Q: what is the .AAE extension?

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.

I just deleted around 180 files by mistake while backing up the photos to my windows pc via windows explorer

is there any way I can recover them?

What files did you delete, and how did you delete them?

I had the iphone connected to my pc via cable and was using windows explorer to move the photos to a folder on the pc.

I deleted .aae files, I thought they were mirrors or ghosts of photos I had deleted on the iphone previously (how stupid).

I am hoping there is a way to recover them.

And no, I never used thge cloud.

If you deleted the AAE files you still have all of your pictures, but any edits or filters that you made or used on the phone will be gone. I don't know of any way to recover them, unless they are in Windows trash. But you can re-edit using any photo management program on your computer.

That's the thing, all photos are gone (from the deleted files). I lost edited photos, unedited photos, I have no originals.

Every time I edit a photo using ios editor it never saved the original photo.

Thanks anyway, though.

If you copies the jpg files to your computer they should still be there. Look for them. However, Windows Explorer is not a good way to copy photos.

Also, if you have an iCloud or iTunes backup that was made shortly before you deleted the files you should be able to restore that backup to the phone.

I uploaded the pics directly from my iphone to my laptop and i had most of them in JPG format except for 4 or 5. What i noticed is that the 4 or 5 that were in aae format, had a duplicate in JPG format. Hope this helps

Apple you ****! How annoying and wasteful for the end user to spend time editing photos on their phone using built-in tools and on a third party product such as hipstamatic for all the edits to be removed from the photos when importing to a computer, such as a PC.

This is exactly why I choose PC over a MAC.

<Edited by Host>

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

Hi,

Why can there be at least an automated designated album called "Edited"?

Thank you.

That's a great idea. Please submit it to Apple at http://apple.com/feedback.

After reading up a bit on this topic I was sure that the aae file extension could be safely deleted as they are only information files and do not affect the copying process. Boy was I wrong. I deleted all of the aae files from my iPhone direct. Biggest mistake I ever made because it made all of the adjoining jpg files useless and unreadable. I lost a lot of photos because of this mistake. The fix I have now learnt through this horror scenario is to copy all of the jpgs from the camera roll first, then it is ok to delete the aae files, not before.

Mind you, just like in previous ios versions, all of the edits are still lost. My workaround has been to e-mail my edited photos to myself. Long tedious process. If anyone finds any other solutions, I would be most grateful.

techluvver wrote:

 

If anyone finds any other solutions, I would be most grateful.

Enable iCloud photos. The transfer of both the original and edited photos then becomes near real time and automatic.

Brilliant, thanks very much. I shall give that a go. Is there any way to enable only photo backup on icloud ? The reason I ask is that is because video would take up the 5GB limit in no time.