what is the .AAE extension?

I'll try to keep it simple. If you use iPhoto it knows about .AAE files and uses them.

If you delete the AAE file you will not delete the photo .jpg, but the image will lose all information about its content. So, for example, if you use the filter option (the little circle in the lower right in the camera), or you take a panorama, all of that information will be lost.

I am mystified about why you would want to delete AAE files? They provide a useful function, and they don't use much memory.

AAE files are in XML (eXtensible Markup Language) format, which is readable. You can view AAE files with any XML editor, or you can just open them with Textedit.

In iPhoto deleting an image from an album just removes it from the album, it does not remove it from your computer. However, I'm not an iPhoto expert (I use Picasa), so you might want to ask in the iPhoto forum here for more detailed information.

Thanks Lawrence. To be honest, I only deleted the AAE files because I thought they were meaningless:). Oops! If I wanted to put them back-where do they belong? I'm on my PC now (at work) and Mac is at home, so once I get onto my Mac my Q. may seem obvious but in case it isn't to me, where do my AAE files belong?

Many thanks...

They need to be in the same folder with the jpg that has the matching file name.

Thanks Lawrence-so, looking at my screen shots above, would they sit under the iPhoto Library (with all the .jpg files)?

iPhoto imports images into its database. Once there it doesn't use the jpg any more. So if you've already imported into iPhoto it may be too late. But yes, if you drag them into the same folder with the jpg files they will actually come before each of the jpgs, because "a" comes before "j" (they will alternate). That doesn't matter, however.

Thanks Lawrence. I'll try to drag them back onto my external drive, where the .jpg's are.....I'm leaving work now so will let you know how I get on a little later...

Or-are you saying it's too late to bring them back in (drag them back in)?

Many thanks!

If I right click on some of the files-I see the option to "Put back", but for some files (those with 13.19.38 at the end) I do not have the option to "put back"-see below. What are *those* files and how do they differ from the ones without the 13.19.38?

I don't know enough about the naming convention, but my guess is they are earlier versions of the file. Either that, or you deleted files twice and the trash manager added a code to know where they go. I would ignore them.

I'm actually wondering: is it possible that the AAE files got deleted when I deleted the .jpg files/images they were associated with? Would it not make sense that the AAE files get deleted with their associated .jpg files? This may be how they got deleted, and so I've been putting back AAE's that I don't need...this is my concern:).

Thanks-that makes sense...many thanks!

Where were the JPG files when you deleted them? If it was on the phone then it's quite possible that the AAE files were deleted at the same time if you used the Photo app to delete them, or if you used iPhoto to delete them after importing them.

Files were a very bad idea when they were invented. A computer user should never see a file, because files interact with each other, and manipulating them independently can have unexpected consequences. Apple tried hide files with iOS; there is no Finder, no way using the built in tools to see any files. And, in fact, they aren't files, but objects in a database. But people found ways around this innovation, and the results have not been good. I'm following other threads where users are trying to delete images to free up memory using iOS file managers. The results aren't pretty. You end up with iOS thinking there are a thousand images on the device, but it can't find them. They were deleted, but the index database wasn't updated to reflect the fact. The same risks occur in iTunes on a computer; if you attempt to move media files using Finder or Windows Explorer you break the iTunes database. Likewise for many other PC and Mac programs.

Thanks Lawrence-any .jpg files that I deleted, were deleted either from my iPhoto APP (the albums or Library) or from the external hard drive. I never delete from my phone...I always import everything and then delete thereafter, from the external hard drive.

If you deleted an image with iPhoto it would have deleted any associated AAE files also.

Thanks Lawrence-that's what I thought. So therefore, the deleted AAE files are probably ones I *wanted* to delete (along with their associated .jpg files). That is good to know.

Many thanks!

I think Apple is doing a great thing and it just occurred to me what.

[ I only photograph in RAW format, a pure digital capture of an image through the lens; jpeg format are mathematical interpretations, in a smaller image file format. But it comes in 2 flavors. if you shoot Canon's proprietary RAW FILE (.CR2 ) you can either shoot .CR2 and always carry around .xml (sidecar-.aae file) file forever or convert the RAW file to Adobe's proprietary .DNG (digital negative) which contains the edits to an image that can only be interpreted through another program like Lightroom, or iPhoto etc.. The same thing is happening on our phone's format. ]

The end result that is in front of all this technical crap is: NON DESTRUCTIVE EDITING to a photographic image. The edits you make to an image, i.e. instructions on how you want to view the final image for printing or playback-are contained in sidecars; in this case .aae or .xml. or embedded in a propriety file format. How one views the image in print or screen depends on the device that the edits control. Most images are USUALLY converted back to jpegs which are a fraction the size of the original image and so on.