A property list (.plist) is Apple's standard settings and state format - the file behind app preferences, device configuration and system caches. The related .aae is the small sidecar iOS drops next to a photo you have edited, and it is the more revealing of the two: its very existence is an admission that the image beside it was changed and that the untouched original still exists.
Scan a Apple plist fileThe .aae sidecar is the distinctive find. When you edit a photo on an iPhone, iOS does not overwrite the picture - it keeps the untouched original and writes an .aae describing the edit. So the presence of the sidecar tells anyone you share the pair with that what you sent is not the original capture. The scan reads the adjustment identifier and translates it into what was done: a Photos edit, a video trim, slow-motion, a Live Photo adjustment, markup or a sticker. For slow-motion it even decodes the exact region and speed from the compressed block inside.
The sidecar also names the app that made the edit. The adjustmentEditorBundleID is the bundle identifier of the editor, and when it is not an Apple identifier it points to the specific third-party app installed on the device - so the edit trail can reveal what software the owner runs. The adjustment format version tracks the iOS or macOS release that wrote it.
For an ordinary .plist, the scan reports whether it is the human-readable XML form or the binary bplist00 form - the binary variant is easy to overlook precisely because it is not readable in a text editor - and then flattens the whole structure and walks the values. It surfaces any email address (a plist is configuration, so an address here is usually an account identifier, not content) and any file path containing /Users/<name>/, /home/<name>/ or C:\Users\<name>\, which exposes the account name on the machine that wrote the file.
Because plists are configuration and state rather than documents, what they leak is account-shaped: login names in cached paths, service-account emails, device identifiers and app settings. The scan lists the individual keys and values (capped so a huge preferences file stays readable) so you can see exactly what a given plist is holding.
This is a selection. The full field manual documents the fields read from each format.
It is an Apple Photos adjustment sidecar. When you edit a photo or video on an iPhone, iOS keeps the original untouched and stores your edit in a separate .aae file. If you copy or share the photo straight off the device, the .aae can come with it - and its existence tells the recipient the image was edited and that the real original is still on your phone.
The kind of edit (a Photos edit, trim, slow-motion, Live Photo change, markup or sticker), the app that made it via its bundle identifier, and the format version, which maps to an iOS or macOS release. For slow-motion it decodes the exact segment and speed that were changed. It does not contain the image itself.
Apple stores many plists in a compact binary form that starts with bplist00 instead of XML. It is not human-readable in a text editor, which is exactly why its contents get overlooked. The scan decodes both the binary and XML forms and lists the keys and values.
Because plists hold configuration and state, the risks are account-shaped: email addresses used as account identifiers, and file paths that contain your username (for example /Users/<name>/ or C:\Users\<name>\). The scan flags both specifically, alongside the ordinary settings.
Yes. The plist or .aae is parsed entirely in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
File X-Ray reads Apple plist files entirely in your browser - the file never leaves your device. This format is inspected, not modified. Scan a file now.