When you edit a photo or video in the Photos app on an iPhone, iPad or Mac, Photos does not change the original. It keeps the original and writes down what you did: crop here, this filter, a little more light. When photos are copied off the phone with their originals, for example to a Windows PC, that record comes along as a small file with the same name and the .AAE extension: IMG_1234.AAE next to IMG_1234.HEIC.
This page reads the record and says in plain words what it contains: the photo it goes with, the size and orientation of the original, and each edit with its settings, such as the crop size, the straightening angle, the filter's name, light and colour slider values, a video's trim points or a slo-mo video's slow part. It is free to use, with no account and no upload limit, and it runs entirely in your browser: nothing is uploaded, and while the page stays open, a feature you have already used keeps working offline.
- What is an AAE file on my PC?
- It is the edit record of an iPhone or iPad photo. Photos keeps your original picture and saves your changes separately; when the original is copied to a computer, the record comes with it as an .AAE file with the same name. It is not a picture and does not contain one.
- Can I delete AAE files?
- Yes, if you only use the photos outside Apple Photos. Windows and other programs ignore .AAE files, so deleting them changes nothing you see on the PC: the original photo stays as it is. While the photo is still on the iPhone, iPad or Mac that edited it, the edit is kept in its Photos library too. If the photo is gone from the device, the .AAE is the only record of the edit for that original, so keep it if you might move the photos back into Apple Photos. For the edited look on the PC, export the photo from the device, or keep the IMG_E copy if there is one.
- Why do my photos look unedited on Windows?
- Because the copy is the original and the edit is only a set of instructions in the .AAE file, which Windows does not follow. On an iPhone, Settings, Photos, "Transfer to Mac or PC" set to Automatic gives edited copies when you import; sharing or exporting a photo also saves it with the edits applied.
- What do IMG_E and IMG_O mean in iPhone file names?
- IMG_E1234 is the edited copy of IMG_1234, saved with the edits applied. IMG_O1234.AAE is an edit file that comes with the original when an edited photo is copied off the phone. All of them describe the same photo number.
- Can this page apply the edits to my photo?
- No. It reads and explains the edits only. Apple stores the crop box from the bottom-left corner of the picture as stored, before its orientation is applied, and its filters and sliders are Apple's own image processing, so redrawing them elsewhere would not match what you saw on the phone. Export the edited photo from the device instead.
- Why are some edits not shown?
- Edits made by other apps, such as Pixelmator or Lightroom through Photos, are stored in those apps' own private formats, and some files use Apple's LZFSE compression, which this page does not unpack. In those cases the page says so and shows what it can.
- Is my AAE file uploaded?
- No. It is read by this browser tab on your device and never sent anywhere.