.AAE type showing up when I transfer photos.

I have an Iphone 5s running ios 10, and a PC running windows 10. When I transfer my photos from the phone to the computer using microsoft's phone companion tool, .aae files show up in my pictures folder. They have no thumbnail, and there is no way to open them. I am wondering if they are images that I have effectively lost, or if they are just a product of the transfer?