An AET file functions chiefly as an AE template project, working like a master AEP that you open to generate new projects while leaving the template intact, and it contains the project’s full structure—compositions, timeline layouts, layered elements, animated keyframes, effects, expressions, camera/light setups, render/project settings, and the internal folder organization and interpretations.
If you have any sort of questions regarding where and exactly how to make use of best app to open AET files, you could call us at our webpage. Because an AET usually skips the raw media, it instead holds paths to video, image, and audio files stored elsewhere, explaining why template downloads often include a zipped assets/Footage folder and why After Effects may report missing files if items get left out, and since some AETs depend on specific fonts or plugins, opening them on another computer can cause font substitutions until everything is installed, with the reminder that AET is not an exclusive extension, so checking the file’s “Opens with” settings or remembering where it came from helps confirm the correct application and required companion files.
An AEP file is the working project you continually modify, letting you import assets, edit compositions, and tweak effects over time, whereas an AET is designed as a template to be reused, making the key distinction that you update an AEP directly but open an AET only to produce a fresh project based on it without altering the master.
That’s why AETs are frequently relied on for packaged motion-graphics templates such as intros, lower-thirds, and slideshows: the creator keeps the AET as the master and each time a new video is needed you open it, immediately Save As a new project (becoming your own AEP), then swap text, colors, logos, and media, and although both formats can store the same project elements—comps, layers, keyframes, effects, expressions, cameras/lights, and settings—and both usually reference external footage, the AET is built to protect the master for repeatable work while the AEP serves as the editable file you keep updating.
An AET file generally preserves the structural and behavioral blueprint of an After Effects project rather than the actual media, including compositions with resolution, frame rate, duration, and nesting, plus the complete timeline layout with layers for text, shapes, solids, adjustment items, precomps, and placeholders, alongside properties like position, scale, rotation, opacity, masks, mattes, blending modes, parenting, and all animation data—keyframes, easing, markers, and expressions when used.
Additionally, the template captures effects and their configurations, such as color correction, blurs, glows, distortions, and transitions, together with any 3D setup—cameras, lights, 3D layer settings—and render/preview preferences, plus project structure like folders, labels, interpretation settings, and proxies, though it usually omits embedding raw media, fonts, or plugins, depending on linked paths that can lead to missing-footage or missing-effect warnings when the file is opened elsewhere.
