What is a .AAE file?
An AAE file is a special kind of file that keeps track of changes made to pictures on Apple devices like iPhones and iPads. When you use the Photos app on these devices to edit a photo, the app doesn't change the original photo. Instead, it creates an AAE file that remembers all the edits you made. This way, if you ever want to go back to how the photo looked originally, you can do so because the original photo isn't lost or changed.
These AAE files are kept in the same place as the original photos on your device. When you move or share an edited photo from your iPhone or iPad to a Mac computer, the AAE file goes along with it. This lets the Photos app on the Mac know what edits you made, so it can show the photo with those changes.
You can open and look at AAE files using simple programs that can read text, like Microsoft Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on Mac. These files are written in a computer language called XML, which is why you can use a text editor to see what's inside them. However, the information in an AAE file might not make much sense unless you know how to read XML.
If you move your edited photos to a Windows computer, you might see these AAE files. On Windows, these files might not show their ".aae" ending unless you've set your computer to show file extensions. The AAE files have the same name as the photos they are connected to but don't actually contain the photo itself. If you're using Windows and you see these AAE files, it's okay to delete them if you want. Deleting an AAE file won't delete the photo it's associated with, but you will lose the edits you made to that photo in the iOS Photos app.
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