration docs.

Related errors

• The --experimental-rspack flag has been removed. Use --rspac
• The output directory of the image sequence cannot have an ex
• Cannot render an image sequence with a codec that renders no
• bundle() no longer supports the legacy positional arguments.
• The following packages are not Remotion packages: ${invalidP

AI-assisted analysis of remotion-dev/remotion@78fe4bb3fd (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f30f1d8e40504da7. Report an issue: GitHub.