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Benz63amg

macrumors 601
Original poster
Oct 17, 2010
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So i just imported photos from my iPhone 11 Pro to my iMac using image capture and i see a bunch .AAE that are in the folder with my imported photos, do i just trash these .AAE files? what are they even for?
 
So i just imported photos from my iPhone 11 Pro to my iMac using image capture and i see a bunch .AAE that are in the folder with my imported photos, do i just trash these .AAE files? what are they even for?
they are the files that contain data of the pics you edited. it's any edits you make to a pic they're stored in those files.
 
"An AAE file contains edits made to an image using the Photos app on an iOS device. It is used to transfer non-destructive edits a user has made to .JPG images in iOS to the macOS system. AAE files can be found accompanying the images for which they contain edits."
 
But why are there separate files created with my edits? I want my edited photos to be imported as they appear EDITED (cropped etc) on my phone before I import? Does this mean that all my imported photos that I just imported were imported UNCROPPED in it’s original form before I ever made the edits? What if I delete these AAE files now?

Should I capture my photos in “Most compatible” format as opposed to “High efficient” setting on the iPhone to avoid this?

I want my photos imported into the iMac as they appear on my iPhone without needing any accompanying files with my photos
 
But why are there separate files created with my edits? I want my edited photos to be imported as they appear EDITED (cropped etc) on my phone before I import? Does this mean that all my imported photos that I just imported were imported UNCROPPED in it’s original form before I ever made the edits? What if I delete these AAE files now?

Should I capture my photos in “Most compatible” format as opposed to “High efficient” setting on the iPhone to avoid this?

I want my photos imported into the iMac as they appear on my iPhone without needing any accompanying files with my photos

 
But why are there separate files created with my edits? I want my edited photos to be imported as they appear EDITED (cropped etc) on my phone before I import? Does this mean that all my imported photos that I just imported were imported UNCROPPED in it’s original form before I ever made the edits? What if I delete these AAE files now?

Should I capture my photos in “Most compatible” format as opposed to “High efficient” setting on the iPhone to avoid this?

I want my photos imported into the iMac as they appear on my iPhone without needing any accompanying files with my photos

Import them using the Photos app and you'll import the edits automatically and see them in the app.

The reason the imported file is the original is that Photos app edits are nondestructive. You can always modify them in the future, undo the edits, etc... If you want to "bake" the edited version as a new image you have to export it from the app, either on the phone or on your iMac after importing to Photos.app.

EDIT: Note that this has always been the case; this isn't a new iOS 13 thing.
 
So the only way I can import the EDITED version from my iPhone into the iMac and have the EDITED version is by AirDropping the photos and videos from my iPhone to my iMac?
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Import them using the Photos app and you'll import the edits automatically and see them in the app.

The reason the imported file is the original is that Photos app edits are nondestructive. You can always modify them in the future, undo the edits, etc... If you want to "bake" the edited version as a new image you have to export it from the app, either on the phone or on your iMac after importing to Photos.app.

EDIT: Note that this has always been the case; this isn't a new iOS 13 thing.
I don’t want them in the photos app as I rather have them in a folder as files,

I am really confused at this point. I have a lot of photos that I edited On my iPhone 11 Pro which contain image data outside of frame that was captured as I shot the photos and I obviously edited some of these photos on my iPhone to reveal some additional image content to improve composition of the photos. Are these photos also imported into my iMac WITHOUT the changes and edits I made on the iPhone?
 
So the only way I can import the EDITED version from my iPhone into the iMac and have the EDITED version is by AirDropping the photos and videos from my iPhone to my iMac?
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I don’t want them in the photos app as I rather have them in a folder as files,

I am really confused at this point. I have a lot of photos that I edited On my iPhone 11 Pro which contain image data outside of frame that was captured as I shot the photos and I obviously edited some of these photos on my iPhone to reveal some additional image content to improve composition of the photos. Are these photos also imported into my iMac WITHOUT the changes and edits I made on the iPhone?

That is correct. Image capture will always import original unedited files.

What do you have against the Photos app? This is what it was intended for. Once you import to Photos you can export to whatever directory you want. Not only that but you can adjust the photos further in that app before exporting.
 
That is correct. Image capture will always import original unedited files.

