what is the .AAE extension?

You cannot put photos back into the camera roll. You should be able to view the photos with effects using a tool such as Photoshop Elements (Adobe invented the .aae format), and I think Google Photos now understands it. The image file and the .aae file must be in the same folder and with the same file name.

I just got a new iMac, running ElCapitan. Surprise, surprise, all those added files on my first download!

So to understand this for my purposes. I am a graphic artist, I use Photoshop for everything that goes out of my computer. This is my workflow, and would appreciate clarification on the use of these .AAE files. I am a bit confused. I only edit a few original photos on my iPhone, so thank goodness most have no .AAE files attached.

When I get 50 or so images on my iPhone, I download them with Image Capture, and delete them automatically from the iPhone (to clear out my Camera Roll).

I download them to a temporary folder on my desktop, where I then open them in "Adobe Bridge" and assign keywords to them (for ease of later searching).

1. I then copy each image to it's appropriate folder on my hard drive, according to how I have them sorted (yard, work, family etc). They are there for future use as I need them. I almost always open them in PS first, crop, color correct etc, before they end up for their intended final use.

2. I ALSO, select the photos from my original download folder (from Image Capture), and put a copy of a selected few BACK in the appropriate folders on my computer (that will sync back to my iPhone in their respective folders on the iPhone).

I do not use the "Photos" app. at all.

Do I need the the .AAE files in either case? Once synced back to the iPhone in their respective folders I never intend to edit them again.

I'm hoping when I open the images up the first time in "Adobe Bridge" and see the .AAE files I can just delete them. ??

Thank you.

This explains what .aae files are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Metadata_Platform

They are an international standard originally designed by Adobe as a way of keeping a history of edits to an image. The image itself is not edited; instead any edits made to the image are saved in an aae file with the same name as the original image file, but the extension .aae instead of .jpg. The maintain a history, so you can use them to undo any edit if you have a tool that recognizes them. All current Adobe products should recognize them; the only restriction is that the .aae file and .jpg file must be in the same directory.

When I drag the .jpg without the .AAE file to my desktop, separating it from the .AAE file, then open it up in PS, it is just fine, it appears, and is completely editable in PS. I guess it is, as it is, when dragged in (without the iPhone edibility). So that is fine.

What will happen when I put the file back in the folders to sync with my iPhone without the .AAE files? Will it just appear as a finished photo, as is (without the editibility)? Which is fine. If so there would be no reason in my workflow to keep the .AAE files in either case, right?

Thanks

If it isn't important to keep the on-phone edits you do not need the .aae sidecar file. The whole point of the "sidecar" .aae file is to leave the original photo untouched by putting all of the edits in a separate file.

Thanks, that answered my questions. I don't need the .AAE files at all. I will delete them upon download. I rarely edit on my iPhone (crop maybe), and if I do, I never have needed to go back and redo it.

I see the use of this technology for the average user that Apple had intended. As a professional photographer/designer I now am able to use my iPhone as my "keep with me" camera with great results. With my workflow I would have never edited on my camera in the past, as I use professional programs instead.

Thanks for the clarification.

Dan

Apple is junk! I"m done with them. Bunch of controlling, nerds building products only they can use. Going back to the Droid system. Sick of the s*$t with them.

Like I have noting better to do than spend time researching all their brilliant BS just to get it to work. Certainly time I cannot say is well spent.

The amount of work required to maintain all aspects of this phone is absurd. I hook my phone to my PC and everything has changed. Pictures being scattered everywhere - iCloud, my pictures, saved picture folders - and then I can't even manage the photos (delete, move, etc) when the phone is tethered to my PC. Stupid! In a very technical way, of course. Sorry for the rants, but it should not be this user unfriendly. Are there solutions for all this? I'm sure there are, but I don't have time to attend a university in order to learn how to manage my mobile phone pictures.

Hi Lawrence, Thanks for your reply.

