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DaveLInSF
Inspiring
October 23, 2014
Question

Importing iOS 8 edited images AAE files?

  • October 23, 2014
  • 1 reply
  • 24620 views

With iOS 7, I could crop images using the built-in Photos app on my iPhone or iPad, then when I imported those photos into Lightroom, the original image and its cropping automatically appeared, just as if I had done the cropping on Lightroom. This behavior disappeared with iOS 8. Only the original unedited image from iOS 8 is imported by Lightroom.

Lightroom complains that it is unable to import files with extension .AAE for the files that were edited in the iOS 8 photos app. Some Googling revealed that AAE is the new XML sidecar format used in iOS 8 to non-destructively record edits. I guess that iOS 7 used a different sidecar format that Lightroom understood. I am using OS X Mavericks, no CC and no iCloud.

I tried to import the AAE files to see what they look like, but had no luck doing so. On my Mac with Mavericks, they don't show up in Image Capture, and on a Windows PC I can see the AAE files, but I get errors trying to copy them.

It appears that if I upgrade my Mac to Yosemite, then Image Capture will be able to read the AAE files.

Has anyone looked at these files? Do they contain any adjustments that Lightroom might recognize if their extension is changed to XML?

Can anyone from Adobe comment if there are any plans for a future version of Lightroom (or other Adobe products) to interpret these files?

Thanks for the help!

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

Robbie75VR
Robbie75VR
Participant
November 24, 2014

.aae are iOS 8 picture's sidecar (just like adobe .xmp) where iphone saves the list of adjustment you made when you edited your picture (jpg manages as a raw with sidecar). Problem is that so far I don't think any desktop editor editor manage this sidecar file yet. It's probably there just to mantain the picture look when you move files from a portable device to another (iphones, ipads...).

So far the only way I found to export the pictures with modifications applied is Airdrop (iphone to Mac). It will render the picture and send a new edited file, but I think it's better to copy also the originals with sidecars since sooner or later we'll have an .aae compatible editor (I hope).

    O
    ocalahs
    Participating Frequently
    April 3, 2015

    but I think it's better to copy also the originals with sidecars since sooner or later we'll have an .aae compatible editor (I hope).

    Right!? But, how do you import the sidecar files to your computer . !Lightroom won't touch them. !Image capture doesn't seem to acknowledge them. Even Apples own !Aperture doesn't seem to know what to do with the files.

    ~S

    J
    jameshavelock
    Participating Frequently
    December 19, 2017

    Check again. I just imported with Image Capture and the folder was full of AAE files!

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