An ALE file is essentially an Avid Log Exchange file in film/TV workflows, providing a tab-delimited text list rather than storing media, with entries for clip names, scene/take info, roll IDs, notes, and especially reel/tape names with timecode in/out, enabling editors to start with organized footage and helping the system conform media down the line using those consistent identifiers.
A simple way to identify an Avid-style .ALE is to open it in Notepad and look for legible table-like text organized into labeled sections like “Heading,” “Column,” and “Data,” followed by tab-separated entries; if instead you see random symbols or structured formats like XML/JSON, it’s likely from another program, so the source folder matters, and because Avid ALEs are tiny metadata logs, unusually large files usually aren’t Avid logs.
If you want to find more info in regards to file extension ALE look into our own web site. If you only need to read the data, opening the ALE in Excel or Google Sheets using tab-delimited settings will present the columns clearly, though you must watch for spreadsheets auto-formatting timecodes or leading zeros, and in Avid the proper workflow is to import the ALE so it makes a bin of clips with metadata that you then link or relink via reel/tape names and timecode, with the most common issues coming from inconsistent reel naming or timecode/frame-rate mismatches.
Most often, an ALE file refers to an Avid Log Exchange file—a small clip-information file designed for professional workflows, similar to a spreadsheet in text form but intended to describe footage, not contain it, storing clip names, scene/take numbers, camera and sound roll markers, notes, and vital reel/tape and timecode in/out data; being plain tabbed text makes it easy for logging tools or assistants to create and send it onward for quick, consistent import into the editing system.
The strength of an ALE lies in how it connects raw footage to a properly organized editing project, because once you import it into software such as Avid Media Composer, it automatically creates clips with ready-made metadata, sparing the editor from hand-entering everything, and later that information—mainly reel/tape names and timecode—can serve as a unique match to relink media, so the ALE acts as context rather than content, telling the system what each shot represents and how it ties to the original files.
Although “ALE” usually denotes an Avid Log Exchange file, the extension isn’t globally locked to that meaning, so the easiest identification method is to view it in a text editor and see whether it reads like a tab-delimited table with columns for clips, reels, and timecode; if yes, it’s likely the Avid style, and if no, it’s probably another software’s format and must be identified by its location.
