RAW & ProRAW Files

A RAW file is a digital negative: the sensor's reading before a camera has made any decisions on your behalf. Nothing has been sharpened, contrast-curved, or thrown away, which is why a RAW looks flat and slightly dark straight out of the camera and why it survives being pushed so much further than a JPEG. This page covers the file side of RAW in Darkroom — what's supported, how the variants differ, and what to do when something won't open. For the editing side, see How to Edit RAW Photos.

How Darkroom handles RAW

Darkroom leans on Apple's system RAW engine to decode your files, which means the hard work of turning sensor data into a clean, sharp starting image happens before you touch a control. Two useful consequences follow. Support for your camera tracks Apple's support rather than our release schedule, so a new body usually needs an OS update rather than a Darkroom update. And because Darkroom edits non-destructively, the RAW itself is never modified — your adjustments render live on top of it until you export.

Darkroom also renders in full linear color space, which matters more for RAW than for anything else. Highlight and shadow recovery work against the complete depth of the sensor data rather than a compressed approximation, so the extreme ends of recovery hold genuine detail instead of going grey and flat.

RAW, ProRAW, and ProRAW+

RAW is the general case: an unprocessed capture from a dedicated camera or a third-party iPhone camera app.

ProRAW is Apple's format, available from iPhone 12 Pro onward. It's unusual because it keeps RAW latitude and Apple's computational photography — the multi-frame merging, tone mapping, and noise handling the iPhone does at capture — in a single file. That combination is what makes ProRAW so forgiving to edit. Enable it in the Camera settings (see Apple's guide) or capture it from an app like Halide.

ProRAW+ is Halide's maximum-quality variant of the format, and Darkroom opens it like any other ProRAW file.

Taming ProRAW's tone mapping

Apple's tone mapping is baked into a ProRAW file, and pushed hard it produces the flat, slightly washed-out "HDR look" — highlights and shadows preserved at the cost of contrast. Darkroom once had a Tone Map slider to dial that back globally, but it was removed: it carried a heavy performance cost alongside newer features, and it's no longer the best tool for the job.

Handle it with the ordinary tonal controls instead. Highlights and Shadows were rebuilt to be spatially aware and recover detail at least as well as the old slider did, and Blacks and Whites reset the endpoints that heavy tone mapping compresses. If a ProRAW file looks flat, pull the shadows and blacks down to rebuild contrast from the bottom — you'll get a more controlled result than a single global switch ever gave you. The original ProRAW post has the full background.

RAW + JPEG pairs

Many cameras save a RAW and a JPEG of the same shot. Darkroom shows a badge indicating which variant is currently loaded, and you can set a RAW + JPEG preference in Settings to always prefer one or the other instead of being asked each time.

Prefer the RAW when you intend to edit — it's the whole reason to shoot RAW. The JPEG is the better pick when you want the camera's finished rendering, or when you want a smaller file and don't plan to push it. If a RAW looks noticeably darker or flatter than its JPEG twin, nothing is wrong: the JPEG has been processed by the camera and the RAW hasn't. That's the latitude you're paying for.

When a RAW file won't open

Update your OS first. Compressed RAW was the usual culprit here for years: many Fuji, Sony, and Nikon bodies default to a compressed format that Apple's RAW engine couldn't read, and the only fix was to reshoot uncompressed. Apple has since added support, so on a current iOS, iPadOS, or macOS those files simply open. If you're on an older release, either update or switch the camera to uncompressed RAW.

If the file still won't open, work through the rest in order:

  • An unsupported camera format. Check Apple's RAW support list for your OS — iOS, iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe, iOS, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia, or iOS, iPadOS 17 and macOS Sonoma. A brand-new camera often needs an OS update before it appears.
  • Convert to DNG. For a format Apple genuinely doesn't support, Adobe's free DNG Converter will produce a DNG that Darkroom opens. Use the latest version if conversion fails.
  • Transfer corruption. Copy the file across again — an interrupted transfer from a card reader is easy to miss.
  • No RAW badge at all. Some older devices lack the hardware to process RAW.

RAW and metadata

Scans, adapted glass, and manual lenses routinely arrive with missing or wrong capture data. With Darkroom+ you can fill it in directly from the Metadata view — camera, lens, ISO, aperture, shutter speed, and capture date.

One RAW-specific behavior worth knowing: when you edit metadata on a RAW file, Darkroom saves a new version of the photo to write the change, because Apple doesn't allow editing the original in place. Your original is preserved and loads the next time you open it in Darkroom.

Frequently Asked Questions

My compressed RAW files wouldn't open. Is that fixed?Link

Yes. Apple added compressed RAW support to its RAW engine, so compressed files from Fuji, Sony, and Nikon cameras now open in Darkroom with no camera reconfiguration needed. Make sure you're on a current iOS, iPadOS, or macOS release — on older versions you'll still need to shoot uncompressed.

Does Darkroom support my camera's RAW format?Link

Usually yes — Darkroom uses Apple's system RAW support, so if your OS can read the file, so can Darkroom. Check Apple's list for your OS version. A brand-new camera may need an OS update before its format is recognized.

Why does my RAW look darker and flatter than the JPEG?Link

Because it hasn't been processed yet. The JPEG has had contrast, sharpening, and color applied by the camera; the RAW is the uncooked capture. Setting brightness and color is your job, and the extra latitude to do it is the point. See the RAW editing guide.

Where is the Tone Map slider?Link

It was removed — it had a significant performance cost alongside newer features, and the tonal controls now do the job better. Use Highlights and Shadows, which were rebuilt to be spatially aware, together with Blacks and Whites to reset the endpoints. If a ProRAW file looks flat from heavy tone mapping, pulling shadows and blacks down rebuilds the contrast.

Darkroom opened the JPEG instead of the RAW. Can I change that?Link

Yes. Open Settings and set your RAW + JPEG preference to always favor one variant. A badge on the photo tells you which one is currently loaded.

Why did editing metadata on a RAW create a new version of the photo?Link

Apple doesn't permit writing metadata back into an original RAW file, so Darkroom saves a new version to apply the change. Your original is preserved and is what loads the next time you open the photo in Darkroom.

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