An AET file functions chiefly as an AE template project, working like a master AEP that you open to generate new projects while leaving the template intact, and it contains the project’s full structure—compositions, timeline layouts, layered elements, animated keyframes, effects, expressions, camera/light setups, render/project settings, and the internal folder organization and interpretations.
If you liked this article as well as you want to receive more info with regards to AET file program generously go to our web-page. An AET typically doesn’t embed 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 not included, 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 evolving project file you edit, whereas an AET is a template designed for reuse, meaning you open an AEP to keep working on that same animation but open an AET to create a new copy without modifying the master template.
That’s why AET files are a standard format for motion-graphics template packs (intros, lower-thirds, slideshows): the designer keeps the AET untouched as the master, and you begin each new video by opening it and doing Save As to create your AEP before customizing text, logos, colors, and media, and although both AET and AEP contain the same technical elements—compositions, layers, keyframes, effects, expressions, cameras/lights, and settings—and both refer to external footage, the AET protects the template while the AEP serves as the editable, ongoing production file.
An AET file typically holds 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 addition, the template holds 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.
