Camera raw file formats

Formats that hold what a camera’s sensor recorded, before white balance, sharpening and compression turn it into a finished photo. Most are built on TIFF and add the maker’s own tags. A raw converter develops them into an ordinary image.

Formats

.ARW

Sony Alpha Raw

Sony’s raw photo format, a little-endian TIFF with Sony’s own tags.

.CR2

Canon Raw version 2

Canon’s TIFF-based raw photo format, used until 2018.

.CR3

Canon Raw version 3

Canon’s raw photo format since 2018, stored in ISO base media boxes.

.DNG

Adobe Digital Negative

Adobe’s open raw photo format, built on TIFF.

.NEF

Nikon Electronic Format

Nikon’s raw photo format, built on TIFF with Nikon’s own tags.

.ORF

Olympus raw image

Olympus and OM System raw photos, a TIFF-like file with its own header.

.RAF

Fujifilm raw image

Fujifilm’s raw photo format, with its own header ahead of a JPEG preview and the data.

.RW2

Panasonic raw image

Panasonic Lumix raw photos, a TIFF-like file with its own magic number.