What do you have against the Photos app? This is what it was intended for. Once you import to Photos you can export to whatever directory you want. Not only that but you can adjust the photos further in that app before exporting.
The photos app is extremely slow at importing photos from the iPhone based on my past experience so I avoid on using the Photos app altogether? Is it not slow at importing based on your experience?
 
The photos app is extremely slow at importing photos from the iPhone based on my past experience so I avoid on using the Photos app altogether? Is it not slow at importing based on your experience?

The last time I had to import a batch of photos it was lightning fast. Of course it's going to depend on your computer; do you have an SSD? A spinning hard drive will definitely slow things down.
 
The last time I had to import a batch of photos it was lightning fast. Of course it's going to depend on your computer; do you have an SSD? A spinning hard drive will definitely slow things down.
I have a fusion drive, it’s got nothing to do with that though, I just remember last time I tried the photos app was extremely sluggish and slow when importing but that was on my old machine. I now have a 2019 iMac so I’ll try again.

my question is this, so if I import with the photos app the photos will be imported in FULL quality but with the edits I made on the iPhone “baked in” as if that’s how they were shot originally on my iPhone? Once they are imported into the photos app, I then go into the last imported section and I drag out these photos and videos into an external folder in finder to keep them on my computer?
 
So the only way I can import the EDITED version from my iPhone into the iMac and have the EDITED version is by AirDropping the photos and videos from my iPhone to my iMac?

The only way? I don't believe so. I have iCloud photos on. The photos on my phone show up on my Mac automatically. No need to import. I get the edited version loaded into Photos with the ability to undo those edits. No AAE files to deal with.

If you're asking specifically about importing photos, then maybe. But importing isn't the only way to get your photos from your phone to your Mac. I'm not trying to say it's the right solution to your problem, but it's another option.
 
That is correct. Image capture will always import original unedited files.

What do you have against the Photos app? This is what it was intended for. Once you import to Photos you can export to whatever directory you want. Not only that but you can adjust the photos further in that app before exporting.

I have started looking at alternatives. Photos has been awful for me in iOS 13 betas & released versions and same with Catalina. I turned off iCloud photos on phone. My phone & computer can’t get on same page. My phone can’t finish curating or People album, and it has been like they are reacting to each other’s changes in a negative way (edits & named faces on computer sometimes reversed). Also any change once curating is done on computer even triggers another long process. When photos says it’s working on it may not be even when in background, & once processes do start its way too much going on under Activities & for too long for minor changes. Delete a few duplicates hours needed from time notice shows in Photos (for Mac) application. Edit date on one photo hours more. Throw in phone and computer being out of sync more additional curating & needing to finish people in background. Some of the time is processing just not actually starting even after an hour in background, but again even once it starts so much CPU use and read & writes for such little changes most times. If phone & computer on same page I would not be paying as much attention, but since they are causing a lot of redoing edits, names, and dates I have had to try and pay attention more.
 
One question i have as well is this, I obviously have "Capture outside of frame" enabled on my iPhone 11 Pro as mentioned above so image data that has been captured OUTSIDE of the frame of photos that i recently shot and haven't edited yet (in past 30 days as the Outside Frame Image data gets deleted from the iPhone automatically after 30 days from the day the photo was shot if the image isn't edited by the user), My question is this,

When i go ahead and import my photos from my iPhone 11 Pro to my iMac, does Image Capture import the FRAMED version of the image i originally shot on my iphone AS WELL as one fully zoomed-out version of that photo that contains all that OUT OF FRAME image scenery (Assuming its a photo that contained Out of Frame data) ?

"Auto Apply Adjustments" is disabled on my iPhone 11 Pro as i don't want the iPhone to change the composition of my photos without me making the edits myself
 
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my question is this, so if I import with the photos app the photos will be imported in FULL quality but with the edits I made on the iPhone “baked in” as if that’s how they were shot originally on my iPhone? Once they are imported into the photos app, I then go into the last imported section and I drag out these photos and videos into an external folder in finder to keep them on my computer?

