what is the .AAE extension?

.AAE is now the way my photos show up instead of JPEG files.i can't preview them or open.

iPhone 4S, iOS 8

Posted on Sep 29, 2014 2:07 PM

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119 replies

Sep 7, 2015 8:15 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Thanks Lawrence. I eventually managed (but I cursing apple for doing this on iOS 8 and I am furious with myself for being such an idiot and upgrading!). My new problem is the following now : the renaming and recounting of the pictures titles are different, with a risk of overwriting my existing back upped pictures.

as it is really troublesome to rewrite each picture's nane, can you tell me the way, with the "wizard" to keep the original title and numbréunion, please.


thanks.

Sep 7, 2015 8:51 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Thanks Lawrence. That's indeed helping for not overwriting...However, I will still have to rename each of my pictures when adding them into my backup folder. Isn't there a way to prevent renaming and renulbering from the wizard ? Besides, I want to be able to retrieve my image with a possible problem if I need it, with its original number. That's what my back up is made for....

Sep 17, 2015 9:46 AM in response to vdotmatrix

I just discovered this massively ignorant software design issue tonight when I was trying to back up my phone and photos.


This isn't great. It's a waste of everyone's time. That's right, Apple wasted YOUR time for every photo that you took using a filter.


They never explained that the photos would not be permanent or non-transferable for pc users, that the "new photo software options" were in fact useless toy options. Even using icloud causes reduced resolution, which isn't what I want.


I have 138 photos that were taken with the filter on, in order to get the best color and response via that filter mode. Now, I have 138 photos that are bland and uninteresting without re-editing everything, for which I have to find software in order to reproduce the same colors. Where is the reimbursement of my time? Why wasn't I informed that filter settings were not permanent?


This is not a DSLR camera and the "average person" using their phone's camera doesn't need or want a RAW format photo. We want the picture that we took and we want to be able to get to them easily - and that includes being able to access these files through pc folder menus, not just "importing functions". This is the kind of thing that deserves a lawsuit when, enmasse, people are deceived or have wasted time and effort through false portrayal of function.


I wish they'd never put the stupid filters into the OEM camera software. The filter menu should bear a warning about this issue. Why do I have to sit around all night going back and forth with the jpg's on my pc and those on the phone in order to make adjustments or take notes about what the original photos looked like to try and reproduce pics?


I prefer the iPhone to alternatives on the market, but this is so incredibly stupid for something so expensive. If anyone from Apple reads this, either get rid of the filters or get rid of the stupid sidecar files and make the photos work as the people who buy these phones want them to.

Sep 19, 2015 9:17 PM in response to angelafromtelluride

Windows PC users, DO NOT DELETE the AAE file. The file should be readable without that file. However, Apple apparently set it up so that a Windows PC user is incapable of seeing the file without that AAE extension unless they jump through hoops. I was helping a relative of mine try to find out why she couldn't see her photos and print them the way she used to and found out the hard way. She asked me to get rid of the blank files. Once we deleted the AAE files, we could not see some of the JPEGS. So of course the next step was to "restore" those files, right? You would think so. When restoring the file from the trash bin, the AAE file names were automatically changed so they no longer knew which JPEG they belonged to. Isn't that great? Since the AAE is not an image file, you cannot match them up by image. I ran out of time and had to leave, but I assume if it's just one or two files you're trying to fix, then you can restore them from your trash bin and easily rename them to the original names that match your JPEGs. If you deleted several AAE files then good luck matching them again. My relative said she did not edit her photos ever on her phone so why she had the AAE file in the first place is a mystery. She also didn't use filters when taking pictures. So maybe she accidentally used a filter without realizing it or she did edit the photos on her phone and doesn't realize it. If she did edit them on the phone and didn't realize it, perhaps she deleted the original because she didn't want duplicates. If it was the edited version that she saved, then she was stuck with the AAE extension version if what everyone is saying is correct. It's been a while since I used an iphone, but with my Samsung if I edit a photo, it is saved as a completely separate photo leaving the original untouched and both versions can be dragged and dropped on a PC without problem. I was always able to drag and drop photos from the DCIM file on my old iphone4 to the Windows desktop without a problem. It's extremely annoying that you can't drag and drop them right back into the phone. Having to use itunes to do that is ridiculous. Try teaching someone in their 80s how to use an iphone versus a drag and drop style phone. If you have an older parent who wants a newer phone, I suggest you go Samsung Galaxy. This whole issue gives the appearance that Apple is trying to force people to use MAC over PC by creating annoying conflicts like this.

Nov 27, 2015 8:43 PM in response to angelafromtelluride

OMG, this is such a bad change apple has done. I am using iOS 9.1 on iPhone 5S. I had around 450 photos in my camera roll, I was trying to transfer those to my PC, on my PC I could see so many .AAE files which I was not able to open so I thought these are just side extension or edit backup etc etc so I deleted those from camera role assuming the number of photos will remain same. All sudden I loosed 150 photos & there were also not in the recycle bin because I deleted from camera role directly. So now I have loosed my best 150 pictures. *****!


I wanted to make sure again that deleting .AAE file deletes original image from iPhone, So I did a test. I clicked 3 photos using my iPhone,

1 - Normal light, 2 - Chrome mode, 3 - Fade effect.

Then I connected my iPhone with PC & looked into camera role, Chrome & Fade were reflecting as .AAE & not visible on PC, when I deleted those 2 photos, those were also gone from iPhone & I was only left with one photo which was taken under normal light effect (the default camera effect).


So if you want to copy photos from iPhone to PC then do not use effects, else it would become .AAE which is of no use except iPhone. If you guys found out any solution then please do let me know 🙂

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what is the .AAE extension?

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