AAE files are small metadata containers that your iPhone creates alongside photos and videos
An AAE file is a sidecar file — a companion document that stores editing information about a photo or video. When you edit a picture in the iPhone Photos app, your iPhone doesn't overwrite the original image. Instead, it saves all the changes you made (crop, filter, color adjustment, rotation) in a separate AAE file with the same name as the photo.
The original photo stays untouched. The AAE file is just instructions: "rotate this 90 degrees," "increase brightness by 15," "explore this filter." When you view the photo in Photos or share it, your iPhone reads both files together and shows you the edited version. If you delete the edits, the AAE file disappears.
AAE stands for Apple Annotation Exchange, though you'll rarely need to know that. What matters is that these files are invisible in normal use — you see the photo, not the metadata behind it.
Key Takeaways
- AAE files appear only when you edit a photo or video in the iPhone Photos app; unedited images don't have them.
- They contain only editing instructions, not the actual image data, so they are very small (usually under 100 KB).
- When you back up your iPhone to iCloud or a computer, AAE files come along automatically with their paired photos.
- If you export a photo to another app or device without its AAE file, the edits won't transfer — only the original image will.
- You can safely delete AAE files if you've already exported the edited photo as a new file, but there's usually no reason to.
When AAE files appear on your device
AAE files only exist when you make changes in the Photos app itself. If you take a photo straight from the camera with no edits, there is no AAE file. The moment you crop, adjust colors, explore a filter, rotate, or use any editing tool in Photos, your iPhone creates an AAE file to store those changes.
Third-party apps like Instagram, Snapseed, or Adobe Lightroom don't create AAE files. They save their own editing data in their own format, or they export a completely new image file. Only the built-in Photos app uses the AAE format.
You won't see AAE files in the Photos app itself — they're hidden from the normal view. You'll only notice them if you connect your iPhone to a computer and browse the raw file system, or if you use a file manager app that shows all files.
How AAE files move when you back up or transfer photos
When you back up your iPhone to iCloud, both the photo and its AAE file go together. iCloud keeps them paired, so if you restore from that backup, all your edits come back intact. The same is true for a local backup to a Mac or Windows computer using iTunes or Finder — the AAE file travels with the photo.
If you use AirDrop to send a photo to another device, the AAE file goes along. If you email a photo from Photos, the AAE file doesn't — the email attachment is just the image itself. If you export a photo to another app, the AAE file stays behind because the other app doesn't know what to do with it.
This is why edits can seem to disappear: you send a photo to a friend or upload it to a website, and they see the original unedited version. The edits were never lost — they're still in the AAE file on your iPhone. The receiving device just didn't get the metadata file.
Why you might see AAE files on a computer
If you plug your iPhone into a Mac or Windows computer and browse the DCIM folder (where photos are stored), you'll see both image files and AAE files listed separately. On Windows, they appear as regular files. On a Mac, they're usually hidden unless you enable viewing hidden files.
This can look confusing — you might think you have twice as many files as you expected. You don't. Each AAE file is just the editing record for one photo. If you have 100 edited photos, you'll see 100 image files and 100 AAE files, but that's still 100 photos.
Some backup software or file transfer tools might copy AAE files separately from their photos, which can create orphaned AAE files with no matching image. These are harmless but useless — they're just metadata with nothing to describe.
What to do with AAE files when organizing your backup
In most cases, you should leave AAE files alone. They're small, they don't clutter your view in Photos, and they preserve your editing work. If you're backing up to iCloud or to a computer using standard Apple tools, the pairing happens automatically.
If you've already exported an edited photo as a new JPEG or PNG file (which bakes the edits into the image itself), you can delete the original photo and its AAE file without losing anything. The exported file is permanent and doesn't need the metadata anymore.
If you're moving photos to cloud storage like Google Photos or Dropbox, those services usually ignore AAE files anyway — they only take the image. Your edits won't transfer, but the original photo will be there. If you want to preserve edits, export the edited version as a new file before uploading.
How to see AAE files on your computer
On a Mac, open Finder and press Command+Shift+Period (the period key). This toggles hidden files on and off. AAE files will appear in the same folder as your photos. Press the same keys again to hide them.
On Windows, open File Explorer and go to View. Click the checkbox next to "Hidden items" to show all files. AAE files will appear alongside your photos. Uncheck the box to hide them again.
You don't need to do anything with them once you see them — this is just for understanding what's in your backup. If you're using iCloud Photos or a standard backup tool, the pairing is already handled.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I delete AAE files without losing my photo edits?
Only if you've already saved the edited photo as a separate file (like a JPEG). If you delete the AAE file while the original photo is still in your library, the edits will be lost. If you're unsure, leave them — they take up almost no space.
Why do my photos look unedited when I send them to someone?
The AAE file doesn't travel with the photo in most sharing methods. The recipient gets the original unedited image. To send the edited version, use the "Export" option in Photos to create a new file with the edits baked in, then share that.
Do I need AAE files for iCloud backup?
iCloud backs them up automatically and keeps them paired with photos. You don't need to do anything — your edits will be there if you restore from backup.
What if I see AAE files with no matching photo?
These are orphaned files, usually from incomplete transfers or deleted photos. They're harmless and take almost no space. You can delete them, but there's no harm in leaving them.
Do other phones or apps recognize AAE files?
No. Android phones, Windows phones, and most third-party apps don't understand the AAE format. If you move photos to another platform, export them as new files first to preserve the edits.