An AEP file usually refers to an Adobe After Effects project, acting as a blueprint instead of a playable video by storing compositions, various layer types, animation elements such as timing data and expressions, effect settings, masks, mattes, plus 3D items like cameras and lights, and it generally holds only links to your source media so the file remains minimal despite the project relying on large external footage.
Since the AEP relies on external links, After Effects may report "offline footage" whenever source files get moved, renamed, or omitted during a transfer, which is why the Collect Files feature (or manually assembling the AEP and all used media) is the normal way to send a project reliably, and if an AEP refuses to open in After Effects, hints like its source, companion files, Windows associations, or a quick read-only text-editor view can indicate whether it’s truly an AE project or an unrelated format.
When an AEP appears to malfunction on another computer, it’s usually because it works as a blueprint that references outside files rather than storing them internally, meaning After Effects relies on absolute paths to footage, images, audio, and proxies, and once the project moves to a system with different drive letters, folder structures, or missing media, AE can open the project but not the assets, resulting in Missing/Offline Media until everything is relinked.
Sometimes a project appears not functioning right even though the footage is there if the new PC is missing fonts—triggering text reflow—or lacks third-party plugins, disabling certain effects, or if a newer AEP is opened in an older AE version, and the proven fix is transferring via Collect Files or copying the entire folder tree, then relinking so that once fonts, plugins, and media paths line up, the project typically un-breaks right away.
An AEP file acts as a small structured database containing comp info like resolution, frame rate, duration, background, and nesting, every timeline layer with transforms such as movement coordinates, scale, rotation, opacity, blending, track mattes, parenting, and timing, plus the entire animation system—keyframes, easing, motion blur, markers, expressions—and full effect configurations, along with mask or roto data including editable contours, feather, expansion, and animated control points.
If you loved this article therefore you would like to collect more info with regards to AEP file information i implore you to visit our own web page. With 3D enabled, the AEP records camera rigs, lighting setups, 3D layer options, and render configurations, plus project-organization elements such as bins, label colors, interpretation settings, and occasional proxy assignments, but not the actual footage files—your videos, images, and audio stay external—meaning the AEP is mostly the guiding blueprint and the references to media, so if you relocate assets, After Effects reports missing items until you relink.