File Format

Since there are many different raw formats, the list is continuously growing as new vendors/models enter the market, and the formats share many similarities, ImageGear treats most camera raw formats as one format: IG_FORMAT_DCRAW. Details regarding manufacturer, model, etc., are available as metadata for most supported cameras.

Headerless Camera Raw formats is a special group of camera raw formats. Headerless Digital Camera RAW file filter provides support for Digital Camera Raw images that only contain pixel data and no header. Because of the absence of a header, such files can't be detected reliably. ImageGear uses low detection priority for these images, and by default, detection of this filter is disabled. Also, since these files do not contain any metadata describing color reconstruction, ImageGear support level for them is limited to "S2" - pixel decoding only.

The implementation of Digital Camera Raw Formats has been used in Accusoft's PICTools implementation since 2005, and includes many patented and patent pending speed optimizations.