Open Aperture library files in your browser
The library of Apple's Aperture, which macOS hasn't run since Mojave. Look through one right here: its projects and albums, faces, versions, flags and ratings, with every photo. Nothing leaves your device.
Or drop it anywhere on this page
What you'll see
Your library opens like a folder of its photos, laid out as the app shows them, with a page beside it on what it holds.
- All photos • Albums, events, projects and collections in their folders
- People, Years and Favorites • Hidden and Recently Deleted on request
- Show details • Title, caption, keywords, rating and place
- The app's preview • When an original didn't come
About Aperture library
Aperture, Apple's app for photographers, came out in 2005 and ended in 2015 when Photos took its place, and it won't run on macOS Catalina and later. Its library, Aperture Library.aplibrary, is a folder Finder shows as one file: the originals in Masters by the day they came in, each edited version's preview in Previews, and the database in Database/apdb/Library.apdb, with faces in Faces.db and captions in Properties.apdb. iPhoto 9.3 and later keep their libraries the same way.
Since Aperture stopped running, its libraries sit on old drives with nothing to open them. Photos can import one on a Mac, turning its projects and adjustments into its own as it goes, and on Windows a library is a maze of folders with no projects or albums.
Filepeek reads the library's database in your browser and lays it out as Aperture did: All photos, Projects, Albums in their folders, People from Faces.db, Years and Flagged, each version beside its original and the preview Aperture kept of an edited one. Show details gives each version's name, caption, keywords, people, rating, place and project, and each photo is read only when you pick it.
Apple Aperture library
.aplibrary
Format
- MIME type
- inode/directory
- Made by
- Apple's Aperture, on Macs
- Released
- 2005
Inside the file
- Kept as
- A folder Finder shows as one file
- Database
- Library.apdb, a SQLite database
- Beside it
- Faces.db and Properties.apdb
- Originals
- In Masters, or referenced elsewhere
Opens in every browser
Filepeek opens Aperture libraries in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari on a computer. Drop the library on the page, or a ZIP of it. On their own, browsers can't open a library.
- YouChromeOpens through Filepeek
- YouEdgeOpens through Filepeek
- YouFirefoxOpens through Filepeek
- YouSafariOpens through Filepeek
Apps that open Aperture library
- WindowsNo app reads it
- MacAperture, up to macOS Mojave • Photos imports it
- iPhone and iPadNo app reads it
- AndroidNo app reads it
Questions
How do I open an Aperture library?
Drag Aperture Library.aplibrary onto this page, or drop a ZIP of it. On a Mac, picking it with the button makes the browser zip it first, which takes a while for a big library, so drag it instead.
Why do some photos show only a preview?
Aperture could leave originals outside the library, on another drive, as referenced files. Drop that drive's folders with the library and they're found by their names. Until then each shows the preview Aperture kept.
Does it show my versions?
Yes. Each version Aperture made of a photo is listed beside the original under its own name, and an edited one shows the preview Aperture drew of it.
Can I get my photos out?
Yes. Pick a photo and Save it, or choose Save as ZIP for a whole project or album, each photo under its own name.