They will be imported in full quality with the edits intact. At that point you want to select the photos, then Export them from the File menu. You can then choose what quality level you want to export at; you can choose full quality at maximum JPG quality.
I have started looking at alternatives. Photos has been awful for me in iOS 13 betas & released versions and same with Catalina. I turned off iCloud photos on phone. My phone & computer can’t get on same page. My phone can’t finish curating or People album, and it has been like they are reacting to each other’s changes in a negative way (edits & named faces on computer sometimes reversed). Also any change once curating is done on computer even triggers another long process. When photos says it’s working on it may not be even when in background, & once processes do start its way too much going on under Activities & for too long for minor changes. Delete a few duplicates hours needed from time notice shows in Photos (for Mac) application. Edit date on one photo hours more. Throw in phone and computer being out of sync more additional curating & needing to finish people in background. Some of the time is processing just not actually starting even after an hour in background, but again even once it starts so much CPU use and read & writes for such little changes most times. If phone & computer on same page I would not be paying as much attention, but since they are causing a lot of redoing edits, names, and dates I have had to try and pay attention more.

There are definitely server side problems with iCloud right now at Apple. Given how smooth and perfectly iCloud Photos has worked for me for the past few years, I'm willing to believe these problems are temporary and will be fixed soon.

Photos has been behaving reasonably well for me under Catalina and iOS 13, but I did make a point to let my entire library resync after upgrading my devices. This took a long time, but once it was finished everything has been syncing great and updates have been quick.

Give it a little more time; I'm sure the issues will be worked out. I may consider alternatives myself if it starts getting glitchy for me and doesn't get fixed.
 
They will be imported in full quality with the edits intact. At that point you want to select the photos, then Export them from the File menu. You can then choose what quality level you want to export at; you can choose full quality at maximum JPG quality.


There are definitely server side problems with iCloud right now at Apple. Given how smooth and perfectly iCloud Photos has worked for me for the past few years, I'm willing to believe these problems are temporary and will be fixed soon.

Photos has been behaving reasonably well for me under Catalina and iOS 13, but I did make a point to let my entire library resync after upgrading my devices. This took a long time, but once it was finished everything has been syncing great and updates have been quick.

Give it a little more time; I'm sure the issues will be worked out. I may consider alternatives myself if it starts getting glitchy for me and doesn't get fixed.

Can you look above the last post you made and answer my question regarding “Out of Frame” image data? If greatly appreciate it.
 
They will be imported in full quality with the edits intact. At that point you want to select the photos, then Export them from the File menu. You can then choose what quality level you want to export at; you can choose full quality at maximum JPG quality.


There are definitely server side problems with iCloud right now at Apple. Given how smooth and perfectly iCloud Photos has worked for me for the past few years, I'm willing to believe these problems are temporary and will be fixed soon.

Photos has been behaving reasonably well for me under Catalina and iOS 13, but I did make a point to let my entire library resync after upgrading my devices. This took a long time, but once it was finished everything has been syncing great and updates have been quick.

Give it a little more time; I'm sure the issues will be worked out. I may consider alternatives myself if it starts getting glitchy for me and doesn't get fixed.
One question i have as well is this, I obviously have "Capture outside of frame" enabled on my iPhone 11 Pro as mentioned above so image data that has been captured OUTSIDE of the frame of photos that i recently shot and haven't edited yet (in past 30 days as the Outside Frame Image data gets deleted from the iPhone automatically after 30 days from the day the photo was shot if the image isn't edited by the user), My question is this,

When i go ahead and import my photos from my iPhone 11 Pro to my iMac, does Image Capture import the FRAMED version of the image i originally shot on my iphone AS WELL as one fully zoomed-out version of that photo that contains all that OUT OF FRAME image scenery (Assuming its a photo that contained Out of Frame data) ?

"Auto Apply Adjustments" is disabled on my iPhone 11 Pro as i don't want the iPhone to change the composition of my photos without me making the edits myself
 
i just imported photos from my iPhone 11 Pro to my iMac using image capture
When i go ahead and import my photos from my iPhone 11 Pro to my iMac, does Image Capture import the FRAMED version of the image i originally shot on my iphone AS WELL as one fully zoomed-out version of that photo that contains all that OUT OF FRAME image scenery (Assuming its a photo that contained Out of Frame data) ?

Since you already imported them, it shouldn't be hard to find out for yourself.
 
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