An AET file serves as a reusable After Effects template, intended for repeated use so you open it, save a new project, and customize that copy, while the template stores the construction plan of the animation including comps, timelines, layers, keyframes, effects, expressions, camera/light settings, render configurations, and all the folder/interpretation organization that holds the project together.

An AET typically doesn’t pack in the raw media; instead it references external clips, graphics, and audio, which is why these templates are usually distributed as a ZIP with a Footage/assets directory and why After Effects may prompt for missing files if anything was moved, and because AETs may rely on specific fonts or third-party plugins, opening one on a new computer can lead to warnings until the required items are added, while remembering that file extensions aren’t exclusive, so the safest way to confirm the correct app is checking "Opens with" or considering where the file originated.

An AEP file represents the editable project you’re actively working on, 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 start a fresh file so the original stays clean.

That’s why AET templates are frequently used for ready-made motion graphics such as intros, lower-thirds, and slideshows: the creator treats the AET as the permanent master, and you open it only to Save As a new AEP before customizing elements like text, color, media, and logos, and while both formats store the same structures—compositions, layers, keyframes, effects, expressions, cameras/lights, and settings—and both typically link to external footage, the AET exists to preserve the original design whereas the AEP is your editable working file.

If you cherished this article and you also would like to receive more info pertaining to AET file recovery i implore you to visit the web page. An AET file mostly contains 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.

In addition, the template captures all effects and their configured values—whether color correction, blurs, glows, distortions, or transitions—plus any 3D setup involving cameras, lights, and 3D layer controls, along with render/preview preferences and project-level organization such as folders, labels, and interpretation rules, but it usually avoids bundling actual footage, audio, fonts, or plugins, relying instead on linked paths that can produce missing-asset or missing-effect warnings on another machine.