Open AAE File

Can I delete AAE file?

The typical place where you can find AAE files is a folder with photos that you exported from your iOS device using Apple iTunes. In most cases you will meet AAE files on Windows devices because when Apple iTunes exports photos to Apple Mac OS devices it will do so to the Apple Photos app which can correctly interpret AAE files and apply changes saved in them. On the opposite, on Windows OS devices AAE files will be shown in Windows Explorer but you won’t be able to do anything with them.

That is why on Windows OS you will see both AAE and original JPG file. The problem is that Windows operating system is not able to interpret AAE files and Apple does not provide API for third party software to read and interpret it. That is why on Windows you have three ways of dealing with AAE file:

• Delete AAE file but lose all edits store in it
• Transfer AAE and original JPG to another device
• Use the device where the original and edited photo was created and transfer the edited photo using one of the following methods:
  • Share the edited photo with AirDrop
  • Share the edited photo with one of the third party cloud storage apps
  • Upload the edited photo to iCloud

That means that deleting AAE file is acceptable only if you have access to the edited photo either on the iOS device or cloud storage.

You cannot delete AAE file on the iOS device. The file is not accessible to the end user. You can only undo the changes made to the photo and revert to the original file thus deleting everything stored in the AAE file.