The file extension on a Nikon RAW file (.NEF) will be different from a Canon RAW file (.CR3), for example. But Adobe created an open-source digital negative format called DNG.

Raw Image Extension from Microsoft adds support for RAW file extensions. This will allow you to view RAW image files in Windows 11/10 File Explorer.

In case you’d rather use Photos to quickly preview images before you switch to a beefier editor, here’s how to set it as the default viewer for .RAW files: Open Windows 10 start menu.

Windows XP has native support for viewing and browsing many still image formats but not RAW files – Microsoft, understandably, says RAW's camera-specific nature is the reason.

RAW files provide more data for a photo-editing program to use. Here, an enhanced image of Lower Manhattan captured in Apple’s ProRAW format on an iPhone 14 Pro Max and edited in Adobe Lightroom ...

Install Adobe Camera Raw in Photoshop to open RAW image in Adobe Photoshop CS6 or CC. Or you can convert RAW file to JPEG to open then in Lightroom.

The raw file will have an extension appropriate to the type of raw format it’s in, like .dng. In Photos, you can now delete the original image and drag its extracted JPEG back in.