What is a RAW file?
RAW — digital negative
Use the format RAW
A concrete example
Prepare a JPEG copy of a photograph from a camera.
Useful checks
RAW refers to a family of formats. The camera model and development settings affect the result.
Choose a conversion
Keep the original and open the result in the software or on the device that will need to use it.
Your questions about this format
How to convert a HEIC photo from iPhone for free?
Choose your HEIC file in Images, then JPEG to share it widely or PNG if your usage requires it. Proceed to preparation, check the output, and start the conversion. Download and open the result. HEIC remains free; size limits and daily quota apply.
JPEG, PNG or WEBP: how to choose?
For a photo to send, start with JPEG. For a logo with transparency or sharp text, prefer PNG. For a web publication, WEBP can be interesting: compare the size and the rendering before publication. Converting a JPEG to PNG does not restore details lost earlier.
Why does my transparent background become opaque?
JPEG does not preserve transparency. Choose PNG or WEBP when the background must remain transparent and the proposed conversion allows it. If the background is already flattened in the original file, changing the format will not remove it.
Will my Photoshop layers or my vector drawing be preserved?
A JPEG or PNG output is a flattened image. It does not retain PSD layers or the editable objects of an SVG or an Illustrator file. Keep your working file and use the exported copy for sharing. Specialized creation formats are indicated by NoLimit.
What is it?
A RAW file isn't really an image: it's the unprocessed readout from the sensor, before any adjustments are made. No white balance applied, no contrast, no sharpening added, no lossy compression.
It's the digital equivalent of a film negative: a starting point, rich in information, that needs to be developed. A RAW file will actually look flat and dull until you've worked on it — that's normal, and that's the whole point.
History & origin
RAW emerged with the first professional digital SLRs in the late 1990s, when photographers began demanding access to unprocessed sensor data instead of the JPEGs already baked in-camera.
Each manufacturer created its own version — CR2 for Canon, NEF for Nikon, ARW for Sony — which explains why there's no single standard. Adobe proposed DNG as a universal format, but it never fully caught on.
Why it is useful
Unmatched editing latitude: 12 or 14 bits per channel instead of 8, which makes it possible to recover a blown-out sky or a blocked shadow in situations where a JPEG has no information left to give.
White balance can be corrected after the fact, with no loss whatsoever — something a JPEG simply can't do.
Limits & drawbacks
Large file sizes: 20 to 50 MB per photo, compared to 5 for a JPEG.
No direct sharing: a RAW file has to be developed and exported first. And since the format is manufacturer-specific, you need up-to-date software to read files from a recent camera.
Practical tips
Shoot in RAW whenever the lighting is tricky or the photo matters. Develop it, then export to JPEG for sharing, or to TIFF for professional printing.
Always keep your original RAW files: they're your negatives. An exported JPEG will never let you go back to the source.
Convert your RAW in seconds, on our secure servers in France.
Convert a RAW