After Over 20 Years of Efforts, DNG Is Now the Official RAW Image Commonplace

In March 2004, Australian photographer Robert Edwards requested a easy however significant query on Rob Galbraith’s now-defunct images boards: “Could Adobe make a RAW format?” The reply was very a lot “yes,” and Adobe introduced the DNG format, or Digital Negative, later that very same 12 months. Now, greater than 20 years later, DNG is now the official standard beneath the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

As Edwards explains, that is the results of a quarter-century of labor by numerous individuals. It’s additionally deceptively necessary work with important implications for the way forward for digital images.

Nearly all cameras, and definitely all the ones PetaPixel readers care about, seize RAW photographs. In most instances, the precise format varies by model, and generally a digital camera has a number of totally different RAW file codecs with totally different compression mechanisms. For instance, Sony Alpha cameras seize .ARW RAW photographs, whereas Nikon cameras shoot .NEF, Canon’s seize .CR2, Fujifilm has .RAF, and so forth. Some cameras seize .DNG RAW recordsdata, like Leica, Ricoh, and Sigma cameras.

These manufacturer-specific RAW picture codecs are proprietary, which means not solely are their inside workings {industry} secrets and techniques, however they’re additionally supported at totally different speeds and to various levels in industry-leading picture enhancing functions and, in some instances, are by no means totally supported in any respect. For instance, on the time of publication, the Sony a7 V RAW recordsdata are nonetheless not totally supported in any enhancing program outdoors of Sony’s Imaging Edge. Even although in lots of instances, a photographer’s life is just not affected by the truth that their most well-liked digital camera has a proprietary RAW format — most issues work more often than not — it’s nonetheless an issue.

When Edwards requested if Adobe might make a RAW format in early 2004, he was actually asking if an organization might make an open-source RAW format that totally preserved edits and was comprehensively documented, making certain it was archival-quality, versatile, and capable of applied throughout all points of a digital images workflow, regardless of which digital camera an individual used or which apps they used to course of and retailer their RAW photographs.

Thomas Knoll, the well-known engineer who invented Adobe Photoshop, chimed in on Edwards’ discussion board put up — Rob Galbraith’s boards have been actually necessary on the time — and mentioned that Edwards’ concept was doable. “Yes, it is feasible,” Knoll wrote in his simple response.

While Knoll didn’t tip his hand, DNG was already within the works. It arrived in September 2004.

DNG, an open, totally documented RAW file format with widespread assist and ISO-compliant technological foundations, solves the potential issues above and extra. DNG, given the way it was constructed and documented, has compatibility and longevity {that a} proprietary RAW picture format can by no means have.

As Edwards explains, “interoperability and preservation” has “always been the goal.”

In February 2013, the Australian Institute of Professional Photography invited Edwards to an ISO assembly on photographic requirements. Edwards was flanked by producers, scientists, technicians, photographers, engineers, and even authorities representatives, all there to debate photographic requirements. Since then, and arguably even longer, Edwards has been combating for DNG to grow to be an ISO customary.

“This week marks a significant milestone: ISO 12234-4 has been published,” Edwards writes. “DNG is now an international standard, alongside formats such as TIFF and PDF.”

“After more than two decades of discussion, persistence, and advocacy, the goal has been achieved. What began as an idea is now a globally recognized standard.”

The full standardization doc is extraordinarily prolonged, extremely technical, and much from required studying for photographers. However, the ISO 12234-4:2026 “Digital Imaging — Image storage — Part 4: Digital negative format” doc’s intro is price contemplating:

Advanced {and professional} photographers typically select to seize and edit photographs in uncooked format for added flexibility and inventive management. Unlike display-referred codecs (corresponding to JPEG, PNG, and TIFF), which retailer photographs which have already been processed by the digital camera, uncooked codecs retailer unprocessed or minimally processed information immediately from the digital camera sensor. This allows photographers to regulate many parameters to style, together with white steadiness, tone mapping, noise discount, sharpening, and so forth. Photos in uncooked format are analogous to movie negatives in a photographer’s workflow, so they’re sometimes called “digital negatives.”

The goal of this doc is to outline a standardized file format for storing uncooked pictures. This file format can be utilized in a variety of {hardware} and software program functions for producing, processing, managing, transcoding, or archiving uncooked pictures. Since uncooked pictures are carefully tied to the digital camera sensor and different traits, digital camera producers might use and assist their very own Vendor Raw codecs to fulfill numerous design necessities.

The key level right here is that this doc and the work therein formally create, in perpetuity, an internationally acknowledged, standardized RAW picture format. The doc defines the DNG format, explains in painstaking element precisely the way it works, and descriptions exactly how non-public firms can implement it of their merchandise.

Camera makers which have resisted together with DNG of their cameras, claiming that Adobe owned DNG, or that there wasn’t a straightforward option to implement DNG, or that the format wasn’t documented, now not have any excuses.

Edwards thinks the arguments towards incorporating DNG have lengthy held little water — as evidenced by the quite a few firms which have DNG of their cameras — however now they’re formally useless. No extra can firms cry foul about together with DNG as an possibility alongside proprietary RAW or wax poetic that it’s not doable or that they don’t personal the rights.

“Now the responsibility shifts. Camera manufacturers no longer have a valid reason to avoid supporting DNG. Many already do. Others can follow the example of companies like Pentax, offering both a proprietary format and DNG,” Edwards writes.

He provides that photographers additionally wield important energy.

“Real change, however, does not come from standards alone. It comes from photographers. If you care about your images, your work, your memories, your legacy, then this matters. Ask manufacturers to support DNG. Choose tools that prioritize openness and long-term access.

“Because this has never only been about file formats. It is about making sure the photographs we create today can still be seen in the future.”

Image credit: Header picture created utilizing an asset licensed by way of Depositphotos.com. DNG graphic by Adobe.