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You shot a photo in RAW mode, or a photographer sent you the originals. The file contains every bit of data the camera sensor captured — full dynamic range, full colour depth, zero processing. This is the digital negative you edit from, not the photo you share.
RAW gives photographers complete control over exposure, white balance, sharpening, and colour grading in post-production. With a JPG, those decisions are baked in at capture — you're working with the camera's interpretation. With RAW, you're working with the raw signal. The catch is size (20–80 MB per image), proprietary formats (Canon CR2/CR3, Nikon NEF, Sony ARW — every brand invents their own), and the requirement for specialised software to open them.
Adobe Lightroom (subscription) is the industry standard for RAW processing. Capture One (subscription) is the professional alternative, especially for studio work. Darktable and RawTherapee are both free and capable. Adobe's DNG format attempts to be a universal RAW standard — some cameras shoot DNG natively, and Lightroom can convert proprietary RAW to DNG for long-term archival.