What is the AVE file format?
An .ave file is a plain text script written in Avenue, the proprietary interpreted scripting language built into ESRI's ArcView GIS 3.x software (versions 3.0 through 3.3, 1994-2002). Avenue gave GIS analysts a way to automate spatial analysis workflows, customize the ArcView interface, and build custom tools without leaving the application.
Avenue scripts use an object-oriented syntax built around the ArcView object model - classes such as View, Table, Theme, Chart, and Layout. Comments begin with a single quote character. Scripts are plain ASCII text interpreted at runtime by ArcView; there is no compiled binary form. A single .ave file typically contains one script or one class definition.
ArcView 3.x reached end of support in 2008 and has no runtime in modern ESRI products (ArcGIS Desktop 10.x or ArcGIS Pro). There is no automated migration path from Avenue to the successor environment: Python with the arcpy module. Porting an .ave script requires manual rewriting in Python. Large repositories of .ave scripts remain on academic and government servers from the late 1990s and 2000s, where they served as workflow templates for tasks such as batch map production and coordinate projection. Any plain text editor can open .ave files for review before migration.
Security & safety
RISK: LOWPlain text file; no executable outside ArcView 3.x environment. Safe to open in a text editor. No known security vectors.
Format details
in a nutshell- Avid Media Composer settings/script file - Some Avid internal application files may use .ave extension for settings or effect data; unrelated to GIS scripting.
Programs that open AVE files
Windows2 apps
Notepad++ (read/edit script text)
Open-source Open the .ave file directly. Use Notepad++ for syntax-highlighted viewing. No Avenue language plugin exists; use plain text mode.
ArcView 3.x (to run script)
Paid Load the script in ArcView via Script Editor (Window > Script Manager). ArcView 3.x is discontinued and requires Windows XP/2000 era compatibility. ESRI no longer sells or supports it. 
macOS1 app
Linux1 app
Technical details
deep spec| File type | Plain text script (Avenue scripting language source code) |
| MIME type | text/plain |
| Magic bytes | None - plain ASCII text file with no binary signature |
| Encoding | ASCII (7-bit; Avenue predates Unicode support in ESRI products) |
| Compression | None - uncompressed plain text |
| Typical size | 1 KB - 50 KB (simple scripts are tiny; complex automation scripts may be larger) |
| Language | Avenue - ESRI's proprietary interpreted object-oriented scripting language exclusive to ArcView 3.x |
| Comment syntax | Single quote character (') starts a comment line |
| Object model classes | View, Table, Theme, Chart, Layout - core ArcView 3.x application object model classes |
| Execution model | Interpreted at runtime by ArcView; no compiled binary form exists for Avenue scripts |
| ArcView version range | ArcView GIS 1.0 through 3.3 (1994-2002); ArcView 3.x reached end of support in 2008 |
| OS support | Windows (95/98/NT/2000/XP era), macOS, Solaris, IRIX (ArcView 3.x was cross-platform) |
| No runtime in | ArcGIS Desktop 10.x and ArcGIS Pro - Avenue scripts cannot execute in any modern ESRI software |
| Migration path | Manual rewrite to Python using the arcpy module; no automated Avenue-to-Python conversion tool exists |
| Released | 1994 (ArcView GIS 1.0 with Avenue scripting language) |
| Latest version | N/A - Avenue discontinued; ArcView 3.3 (2002) was the last version using .ave scripts |
AVE conversions
Community Q&A
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