An ALE file is widely known as an Avid metadata-exchange format used in film/TV post to move metadata—not the media itself—between systems, including clip names, scene/take details, camera and sound rolls, notes, and especially reel/tape names with timecode in/out, allowing editors to bring footage in already organized and letting the system reconnect media later via reel name and timecode.
To quickly identify an Avid-type .ALE, open it in Notepad and see whether it contains easy-to-read information arranged in table-like form with “Heading,” “Column,” and “Data” sections plus tabbed rows; if instead you find a different structured format such as XML/JSON, it may belong to another application, so its source folder matters, and because Avid ALEs are small, a large file strongly suggests it’s not the Avid format.
If you simply want to inspect the file, importing it into Excel or Google Sheets as tab-delimited will display the metadata in columns you can filter or sort, but these apps can rewrite timecode values unintentionally, and for Avid workflows the usual process is to import the ALE to build a metadata-filled bin and then link/relink the clips using reel/tape names and timecode, noting that relink failures often stem from reel-name mismatches or timecode/frame-rate discrepancies.
An ALE file is typically an Avid Log Exchange file, basically a plain-text metadata bundle for film/video work that behaves like a spreadsheet saved as text but is tailored for editing software, carrying clip names, scene/take info, camera identifiers, audio roll notes, on-set annotations, and the key reel/tape plus timecode in/out details, and since it’s simple text, logging apps or assistants can produce it and pass it along for editors to import cleanly and consistently.
What makes an ALE so useful is that it works as a bridge between raw media and how an editing project gets organized, since importing it into an editor like Avid Media Composer creates bin clips that already carry accurate labels and logging fields, saving the editor from manual typing, and those same details—especially reel/tape names plus timecode—act like a unique identifier that helps the system relink shots to their original files, meaning the ALE isn’t content but context that explains what each piece of footage is and how it should be matched back to the source.
Though “ALE” is typically shorthand for Avid Log Exchange, other programs can use the same extension, so your best verification method is to open it in a text editor and see whether it resembles a tabular metadata sheet containing clip, reel, and timecode information; if it does, it’s likely the Avid type, but if not, it’s probably another format and needs to be matched to its generating workflow.
