Free Sample RAW Files for Testing Your Editor (Tested on a Mac, 2026)

Published September 18, 2026 · Daniel Tello · RevelRaw

You need a sample RAW when you are testing something you do not yet own: an editor's Canon CR3 support, a Fujifilm RAF before you buy the camera, a legacy Sony SRF to make sure a parser does not choke. This set gives you one file per format, a licence you never have to think about, and a note on what a correct result looks like once each file opens. Two limits up front: the files were chosen for format coverage and body popularity, not for the photographs, and the timings below are single runs on one Mac, so read them as "well under a second", not as a benchmark.

Download the set

The files come from raw.pixls.us, the public archive darktable and RawTherapee use for regression testing; ours are byte-identical copies, picked from the 1,870 files there tagged CC0 (of 2,016 on September 18, 2026).

The files, format by format

One row per file: format (linked to its guide), camera and lens, download and size, capture settings and bit depth from the file's own metadata, the largest JPEG the camera embedded, and whether the body is on Apple's list of cameras supported by macOS 26. "Renders" is the size macOS produced when we converted the file.

What to look for once each one is open:

Sony: ARW, SR2, SRF

The a7 III ARW is the first file to check if you shoot Sony: 14-bit, Sony compressed, with an embedded JPEG of only 1616×1080, so an app that shows a sharp full-size preview instantly has decoded the RAW. The DSC-R1 SR2 and DSC-F828 SRF are Sony's early-2000s formats from before the Alpha line; the test is whether an app opens them at all and crops them the way macOS does.

Canon: CR3, CR2, CRW

Three generations. The EOS R CR3, the format Canon introduced in 2018 with the EOS M50, was shot on an RF 85mm F2 Macro IS STM; proper CR3 support reads that lens and offers its correction profile. The 5D Mark IV CR2 is a standard 14-bit file whose third-party lens is recorded only as "24-70mm", a fair test of an app faced with glass it cannot identify. The EOS D60 CRW, from 2002, embeds only a 2048×1360 JPEG, so a 3072×2048 render proves the old format decoded. Our guide to opening CR2 files on a Mac goes deeper.

Nikon: NEF, NRW

The Z 6 NEF is 14-bit Nikon compressed at a 1-second exposure and should render at 6048×4024 from a 6064×4040 readout. The Coolpix P1000 NRW is Nikon's compact-camera RAW, 12-bit uncompressed; its 4608×3456 embedded JPEG is close to full size, so compare an export against it pixel for pixel.

Fujifilm: RAF

The X-T4 RAF is the X-Trans test: its embedded JPEG is 4416×2944, well short of the 6240×4160 render, so the editor has to do its own demosaic. Look at fine foliage and brickwork at 100%; worm-like texture or smeared detail means the X-Trans pattern is being handled badly.

Panasonic: RW2

The Lumix G9 RW2 is 12-bit with the smallest preview among the current bodies, 1920×1440. If an editor's first render looks soft and then sharpens a moment later, you have watched it swap the preview for the decoded RAW.

OM System: ORF

The OM-1 ORF is uncompressed in a 16-bit container with only 12 valid bits. An app that reads the container naively gives you a nearly black image or a histogram crushed into the left edge; the correct render is 5184×3888.

DNG: Ricoh GR III, DJI Mavic 3 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro ProRAW

Three DNGs, three behaviours. The GR III DNG is a conventional 14-bit sensor file with lossless JPEG compression, carrying only a 720×480 preview, the smallest in the set. The Mavic 3 Pro DNG is 16-bit, from the drone's tele module, with GPS. The iPhone 12 Pro DNG is a genuine ProRAW: 12-bit, linear, already demosaiced by the phone, with GPS and Apple's sky-matte data inside. An editor that treats it like a Bayer sensor file will get it wrong; our ProRAW editing guide covers what the file holds.

What we found testing these on a Mac

Guides in this space rarely open the files they hand out, so we did: on September 18, 2026 we converted each file to a JPEG at quality 90 with the RAW converter built into macOS 27.0, timed from the command line on an Apple silicon Mac, checked for a Quick Look thumbnail, and read every file's metadata with exiftool.

Everything decodes. On macOS 27.0 in September 2026, all 14 sample RAW files in this set decoded with the system's built-in RAW converter, each in 0.25 to 0.66 seconds, and all 14 produced a Quick Look thumbnail. Nothing was rejected, including the three early-2000s files and the two bodies Apple does not list.

macOS renders the cropped active area, not the full sensor readout. The Sony a7 III ARW reports 6048×4024 and renders at 6000×4000; the Fujifilm X-T4 RAF reports 6384×4182 and renders at 6240×4160; the OM System OM-1 ORF reports 5220×3912 and renders at 5184×3888. Nine of the 14 files lose a border this way. It is not a fault: the crop is the camera's own, and a good editor should land on the same numbers.

The embedded JPEG is full size in only 6 of the 14 files. The Canon EOS R and 5D Mark IV, the Nikon Z 6 and the iPhone 12 Pro embed the complete image; the Sony a7 III ARW embeds 1616×1080, the Ricoh GR III DNG 720×480, and the Sony DSC-F828 SRF has nothing beyond a 640×480 thumbnail. Our free RAW to JPEG tool extracts whatever is inside, in your browser, and reports its size.

Two of the 14 files carry GPS coordinates: the DJI Mavic 3 Pro DNG (50°58′ N) and the iPhone 12 Pro DNG (34°03′ N). The other 12 have none.

