An AET file is usually an Adobe After Effects template, acting like a master version of an AEP that you open to create fresh projects without touching the original, and inside it holds the blueprint for the animation such as compositions, timelines, layered elements, keyframes, effects, expressions, cameras, lights, global settings, and the project’s internal organization including folders and interpretation rules.
In the event you loved this information and you want to receive more info with regards to AET file information generously visit the web page. What an AET generally doesn’t bundle is the full media; instead it stores links or paths to footage, images, and audio kept elsewhere, which explains why templates are often zipped with a Footage or assets folder and why missing-file prompts appear if media was omitted, plus the fact that AETs can depend on certain fonts or plugins means opening them on a different computer may cause font swaps until everything is installed, and since file extensions aren’t exclusive, verifying the file’s “Opens with” setting or checking its source location is the most reliable way to confirm its creator and needed companion files.
An AEP file serves as your live editing project in AE, while an AET is a template meant to be reused, so the workflow contrast is simple: edit an AEP directly as it evolves, but use an AET to spin off a new project that preserves the original template.
That’s why AET templates are so common for ready-made motion graphics such as intros, lower-thirds, and slideshows: the creator treats the AET as the permanent master, and you open it only to Save As a new AEP before customizing elements like text, color, media, and logos, and while both formats store the same structures—compositions, layers, keyframes, effects, expressions, cameras/lights, and settings—and both typically link to external footage, the AET exists to preserve the original design whereas the AEP is your editable working file.
An AET file mostly keeps the structure and logic of a motion-graphics project but not necessarily its media, holding compositions with their resolution, FPS, duration, and nesting order, and keeping the full layer stack—text, shapes, solids, adjustments, precomps, and placeholders—plus each layer’s settings such as position, scale, rotation, opacity, masks, mattes, blending modes, and parenting, along with all animation info including keyframes, easing curves, markers, and any motion-driving expressions.
On top of that, the template stores all effects and their settings—color correction, blurs, glows, distortions, transitions, and more—along with any 3D setup such as cameras, lights, 3D layer properties, and render/preview settings, plus project-level organization like folders, label colors, interpretation rules, and sometimes proxies, but it typically does not bundle full footage, images, audio, fonts, or plugins, instead keeping links and dependencies that may trigger missing-asset or missing-plugin warnings on another computer until everything is relinked or installed.
