Open AAE files in your browser
The small file that sits next to an edited iPhone photo once it's copied to a computer. See what edits it holds right here. Nothing leaves your device.
Or drop it anywhere on this page
What you'll see
Your AAE opens as the edits Photos made, each by its name, with its settings.
- Every edit by name • Light, Color, Crop, Filter
- Each edit's settings • The crop and its angle
- The photo it belongs to • Its size and when it was edited
- Tree and Text • Every value Photos kept
About AAE
When you edit a photo in Photos on an iPhone, iPad or Mac, the original stays as it was taken and the edits are kept apart. Copy edited photos to a Windows PC or a drive and an IMG_1234.AAE comes along beside IMG_1234.HEIC, often with the edited picture as IMG_E1234.
An AAE is an XML property list naming the app that made the edits and when, with the edits themselves packed inside as a compressed binary property list: Photos' Light, Color and Black & White sliders, the crop and its angle, the filter, and for videos and Live Photos the trim and the key photo.
Filepeek unpacks it and lists every edit by the name Photos gives it, with its settings, the photo's original size and when it was edited. Only Apple's Photos applies them, so the photo itself opens on its own, as it was taken.
Apple photo edits
.aae
Format
- MIME type
- application/xml
- Made by
- Apple Photos, on iPhone, iPad and Mac
- Released
- 2014
Inside the file
- Markup
- XML property list
- Edits
- A packed binary plist
- Belongs to
- The photo of the same name
- Applied by
- Apple's Photos only
Opens in every browser
Browsers download AAE files. Filepeek shows the edits in one in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari.
- YouChromeOpens through Filepeek
- YouEdgeOpens through Filepeek
- YouFirefoxOpens through Filepeek
- YouSafariOpens through Filepeek
Apps that open AAE
- WindowsNo app applies it • Notepad shows its XML
- MacPhotos keeps it with its photo
- iPhone and iPadPhotos keeps it with its photo
- AndroidNo app opens it
Questions
What is an AAE file, and can I delete it?
It's the list of edits Photos made to the photo with the same name. Delete it and the photo shows as it was taken, without the edits. When an IMG_E file came with it, that's the edited picture, which keeps the edits by itself.
Why do AAE files appear when I copy photos to Windows?
Photos keeps edits apart from the original, so copying an edited photo to Windows brings its AAE along. Windows can't apply them, so the photo shows unedited, and the edited copy, when there is one, is named IMG_E and the number.
How do I get the edited photo instead?
Export it from Photos on the iPhone, iPad or Mac, or share it by AirDrop or mail, which saves the picture with its edits applied.
Can Filepeek apply the edits?
No, it shows what they are. Only Apple's Photos applies them, since only it knows exactly how its sliders work.