Apple's list is not the whole story. Apple's page on RAW support in macOS 26, current as of July 2026, names 12 of the 14 bodies here and no DJI drone or iPhone. Both unlisted files opened anyway, because both are DNG: the systems "also include basic support for RAW files in DNG (Digital Negative) format when captured by these and other cameras" (Apple Support, July 2026). If Preview opens your drone or phone files, that is DNG support at work, not camera-specific support.

The licence, plainly

CC0 1.0 is a public-domain dedication: you may copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, including commercially, without asking permission or giving credit. The CC0 deed spells it out in a paragraph. Most free-sample pages say "free" and then ask for a credit line or limit you to personal use; CC0 asks nothing, which is why this set is CC0 only. The raw.pixls.us archive tags every file with its licence, and 146 of its 2,016 files are CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, which rules out commercial use; we skipped those, and we skipped archives that state no licence at all. The 14 files here are byte-identical to the originals, checksums included. Credit is not required, but the contributors deserve it, and a link to raw.pixls.us is the way to give it.

How to test a RAW editor with these files

Six checks, in the order that catches the most problems fastest, whatever editor you are weighing up.

1. Decode everything. Open all 14. The likeliest refusals are the three early-2000s files (CRW, SR2, SRF) and, in apps that key support to a camera list rather than DNG, the drone and iPhone files. The a7 III should render at 6000×4000, not 6048×4024.
2. Lens data. The EOS R and Z 6 files name their lenses in full: does the editor show them and offer a correction profile? Then try the 5D Mark IV file, whose lens is recorded only as "24-70mm".
3. White balance. Compare the editor's as-shot rendering with the camera's own JPEG (extract it with the RAW to JPEG tool). They will differ; the question is whether the editor's version is a defensible start.
4. Highlight recovery. Drag exposure down on the a7 III or X-T4 file. A RAW editor brings back detail a JPEG would have clipped; if the highlights turn flat grey, the app is working on the preview.
5. Noise. This is a low-ISO set, ISO 32 to ISO 400, so it will not stress a denoiser. Use your own high-ISO files for that; use these to check that noise reduction does not smear the X-T4's fine detail.
6. Export. Export a full-quality JPEG from each file and compare its dimensions with the "renders" figure in the table. Anything smaller is a preview or a capped size.

Where RevelRaw stands: all 12 formats in the set are on its 24-format list, which is how the set was chosen; the drone and iPhone files come in through DNG support, as on macOS. It is free to download with one free full-quality export, enough to run this checklist, on macOS 26 or later with an Apple M1 or later. To inspect a file without editing it, the EXIF viewer and the RAW to JPEG tool on this site read these files in the browser with nothing uploaded.

Need a specific camera?

For your exact body, go to raw.pixls.us: 2,016 files across 30 formats and about 1,029 make and model combinations, each with a licence badge, a SHA-256 and a full EXIF dump. Check the badge before commercial use: 1,870 files are CC0, the rest CC BY-NC-SA. To learn whether your Mac opens a body on its own, check Apple's supported-cameras list; for what RevelRaw opens, see the formats page.

FAQ

Where can I download sample RAW files for free?

Right here: 14 files, one per format across 12 formats, hosted on GitHub with direct links and SHA-256 checksums, or all 14 as a 338.6 MB zip. Every file is CC0, so there is no sign-up and no credit line. For a specific camera body, the raw.pixls.us archive holds 1,870 CC0 files.

Can I use these RAW files commercially?

Yes. All 14 carry the CC0 1.0 public-domain dedication, which lets you copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, including commercially, without permission or credit. We chose CC0-only files for exactly that reason.

Why does my Mac open some RAW files and not others?

macOS supports RAW per camera model, not per file extension, and Apple publishes the list of cameras covered by macOS 26. Twelve of the 14 bodies here are on it; the other two, the DJI Mavic 3 Pro and the iPhone 12 Pro, opened anyway because they write DNG, which Apple supports from other cameras too. A body that is neither listed nor writing DNG is the usual reason Preview refuses a file.

How big is a RAW file?

It depends on resolution, bit depth and compression. The 14 files here run from 8.2 MB for the Canon EOS D60 CRW, a 3072×2048 file from 2002, to 32.3 MB for the Canon 5D Mark IV CR2, and all 14 together are 338.6 MB as a zip.

Do RAW files contain a JPEG?

Nearly all do, but not always at full size. Cameras embed a JPEG so the back screen and thumbnails work without decoding the sensor data. In our 14 files only 6 carry a full-size JPEG; the Sony a7 III ARW embeds only 1616×1080, the Ricoh GR III DNG 720×480, and the Sony DSC-F828 SRF has nothing beyond a 640×480 thumbnail.

Is a DNG a RAW file?

Yes. DNG is Adobe's openly documented container for RAW data, and what sits inside varies: the Ricoh GR III DNG here holds 14-bit sensor data, the DJI Mavic 3 Pro DNG 16-bit, and the iPhone 12 Pro ProRAW DNG 12-bit linear data the phone has already demosaiced. All three edit with RAW latitude, and being DNG is why the two Apple-unlisted bodies open on a Mac.

How do I check a RAW file's EXIF without uploading it?

Drop it on our free RAW EXIF viewer: it reads every format in this set in your browser, and nothing leaves your machine. On the command line, exiftool is what we used to build the table above.

Related reading: Convert RAW to JPEG on a Mac · How to open CR2 files on a Mac · iPhone ProRAW on a Mac · All RAW formats RevelRaw opens · Free RAW EXIF viewer