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I understand that RAW files contain data straight from the sensor, that they're used as input to the production process that results in a final image, and that RAW isn't really one format but a collection of device-specific and mostly proprietary formats. But the fact the files are always described as "RAW" (all uppercase) rather than "raw" gives the appearance that the name is or was some sort of acronym. If that's the case, what does or did "RAW" stand for. If it's not, how did it come to be written that way?

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It's a recursive acronym that stands for "RAW: Always Worthwhile". – Matt Grum Dec 27 '12 at 23:07
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Note to new users: Matt Grum is joking, above. See below for the real answers. – mattdm Jan 11 at 13:04

4 Answers

up vote 15 down vote

I suspect the answer here is that the format is written as "RAW" to match other common file format names which are acronyms such as JPEG, GIF, MOV, MPEG, etc. Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Hasselblad, Olympus, Sony, and many other manufacturers all write the format in all caps, so at this point it's a de facto standard. There is a distinction to be made between a raw image file in the "RAW" sense, i.e. image data unprocessed by the device, and a raw image file in the sense of "straight from the camera, not altered using image manipulation software", and I think writing the file format as "RAW" rather than "raw" helps to make this clear. When you write it in all caps you're indicating a specific file format, even if that format changes from one device or vendor to another.

Alan Shutko points out in his comment below that older cameras used file systems that only allowed uppercase filenames, like "IMG_0001.RAW". This is an excellent point and seems a likely reason that the format was initially written in all caps.

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DOS used all-caps most of its life, and the early cameras used older versions of the FAT filesystem because of lower processing requirements. These versions were all-caps. – Alan Shutko Dec 27 '12 at 20:34
It's also usually indicated in all-caps in camera menus. It might have something to do with limitations of the LCD top panel, which is built around icons and segments (like digital clocks) rather than dots. A lower-case "a" is hard to render on a segmented display. – Stan Rogers Dec 27 '12 at 22:42
@StanRogers Good point, but I wouldn't expect that to affect every other use of the term. For example, you might also see "bulb" (for long exposures) written in all caps on an LCD panel, but it's typically not written that way in manuals or on web sites. – Caleb Dec 27 '12 at 22:53
Actually, I am used to seeing Bulb and Time at least capitalized (it's usually represented with just a "B" or a "T" on older cameras, and it distinguishes the camera mode from the physical device used or the quantity being measured). And I would expect a single, unambiguous, canonical representation in menus and documentation. (I write, and expect to read, software documentation the same way.) – Stan Rogers Dec 27 '12 at 23:05
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Which cameras store their raw images with a .RAW extension? The ones I have come across all use their own, e.g. .CR2 .NEF – Matt Grum Dec 27 '12 at 23:12
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up vote 5 down vote

"RAW" is not an acronym and shouldn't be written in uppercase, it should be written in lowercase. Raw suggests that it's the image as captured by the image sensor in your digital camera or the film without any modification.

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I agree to some extent, but the industry doesn't: specifying the file format as "RAW" is common practice everywhere from camera interfaces to user manuals to photography-related web sites including this one. – Caleb Dec 27 '12 at 20:17
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Personally, I write it in caps so that the fact I am discussing a file format stands out. Lowercasing it as simply raw allows the term to get lost within the text, and may lead to ambiguity. – jrista♦ Dec 27 '12 at 20:49
@jrista yeah I understand what do you mean, but that's your personal taste, a lot of writers use raw and others use RAW, I spent sometime to figure out which one is the right one but with no luck – akram Dec 27 '12 at 20:55
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I totally agree grammatically it should be "raw" or if referring to a specific format it can be a proper noun: "Raw". However I long ago gave up the fight and started using RAW for the sake of convention. – Matt Grum Dec 27 '12 at 23:10
up vote 2 down vote

The name has its history from cooking.

raw is used to signify the data has not yet been cooked to where a standard image editing program can use it.

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Thanks. I understand what "raw" means -- it's the custom of writing it as RAW rather than raw that I'm asking about. – Caleb Dec 27 '12 at 20:53
that would go back to DOS/CPM days, where lowercase filenames were not available – Sean Cheshire Dec 27 '12 at 20:56
@Sean Cheshire Edit you answer to add that in.It would make it more complete – damned truths Jan 5 at 22:29
up vote 1 down vote

Traditionally, the filetype ".raw" was a true raw pixel format, containing only the image buffer streamed to disk with no meta data. Photoshop and other viewers would then "guess" the height, width, bit depth, and channels by matching the file size with common aspect ratios and resolutions, otherwise user interaction was required.

Now it is commonly used as a common denominator for uncompressed or even lossless compressed sensor data before bayer interpolation from the cameras incl. a lot of meta data, and jpeg thumbnails. These are not true raw files, but most of them does have a raw file inside. I say most of them, because Canon does have versions of its "CR2" format that stores half resolution "RAW" images, and these are not raw at all.

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This is important to note, because RAW generally means "one of those container formats from a camera, which is probably really a DNG, CR2, NEF, PEF, ORF, RAF, or X3F file, with that extension, not actually .RAW", not true raw files. – mattdm Jan 11 at 13:02

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