Privacy Policy

This policy explains what we collect, why, and who we share it with for the AE2CSS Exporter service and the website at https://ae2css.com.

1. What we collect

• Account data: your email address (used for magic-link sign-in, Google sign-in, and product communication).
• Device/seat data: a generated machine identifier, app version, and last-seen timestamps — to bind your license to your installs and enforce seat limits.
• Usage data: counts and timestamps of key actions (sign-in, export, license revalidation) — to enforce quotas, operate the Service, and improve it. We log audit events tied to your account.
• Billing data (paid plans): handled by Stripe. We store a Stripe customer/subscription identifier and subscription status/period — not your full card number.
• Technical data: standard request/server logs (IP, user agent, timestamps) from our hosting provider.
• Composition data: a structural description of the composition you are exporting. Section 2 covers this in full, because it is the part most worth being precise about.

What we do NOT collect: we do not upload or store your After Effects project files, your footage, your images, or any rendered pixels. We do not keep the HTML/CSS you export.

2. The CSS engine — what leaves your machine, and for how long

The current version of AE2CSS generates your HTML/CSS on our servers. When you preview or export, the extension analyses your composition inside After Effects and sends the result of that analysis — not your project — to the engine, which returns the generated code as text. Versions released before 1.4.0 generated the code entirely on your machine and sent no composition data at all; if you have not updated, nothing in this section applies to you.

What is sent. A structural description of the composition, in JSON: composition and layer names, geometry, timing and keyframes, colours, effect parameters, the text content of text layers, and the file names of image layers.

What is never sent. Your .aep project file. Your source footage, images or audio. Any rendered pixels — the PNGs the exporter bakes for images and masks are produced by After Effects on your machine and stay there, written next to the generated CSS and never uploaded. And file paths: the extension strips the absolute path of every source file before the description leaves your machine, so folder and drive names — which often carry client and project names — do not travel.

How it is transmitted. Compressed and over TLS, authenticated with your account's token so the engine can check your licence.

How long it is kept:

• The composition description you sent — never written to disk, held in memory only for the duration of the request.
• The HTML/CSS generated from it — held in a small in-memory cache for at most 10 minutes, and lost whenever the service restarts or deploys. The cache exists so that flipping a checkbox twice does not rebuild the same output twice.
• Server request logs (IP, path, status, timing) — 14 days, then deleted automatically.
• Our database — holds no composition data at all, only the export count used for your quota.

What we do not do with it. We do not use your compositions or the code generated from them to train any model, to build a library or gallery, or for any purpose other than answering the request that sent them. We do not sell them, and we do not share them with anyone outside the processors in section 4.

3. Why we use it (legal bases)

To provide and secure the Service, authenticate you, enforce plan limits, process payments, prevent abuse/fraud, comply with law, and communicate about the product. Where required, our bases are performance of a contract, legitimate interests (security, anti-abuse, product improvement), consent (where applicable), and legal obligation. Generating your code from the composition description is performance of the contract — it is the Service itself.

4. Processors we share data with

We use these sub-processors to run the Service; they process data on our behalf:

• Hetzner Online GmbH (Germany; server located in Helsinki, Finland) — the CSS engine and its logs.
• Vercel — website/API hosting and logs.
• Neon — database (accounts, usage, audit).
• Resend — account email: magic-link sign-in, and occasional product/welcome messages you can unsubscribe from at any time.
• Google — optional "Sign in with Google" authentication (we receive your verified email and basic profile).
• Google Ads — advertising measurement on this website, only if you accept cookies (see section 5).
• Stripe — payment processing and subscription management.

We do not sell your personal data. We may disclose data if required by law or to protect rights and safety.

5. Cookies and similar technologies

We keep this deliberately small. There are two kinds of storage on this site:

• Strictly necessary (always on). A sign-in session cookie that keeps you logged in, and browser localStorage that remembers your cookie choice. These are required for the site to work, so they do not need consent and cannot be switched off.
• Advertising (off until you accept). If you accept, Google Ads sets cookies such as _gcl_* and _ga so we can see which ad campaigns lead to sign-ups. They typically last up to 90 days for _gcl_* and up to 2 years for _ga.

We do not run advertising or analytics cookies before you accept them. Until you choose, Google Consent Mode holds the tag in a denied state and no advertising cookie is written. Declining costs you nothing — every part of the site works either way.

You can change your mind at any time via the Cookies link in the footer of any page. Withdrawing consent stops further collection and clears the advertising cookies already set in your browser.

The AE2CSS extension inside After Effects does not use cookies at all.

6. Retention

We keep account and usage data while your account is active and as needed for legal, security, and accounting purposes, then delete or anonymize it. Audit logs are retained for a limited period for security. Composition data and generated code follow the much shorter schedule in section 2.

7. Your rights

Depending on your location you may have rights to access, correct, delete, export, or restrict processing of your data, and to object or withdraw consent. To exercise them, email hello@ae2css.com or use our contact form. You can also delete your account, which removes your account data subject to limited legal/accounting retention.

8. Security

We use industry-standard measures (encrypted transport, hashed one-time tokens, scoped secrets). The CSS engine runs as an unprivileged, sandboxed service with no shell and a read-only application directory. No system is perfectly secure; use a secure email account, since email access controls sign-in.

9. International transfers

Our processors may store/process data in the United States and the European Union. Where required, transfers rely on appropriate safeguards (e.g. standard contractual clauses).

10. Children

The Service is not directed to children under 16 and we don't knowingly collect their data.

11. Changes

We may update this policy; material changes will be announced. Continued use means you accept the updated policy.

12. Contact

Questions or requests: our contact form.