Photographers

RAW vs JPEG for Wedding Photographers: What a RAW File Is, and How to Open NEF, ARW and CR2

By Ayush Patnaik, founder of AccioPix

Published October 24, 2026 · 11 min read

RAW vs JPEG is about who finishes the photo. A RAW file keeps what the sensor read, usually at 12 or 14 bits. This lets you set the white balance and save lost highlights later. A JPEG is the camera's finished picture at 8 bits. It is compact, and it opens anywhere. At a wedding, shoot RAW, or RAW plus JPEG, and deliver JPEGs.

The RAW file: sensor readings, not yet a photo

A RAW file stores what each pixel on the sensor measured. It saves the data before any software turns it into a picture. Adobe puts it plainly: RAW files "are a type of raster file format, but not actually images themselves." You need a programme to convert those readings into something a screen can show.

This is down to the colour filter on the sensor. Most cameras place a Bayer mosaic over the pixels. Each pixel catches only red, green or blue. Malvar, He and Cutler set out the grid in their 2004 paper on demosaicing: in every 2×2 block, two pixels have green filters, one has red, and one has blue. Calculating full colour for every pixel from that mosaic is called demosaicing. It is the first step for any RAW converter. A JPEG has this done in the camera, along with white balance, the contrast curve, sharpening, and your chosen picture style.

Then the camera throws things away. Gregory Wallace's 1992 description of the JPEG standard says baseline coding, the kind cameras write, "is for images with 8-bit samples", and that its quantisation step "is fundamentally lossy". Its stated goal is "to discard information which is not visually significant". That works well for a finished picture. It works badly for a picture you still plan to change.

You see the difference in the bit depth. Nikon's Z5 manual lets you write NEF files at 12 or 14 bits. It notes that 14-bit files hold more colour data and take up more room. Twelve bits give 4,096 values for each channel, while fourteen give 16,384. An 8-bit JPEG has 256. Those extra steps let you push a dim reception two stops without banding across the shadows.

One other detail matters for the rest of this post. Almost every camera puts a ready-made JPEG preview inside each RAW file so the rear screen has a picture to show. On most modern bodies it is full size. Culling software and our converters both rely on it.

RAW vs JPEG, side by side

The choice in RAW vs JPEG is editing room against ease. The file sizes below are from Nikon's Z6III manual, tested on a 660 GB card.

The case for RAW at a wedding

RAW vs JPEG wedding photography is an easy choice. A wedding gives you the worst light you will shoot all year. Nothing can be done twice. The procession takes place in late sun. The ceremony sits under a tungsten canopy. The reception has purple LED washes that turn skin magenta. A camera's auto white balance guesses each scene. In a JPEG, that guess is final.

The white dress is the second reason. A bride in ivory by a window gives you the classic blown highlight. In a JPEG, those whites clip to 255 and stay flat. With a 14-bit RAW, there is usually detail left past what the preview showed. Move the highlight slider, and the lace comes back.

The cost is real. You pay it at the computer. By Nikon's figures above, a lossless RAW is well over twice the size of a fine JPEG. Memory cards fill faster. Backups and the laptop drive fill faster, too. Each frame must go through Lightroom or the maker's own software before anyone can see it. At a wedding, that is usually a price worth paying.

JPEG in even light, and RAW plus JPEG

JPEG works well in even light, when the photos are needed right away. Think of a conference under a ceiling of LED panels. Or a same-day slideshow at the reception. Or a second shooter gathering guest candids. The camera JPEG is close to what you would have made anyway. Nobody is waiting for an edit.

RAW plus JPEG sits in the middle. The camera saves both files for each shot. You can send the JPEG that night. The RAW waits on the drive in case a shot needs saving. It takes the most card space of all. Pack more cards than you think you need.

Drop the habit of shooting JPEG to "save time". JPEGs only save time on editing. You only skip editing if the camera got the light right. At a wedding, it often won't.

NEF, ARW, CR2, CR3 and DNG: one idea, five extensions

All RAW files store the same kind of information. But each camera maker packs it into its own format with its own extension. That is why a NEF file opens where an ARW file won't. It is also why a camera released last month can defeat software from last year.

