iPhone saving additional images

Question

iPhone saving additional images

When I take a photo, my iPhone 17 Pro Max has started saving two versions, a 'regular' one and a 16:9 aspect version (image name prefixed E, which basically crops a bit off the top and bottom of the regular image), along with accompanying AAE file.

This isn't apparent in the iPhone Photos app, it only becomes obvious when downloading them to my iMac.

Is this why the 16:9 and 1:1 aspect ratios are yellow on the button in the Camera app? Will setting it to 4:3 (which is white) prevent it from saving the near duplicate?

Or is it to do with the 'additional lenses' feature (multiple taps on the 1x Zoom button in the camera app)?

iPhone 17 Pro Max, iOS 26

Posted on Dec 1, 2025 7:35 AM

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Answer 1

markwmsn

Level 6

16,715 points

Dec 1, 2025 4:44 PM in response to BlueberryiMac

BlueberryiMac, if you set your aspect ratio to 4:3, you should not see the apparent double files with Image Capture for future photos taken in 4:3 (using the full sensor).

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Answer 2

Dec 1, 2025 8:26 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

Thank you, but you haven't really answered my question - which is probably my fault for phrasing it badly.

I only want the iPhone to save the original image. How do I prevent the iPhone from also saving the cropped version and AAE file? I clearly switched the feature on by accident, so how do I switch it off again? And then keep it switched off?

(It is one of those helpful Apple features for beginners, but which I don't need).

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Answer 3

Dec 1, 2025 10:00 AM in response to BlueberryiMac

The E file is the small preview copy that the phone uses to be able to quickly scan through the pictures. I see that the E version is 9 MB, but the original is 12 MB. This isn't just from chopping off a bit-- it's from more severe compression. That file is there, so it shows up in the list.

You could sort Image Capture by name so that all the IMG_1234.jpg files come before all the IMG_E files.

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Answer 4

Dec 1, 2025 8:06 AM in response to BlueberryiMac

E means it's the edited version. You can always recreate that from the original if you want. The camera always takes the full sized picture, but if you specify that you want 16x9, for instance, it crops if for you. But Photos is a non-destructive editor, and the original is not changed.

I never have the camera pre-crop the image-- I use the native 4x3. I like 16x9, but I do it myself so I can cut out the parts that I choose, not the ones the machine chooses.

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Answer 5

Dec 1, 2025 8:38 AM in response to BlueberryiMac

The iPhone isn't "saving two versions"-- it only saves the original. But it remembers your instructions to crop it, and it does that when you ask it to create a file.

How are you "downloading them to my iMac?" I don't get E versions when using iCloud Photos, and it doesn't do that when I export to Files or to and external drive. Because I use iCloud Photos, I can't test this using the Mac's Finder Sync (which isn't really a "sync.")

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Answer 6

Dec 1, 2025 9:27 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

I download (aka copy) them to my iMac the old-fashioned way - using a USB-C cable and the desktop Image Capture app. I don't use iCloud Photos, Finder Sync or 'export to files'.

In the Image Capture app, it shows two versions of the image - the original and the cropped one - as separate files with separate file sizes. And what it downloads (this is the terminology that Image Capture uses) from the iPhone to the Pictures folder on my iMac is the original image file, plus the separate cropped version (prefixed E), plus the AAE file. Three files in all.

There is definitely a setting in the iPhone Camera app or iPhone Camera settings for this, because it only started happening recently. I'm just not sure what it is and how to turn it off.

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