Opening ASE Files

The ASE file type is primarily associated with Photoshop.

ASE	File extension: ASE
	File type:	color swatch

What is an ASE file?

ASE files mostly belong to Photoshop by Adobe. ASE files usually contain color swatches saved in the Adobe Swatch Exchange format used by Adobe design software. A color swatch is a collection of colors and their metadata. ASE color swatches are used to share colors across Adobe programs such as Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator. This gives collaborators access to the same shades throughout a multi-user workflow. Marketing teams may also distribute ASE files with media assets to encourage the consistent use of brand colors. ASE files support four color spaces: RGB, LAB, CMYK and Grayscale. ASE is also the filename extension of ASCII text-based 2D and 3D scene files exported from Autodesk computer-aided design programs. Alice 3D graphics programming environment also exports 2D and 3D scenes in ASE format. Asperite animated sprite and pixel art editor saves sprites in ASE files. A sprite consists of 2D graphics, palettes, settings, frames, and layers used in an animation.

How can I open an ASE file?

You need a suitable software like Photoshop to open an ASE file. Without proper software you will receive a Windows message "How do you want to open this file?" or "Windows cannot open this file" or a similar Mac/iPhone/Android alert. If you cannot open your ASE file correctly, try to right-click or long-press the file. Then click "Open with" and choose an application. You can also display a ASE file directly in the browser:. Just drag the file onto this browser window and drop it.

Online ASE Text Viewer

Choose your .ase file to analyze

or drag and drop it here

Online File Viewer

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Programs that open and convert ASE files:

Photoshop by Adobe
See the previous paragraphs to learn more about the main application. ASE files are often referred to as Photoshop settings because this type of file is primarily created or used by this software.
3DS MAX (scene export) by Autodesk
3DS MAX is a cross-platform 3D animation and modeling software. Animation scenes created with 3DS MAX may be exported in ASE format. This file format is classified as 3D Image.
Alice (scene export) by Carnegie Mellon University
Alice is an educational 3D programming environment that allows students to create movies and games. It can export animation scenes as ASCII-based ASE files. This file format is classified as 3D Image.
Asperite (sprite) by David Capello
Asperite is an animated sprite and pixel art editor for creating 2D animations. It saves sprites in ASE files. This file format is classified as Raster Image.
Velvet Studio (audio sample) by Velvet Studio Developer
Velvet Studio was a music composition software for classic MS-DOS operating system. It used audio samples saved in ASE files. This file format is classified as Audio.

ASE file format:

To view or edit ASE files you need to know the file format, because it determines how the data in this file is stored. Often, the file format can be deduced from the file extension or the initial bytes (called the signature). If the file extension or signature does not match the file format, errors will occur when opening or editing the file. If there are problems opening a file, you must first determine the file format used. Our evaluation of the ASE files is as follows:

The ASE file type is mainly used by one program with a specific format. The following file formats are most commonly found in ASE files:

80% of all ASE files belong to Adobe Swatch Exchange File. These are binary files, so they do not contain words or text. The files are 200 bytes to 7 KB in size, with a median of 1 KB. The file type was developed 10 years ago and is still in use today. Certain words are almost always found in the files, such as ASEF and RGB. Files like these are sometimes connected to color, palette, cmyk, colors, pantone, colour, adobe and swatches.
5% of all ASE files use the popular RIFF file format. RIFF files store data in tagged chunks. There are primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video. These files are binary files, so they do not contain text, but only cryptic characters. The file size is in the range of 31 KB to 290 KB. The keywords WAVEfmt, data, fact and RIFF are typical for these files.

All other ASE files (15%) have no consistent format, the following 3 formats can be found: 3D Studio Max ASCII Export. The category is nuancier, library, colours, digital, farben, berel or audi. If you want to find out which format your ASE file belongs to, just click on the button "Choose your .ase file to analyze".

Technical Data for ASE File Extension

File classification:

Settings

Related files:

asa, aco, acb, aes, ace, clr, case, zip, png, asc, asi, plist, ds_store, exe, tif, psd, tpl

Related links:

InDesign, Illustrator

Mime type:

image/x-aseprite

The following listing is compiled from the database produced by the 'Associate This!' program, selected data from the main FILExt database and file extension information submitted by users.

ProgramID: Photoshop.ExchangeableSwatchFile.10
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\PhootoshopCS\Adobe Photoshop CS3\Photoshop.exe

an ase color swatch is a special file format by Adobe and should only be edited and saved with the appropriate software.

How to solve problems with ASE files

Associate the ASE file extension with the correct application.
Update your software that should actually open color swatches. Because only the current version supports the latest ASE file format. Search, therefore, e.g. on the Adobe manufacturer website after an available Photoshop update.
To make sure that your ASE file is not corrupted or virus-infected, get the file again and scan it with Google's virustotal.com.
Click here to open your .ASE file online - secure, fast, and no downloads needed.