NEF: Nikon

Nikon calls its RAW images NEF files. The Z5 manual gives two compression settings. Lossless compressed uses "a reversible algorithm" and creates files "about 60% to 80% the size of uncompressed pictures". Compressed cannot be reversed and takes them to 45 to 65 per cent. Newer bodies add high-efficiency NEF. The Z6III manual lists this at about 11.4 MB instead of 27.3 MB for lossless. Check this before you switch. Apple's RAW support list marks the Z6III "Lossless RAW format only", so high-efficiency NEFs from that camera won't open in Photos on a Mac.

ARW: Sony

An ARW file is Sony's RAW. On the a6700, Sony's help guide offers Lossless Comp, which records "without deterioration of image quality", and Compressed, which is smaller. Sony's free Imaging Edge Desktop reads ARW files, and it edits them by changing a settings file, so "the image data itself does not change".

CR2 and CR3: Canon

A CR2 file comes from an older Canon, and a CR3 file from a newer one. DPReview reported in April 2018 that the EOS M50 was "Canon's first camera to use the CR3 Raw file format", and that its C-Raw option makes files "30-40% smaller than their losslessly compressed CR2 equivalents". If your backup drive holds a decade of Canon weddings, expect both extensions.

DNG: the open one

A DNG file is Adobe's attempt at a common RAW format. Adobe launched the specification in 2004 as an open standard. Some cameras write it directly, and so do iPhones: Apple says ProRAW uses DNG, at roughly 25 MB a frame at 12MP and 75 MB at 48MP. Fujifilm's RAF, Olympus's ORF and Panasonic's RW2 are the same idea under other names.

Opening RAW files and converting them to JPG

To open RAW files, you need software that recognises your camera's format. Free programmes will suit most people. The choice depends on whether you want to look, edit, or hand someone a JPG.

• Mac, iPhone and iPad: Apple builds RAW support into the system. Its supported camera list, current as of July 2025, covers iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia 15, and adds "basic support for RAW files in DNG (Digital Negative) format" from cameras that aren't listed.
• Windows: install the Raw Image Extension, free from Microsoft. Its listing says it lets you "view thumbnails and metadata of supported raw file formats right in Windows File Explorer or view images in the Photos app", and the current version reads CR3.
• The camera maker's software: Nikon made NX Studio free to download in March 2021 for NEF files. Sony's Imaging Edge Desktop works on ARW. Both tools develop the RAW well, setting white balance and exposure. They cost nothing.
• Lightroom or Camera Raw: the usual choice for a working photographer. You can edit one frame and sync the changes across a whole wedding.

When the job is simply "send the client's uncle a JPG of this NEF", developing the RAW is more work than it needs. Our free RAW to JPG converter takes CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, DNG, RAF, ORF, RW2 and a few more, a whole folder at a time, inside the browser. There are single-format pages for CR2 to JPG and ARW to JPG, and a RAW to PNG version for a lossless copy.

The software is honest about its job. It does not develop the RAW. It pulls the JPEG preview the camera saved inside the file and hands it over. You get it byte for byte, unless the photo needs rotating. That makes it fast and private. The colours are the camera's own, picture style included. Some older cameras and compacts store a smaller preview. The tool tells you if a photo comes out under 2 megapixels. If a shot needs real correction, open the RAW in one of the programmes above.

From two thousand RAW files to the guests' phones

A wedding RAW workflow has three steps: cull, edit, deliver. The order matters. Editing shots you will later discard is the most common way to waste an evening.

Cull using the previews. Lightroom Classic can read the JPEG tucked inside each RAW rather than building its own. Our guide to culling in Lightroom Classic shows how to do that step by step. The free photo culling tool and best photos picker take RAW files right off the card, judge them from those previews, and hand back XMP sidecars named the way Adobe names them. Place them beside the RAW files, and Lightroom stars the keepers. What to discard, and how many frames that usually takes, is in what photo culling means.

Next, edit the keepers and export JPEGs. The couple holds on to those files. The guests will want them on their phones.

