An AET file is mainly recognized as an After Effects template project, 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.

What an AET generally doesn’t bundle is the full media; instead it stores links or paths to footage, images, and audio kept elsewhere, which explains why templates are often zipped with a Footage or assets folder and why missing-file prompts appear if media was relocated, plus the fact that AETs can depend on certain fonts or plugins means opening them on a different computer may cause font swaps until everything is installed, and since file extensions aren’t exclusive, verifying the file’s "Opens with" setting or checking its source location is the most reliable way to confirm its creator and needed companion files.

An AEP file serves as the primary file you update during animation, while an AET is a reusable template, so in practice the difference lies in purpose: you open an AEP to continue that same project, but you open an AET to create a new copy so the original stays clean.

That’s why AET files are standard choices for motion-graphics template packs like intros, lower-thirds, and slideshows: the creator preserves the AET as the untouched master and you open it only to Save As a separate AEP for each new video, replacing text, images, colors, and logos, and even though both AET and AEP hold the same kinds of data—comps, layers, keyframes, effects, expressions, cameras/lights, and settings—and both normally reference external media, the AET’s job is to safeguard the template while the AEP becomes the project you actively modify.

An AET file usually contains everything needed to preserve the structure and behavior of a motion-graphics setup but not the raw media itself, keeping all compositions with their resolution, frame rate, duration, nesting, plus the full timeline of layers—text, shapes, solids, adjustments, precomps, and footage placeholders—along with each layer’s properties like position, scale, rotation, opacity, masks, mattes, blending modes, and parenting, as well as animation data such as keyframes, easing, markers, and any expressions that automate motion.

In case you have any kind of issues with regards to exactly where as well as how you can employ AET file opener, you are able to email us in our website. The template also preserves effects and their specific settings—color correction, blurs, glows, distortions, transitions—and any 3D layout using cameras, lights, and 3D properties, plus the project’s render/preview options and organizational details like bins, labels, interpretation settings, and proxies, yet it typically doesn’t embed real footage, audio, fonts, or plugins, which means opening it elsewhere can prompt missing-file or missing-effect notices until you relink or install the required resources.