I returned home and tried what you suggested

- downloaded google drive app to my pc, copied there 2 files (JPG + AAE) - no effect, they are displaying as a picture and an unknown file in Google Drive

- tried to upload 2 files to google photos directly - it skip's the AAE file, importing only JPG - no effects.

- downloaded Picasa. Picasa scanned all the photos - no effects.

Have no option for a Photoshop (for now). Have you tried to use JPG+AAE with google photos?

Admittedly I've not read to the end, but I found if the accompanying .aae file is not kept with the video (.mov) file then the slow-motion aspect of the video will not function as that file describes what to do, when and how.

On a separate note, for those still (like me) using Aperture you will not be able to import that sidecar metadata file, so slow-motion will not work. However, it will import into the newer Photos automatically, even if the movie and .aae file remain inside the Photos folder as it makes a copy into the Database file (Open Package Contents to check) and thus is compatible with the slow-mo feature from newer iOS releases.

Hi Lawrence. You seem to know a lot about this. Question: I've decided to switch from using Apple Photos to Adobe Lightroom 6 for managing and editing my images. Since I have a lot of photos I've edited in Photos already, I thought I'd export the photos I've edited along with the unmodified original files (.RAW and .JPEG) - so I'd end up with three files for each EDITED photo: 1. a .JPEG copy of the edited photo, 2. the original .JPEG and 3. the original .RAW file. (I have a plan to reduce the redundancy - let's just accept that for now.) Among these exported photo files, I have all of these .AAE files. My questions are:

1. What are they for? Please go a little deeper than you have previously - I've exported hundreds of edited photos from Photos - shared them on flickr, Shutterfly, e-mailed them, printed them, moved them from drive to drive, opened them in Windows, on other Macs with various other software - never encountered an .AAE file. I would assume that exporting an edited photo creates a "flat" (destructed) copy. Maybe I'm wrong. Or, maybe the .AAE files are associated with the original unedited files? And if so, the RAW, the JPEG, or both - or is there a separate file for each type?

2. Because they're XML, is Adobe Lightroom able to use them? Or are they just useful to Photos? If it's just Photos, and I don't plan on using Photos anymore, I assume it's safe to just delete them.

Thanks for any help.

John

Johnny Simpson wrote:

Hi Lawrence. You seem to know a lot about this. Question: I've decided to switch from using Apple Photos to Adobe Lightroom 6 for managing and editing my images. Since I have a lot of photos I've edited in Photos already, I thought I'd export the photos I've edited along with the unmodified original files (.RAW and .JPEG) - so I'd end up with three files for each EDITED photo: 1. a .JPEG copy of the edited photo, 2. the original .JPEG and 3. the original .RAW file. (I have a plan to reduce the redundancy - let's just accept that for now.) Among these exported photo files, I have all of these .AAE files. My questions are:

1. What are they for? Please go a little deeper than you have previously - I've exported hundreds of edited photos from Photos - shared them on flickr, Shutterfly, e-mailed them, printed them, moved them from drive to drive, opened them in Windows, on other Macs with various other software - never encountered an .AAE file. I would assume that exporting an edited photo creates a "flat" (destructed) copy. Maybe I'm wrong. Or, maybe the .AAE files are associated with the original unedited files? And if so, the RAW, the JPEG, or both - or is there a separate file for each type?

2. Because they're XML, is Adobe Lightroom able to use them? Or are they just useful to Photos? If it's just Photos, and I don't plan on using Photos anymore, I assume it's safe to just delete them.

Thanks for any help.

John

If you export a file from iCloud Photos you are given the choice of the edited or original. If you choose edited you will get just one file. I don't know if the edits in the AAE file are saved as metadata or not; I haven't tried to undo edits, which would be a good test.

Adobe Lightroom should be able to use the .AAE data, as Adobe invented the format. But again, I have no direct experience. You can try it easily enough; copy the original and the .aae sidecar file with the same file name to a directory and see if Lightroom recognizes the edits. And report back what works; we can create a user tip based on the results.