AccioPix handles delivery. Upload the exported JPEGs to an event once, and put the QR code on the tables. Each guest sends a selfie on WhatsApp and gets back the photos they appear in. The uploader also takes RAW files. Inside your browser, it pulls out the JPEG in each file and uploads it. It warns you if a camera saved only a small preview. That is useful for a same-night selection straight off the card, before the edit. It costs ₹0.20 a photo, and the pricing page has the rest. The wedding photo sharing page shows the guest side, and AccioPix for photographers shows how your name and logo travel with the album.

Terms on the spec sheet

• Bit depth: the number of steps each colour channel can capture. 8 bits gives 256 levels, 12 bits gives 4,096, 14 bits gives 16,384.
• Demosaicing: constructing the full colour at every pixel, starting from a sensor where each pixel recorded only red, green or blue.
• Lossless compressed RAW: smaller than uncompressed with every value kept. Nikon and Sony both offer it.
• Compressed, C-Raw or high-efficiency RAW: even smaller, with some data dropped. They are still far easier to edit than a JPEG.
• Embedded preview: the camera puts a JPEG inside each RAW file for its own screen. Culling tools and quick converters read it.
• XMP sidecar: a little file beside a RAW that shares its name. It holds ratings and edits for Lightroom and Bridge.

Frequently asked questions

What is a RAW file?

A RAW file stores the light readings from a camera sensor. The camera saves these before it turns them into a finished photo. You set the white balance, contrast and sharpening later. Each camera maker uses its own extension: NEF for Nikon, ARW for Sony, CR2 and CR3 for Canon, and DNG for Adobe's open format.

Is RAW better than JPEG?

If you want to edit, yes. A RAW file holds 12 or 14 bits per pixel, while a camera JPEG holds 8. That lets you fix white balance and bring back highlights without the picture breaking apart. For sharing, no. A JPEG is smaller, works on any phone, and needs no software. Many photographers capture both at once.

Should I shoot RAW or JPEG for a wedding?

Shoot in RAW, or use RAW plus JPEG. Weddings shift through tungsten halls, LED stage light, and daylight, and nothing can be shot twice. RAW lets you fix the colour and the white dress later. Give JPEGs to the couple and the guests, because every phone can open that file.

What is a NEF file?

Nikon cameras save RAW files as NEF. Nikon manuals offer 12-bit or 14-bit recording. You can choose lossless compressed to keep every value. You can choose compressed, which discards some data for smaller files. Newer Nikon bodies also write a high-efficiency NEF that is smaller again.

How do I open ARW and CR2 files?

Files from most current Sony and Canon cameras open right away on a Mac or iPhone. Apple builds RAW support into the system. On Windows, install Microsoft's free Raw Image Extension to view them in the Photos app. To turn a folder of them into JPGs without installing anything, the free AccioPix ARW and CR2 converters run in your browser.

Does converting RAW to JPG lose quality?

You lose editing headroom, not the look of the photo. The JPG is 8-bit and compressed. Once you export, you cannot recover highlights as you could from the RAW. Keep the RAW files as your masters. Treat each JPG as a copy meant for display and sharing.

References

• Adobe, RAW files. Read 24 October 2026.
• Adobe, DNG files. Read 24 October 2026.
• Apple Support, Digital camera RAW formats supported by iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, and visionOS 2, published 15 July 2025. Read 24 October 2026.
• Apple Support, About Apple ProRAW. Read 24 October 2026.
• Malvar, H. S., He, L. and Cutler, R., 2004. High-quality linear interpolation for demosaicing of Bayer-patterned color images. IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP), vol. 3, pp. iii-485-488.
• Microsoft, Raw Image Extension, Microsoft Store. Read 24 October 2026.
• Nikon, Z5 online manual: NEF (RAW) recording. Read 24 October 2026.
• Nikon, Z6III online manual: memory card capacity. Read 24 October 2026.
• Nikon Canada, Nikon releases free new NX Studio software to view, process and edit still images and video, press release, 4 March 2021.
• Rose, C. and Keller, J., 2018. Quick look: Canon's new compressed Raw format. DPReview, 2 April 2018.
• Sony, ILCE-6700 Help Guide: RAW file type. Read 24 October 2026.
• Sony, Images that are supported by Imaging Edge Desktop. Read 24 October 2026.
• Wallace, G. K., 1992. The JPEG still picture compression standard. IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, 38(1), pp. xviii-xxxiv.