An AET file is typically understood as a reusable AE template, designed so you can open it repeatedly and save new versions rather than overwrite the source, with the file storing everything that defines the motion graphic: comps, timeline structure, layer stacks, animation keyframes, effect setups, expressions, cameras/lights, render settings, plus organizational items like folders and interpretation settings.

An AET generally doesn’t embed media, instead storing references or paths to external audio, images, and video, which is why template sets are bundled as ZIPs with Footage/assets folders and why After Effects reports missing items if things were moved, and because AETs might rely on certain fonts or plugins, opening them elsewhere can trigger missing-effect notices until everything is installed, and since file extensions aren’t exclusive, checking "Opens with" or the file’s source location is the best way to confirm the program behind it and what extra files should accompany it.

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 start a fresh project based on it without altering the master.

That’s why AET files are typically used for template-based motion graphics (intros, lower-thirds, slideshows): the master AET stays unchanged while each new project starts by opening it and doing a Save As to create your AEP, where you modify text, colors, logos, and media, and although both formats include the same elements—comps, layers, effects, keyframes, expressions, cameras/lights, and settings—and both rely on external footage paths, the AET is meant for safe templating and repeatable output, while the AEP is the editable project you keep refining.

An AET file is meant to store the framework and behavior of a motion-graphics project rather than the footage itself, offering compositions with resolution, frame rate, duration, and nesting, and keeping the entire timeline of text, shape, solid, adjustment, and precomp layers, with properties such as position, scale, rotation, opacity, masks, mattes, blending modes, parenting, and all animation elements including keyframes, easing curves, markers, and optional expressions.

It further stores all applied effects with their settings—ranging from color correction and blur to glows, distortions, and transitions—along with any 3D environment of cameras, lights, and 3D layer attributes, plus render controls and project organization like folders, label colors, and interpretation rules, but it generally doesn’t contain the actual footage, audio, fonts, or plugins, instead relying on paths that may trigger missing-asset or missing-plugin prompts when opened on a different computer If you beloved this short article and you would like to obtain additional info regarding AET file download kindly visit our web site. .