Thanks for the reply, Lawrence. Given my "conversion" project, I was hoping for a quick answer, but I did some experimenting and here's what I found:

Using Apple Photos (not iCloud Photos) on my Macbook Pro, I exported a few files a few different ways:

1. Canon EOS photo, unedited, having both RAW and JPG formats imported into Photos, simple export as .JPEG

2. Canon EOS photo, edited (cropped), having both RAW and JPG formats imported into Photos, simple export as .JPEG

3. Canon EOS photo, unedited, having both RAW and JPG formats imported into Photos, export unmodified originals

4. Canon EOS photo, edited (cropped), having both RAW and JPG formats imported into Photos, export unmodified originals

5. iPhone 6 photo, unedited, having both RAW and JPG formats imported into Photos, simple export as .JPEG

6. iPhone 6 photo, edited (cropped), having both RAW and JPG formats imported into Photos, simple export as .JPEG

7. iPhone 6 photo, unedited, having both RAW and JPG formats imported into Photos, export unmodified originals

8. iPhone 6 photo, edited (cropped), having both RAW and JPG formats imported into Photos, export unmodified originals

NONE of these exports resulted in the production of an .AAE file.

So, I then went and looked at one of the .AAE files that resulted from my mass export from Photos. It was from an iPhone photo that I had apparently edited on my iPhone prior to importing it into Photos on my Mac. Now, I'm ASSUMING this - who knows if I imported it to Photos, edited it there, and my highly intelligent Apple system didn't go and copy the adjustments to my iPhone. I don't THINK so, but I don't KNOW.

To straighten it all out, I did another experiment:

1. Took a photo with my iPhone, imported it into Photos on my Mac, using Photos. Exported it as a .JPEG: No .AAE file was created.

2. Exported the unmodified original: No .AAE file.

3. Edited the photo in Photos on my Mac, then exported it as a .JPEG: No .AAE file.

4. Exported the unmodified original again: No .AAE file.

5. Checked the photo on my iPhone (connected to the same network as my Mac) and, no, the Mac edit was not transferred to the iPhone copy of the photo.

6. Took another photo with my iPhone, EDITED IT ON MY PHONE (adjusted the tilt and crop), imported it into Photos on my Mac, using Photos. Exported it as a .JPEG: No .AAE file was created.

7. Exported the unmodified original: FINALLY, an .AAE file was created. I got the original image I captured PLUS the information for the crop edit I made using my iPhone.

So, it APPEARS that these .AAE files are used to transfer non-destructive edits from one Apple device to another.

If I export a .JPEG copy of a photo I've edited in Apple Photos, I get the MODIFIED image. Edits are irreversible.

If I export the unmodified original, I get the UNMODIFIED image, and no .AAE file. Edits are UNAVAILABLE.

-- UNLESS, I check the Export IPTC as XMP checkbox at the top of the Export unmodified original dialog box, in which case, presto!, original + .AAE!

Questions still unanswered:

1. Is this for only Apple "stuff"? E.g., If I edited a photo directly on my Canon EOS prior to importing it into Apple Photos, would there be an .AAE file created for THAT edit?

2. What does other software, e.g. Adobe Lightroom, do with an Apple-created .AAE file? (I'll let you know the answer to this one as soon as I find out.)

P.S. I can't find any reference online to Adobe having created this file format. Googling ".AAE" brings up a lot of message boards with people frustrated over it, but no concrete documentation. Really sad. The only connection I can find to Adobe is their "After Effects" software, which, maybe creates .AAE (Adobe After Effects) files - which have nothing to do with this. It looks like an Apple thing. It's really too bad that Apple didn't document this information (beyond "this is not an error"). This has been a lot of time away from my photo organizing project.

Johnny Simpson wrote:

P.S. I can't find any reference online to Adobe having created this file format.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Metadata_Platform