Have you heard of anyone talking about “RAW files” before? Wondered what they meant? Here’s a quick breakdown of the difference between a RAW file and the JPEG files we are all more familiar with! 👩🏼💻📷 Watch the video below to learn the difference or skip it and read on!
What is a RAW file?
RAW files are the largest file type your camera can produce, full of all sorts of information your sensor has recorded. This file type HAS to be converted to something like a JPEG file to be shared. In other words it must be edited and exported.
A RAW file file comes straight from the camera, and the benefit of photographing in RAW is that you can make non-destructive edits on these files. This means when you use a program to edit, that program essentially makes a log of your edits on a separate little file, so you can always go back to the original image without any damage. There is also more information in these files, so editing is more accurate. Your editing software doesn’t have to work as hard.
The problem is, not all photo software can edit RAW files (see this post for some options who can). The endings on these file types vary by what camera brand you have. It may look like ___.CR2 or ___.NEF or ___.DNG etc etc, there are actually a lot of variations. PLUS this is a much larger file size, which impacts storage.
What makes a JPEG file different?
JPEG/JPG files are the standard image file we are all used to. JPEGs can be easily shared or viewed by any old photo program. The problem with JPEGs is that they hold less information. Anytime you edit them and make a save, it is a destructive edit. You cannot go back to the original image.
You know a jpg file by its ending ___.jpg or ___.jpeg. Typically, you would edit a RAW file and then export it into a JPEG. Much like you edit a Word document and export to a PDF.
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