What Is a RAW Photo? RAW vs. JPEG Explained Simply
A RAW file is your camera's sensor reading, saved with (almost) no processing: no white balance, no contrast curve, no sharpening, no compression to 8-bit color. It's the digital negative — flat and unglamorous, but holding everything the sensor saw.
A JPEG, by contrast, is a finished print: the camera has already chosen the look and thrown away the data it didn't need. That single difference explains almost every practical trade-off between the two.
Why RAW gives you editing superpowers
Bit depth: RAW files store 12–14 bits per channel — thousands of tonal steps where a JPEG keeps 256. Pull the shadows of a JPEG up two stops and you get banding and mud; do it to a RAW and detail simply appears.
White balance in RAW is a label, not a commitment — you can change 'tungsten' to 'daylight' after the fact with zero cost. Highlight recovery, deep shadow lifts, and aggressive color grading all survive because the data is still there.
The costs
RAW files are 3–6× larger, need an editing step before sharing, and every camera brand has its own flavor — Canon .CR3, Sony .ARW, Nikon .NEF, Fujifilm .RAF — plus Adobe's universal .DNG. Straight out of camera they look flatter than JPEGs, because nothing has been done to them yet. That flatness is the point: it's headroom.
RAW + XMP: the editable pair
Because RAW editing is non-destructive, your edits live as instructions in a catalog or an .xmp sidecar. Share the RAW plus its sidecar and someone else can open your exact edit, study it, and grade their own version — the workflow RawCut is built around: see the before, read the recipe, remix the look.
When to shoot RAW (and when JPEG is fine)
Shoot RAW when light is difficult (sunsets, backlight, night), when you plan to edit seriously, or when the shot matters. JPEG remains sensible for high-volume casual shooting where storage and speed win. Many cameras offer RAW+JPEG so you don't have to choose in the moment.
Frequently asked questions
Can I open RAW files in my browser?
Browsers can't decode RAW sensor data directly, but most RAW files embed a full-size JPEG preview. RawCut extracts that preview automatically when you drop a RAW into the Inspector.
Is DNG better than my camera's native RAW?
DNG is an open, documented format — great for archival and compatibility. Native formats are equally editable today; conversion is a workflow preference, not a quality change.
Why do my RAW photos look worse than the JPEGs?
They don't have less quality — they have less processing. The camera shows JPEGs with contrast, saturation and sharpening already applied. A RAW is waiting for you to make those choices.
Drag the before/after slider on any RawCut post to feel exactly what editing adds on top of the RAW.
Compare RAW vs. edit live