You hear photographers all the time telling you that shooting in raw is better than shooting in JPEG. But do you actually know why it’s better? Before we get started, let’s cover off a few basics. JPEG is a form of compression that is applied to images. It does this for a few reasons. Number one, a compressed file such as a JPEG file is a lot smaller than a raw file. Because of this, you can fit a lot more images in a memory card or on your hard drive. The other main reason why people use JPEG is that it is a universal format that can be read by just about everything including internet browsers such as Chrome Safari and Microsoft Edge. This compatibility means that when you post a JPEG image on the Internet, everyone can see it.  Because JPEG is a standard, it doesn’t matter which type of camera you use because the JPEG file will be compatible with everything else.  RAW files, on the other hand, are uncompressed files that are produced by the camera. Each camera will have its own format for raw files. Even when you have different cameras from the same manufacturer, the raw files for each one of those camera models will be different. Roll files are much larger than JPEG files so they’re not really convenient for using on the Internet. Furthermore, profiles cannot be read by Internet browsers. In order to open and view a RAW file, you will need a raw converter. Products such as Adobe Lightroom and photoshop have all converters that allow you to open up raw files from different cameras.

So now that we understand the difference between raw files and JPEG files let’s move on to why you might want to shoot RAW rather than JPEG.

When you are recording your images in RAW format, the file has no compression. It is simply recording the information from every pixel in saving it onto the card.  By doing this, it gives you a level of flexibility during editing but you’re not able to get from a JPEG file.

In order to explain this best, it’s explained what your camera is actually doing when it creates a JPEG file.

When shooting in JPEG mode, your camera records more than just the information from the pixels.  It will also record things such as white balance, situation, contrast and a lot of other things.  This might seem like a really good idea, but if you want to change any of these settings during your editing, you may find it very difficult to do if not impossible in some cases. The reason for this is, is that all that information is locked into the file and then compressed to a point where it cannot be removed. This is often referred to as “Baked in” because all the settings group together, compressed and are now part of the image.

RAW files work very differently to JPEG files. They only record pixel information and metadata. This means that even if you change the settings on your camera to increase saturation for contrast, it will not be recorded in the raw file. Most photographers choose to shoot in the raw format because it really does give you greater flexibility when doing your editing.

It’s a little bit like baking a cake. You can buy a cake mix in a packet which means that all the ingredients are already included. You might be able to add something to the cake mix but you certainly won’t be able to remove anything from it. But if instead of using academics you start off with the individual ingredients such as flour and sugar you can then make any type of cake that you like.

In the same case, if you should JPEG and increased your contrast you are going to reduce the dynamic range of your photographs. Once you do this the contrast can’t will you be removed.

So it sounds like I’m recommending to you that you should never shoot in JPEG and always use RAW images. I think but a few years ago it was a valid case for shooting JPEG images. If your memory card wasn’t very big, shooting JPEG would allow you to feed more images on your memory card. That’s not really an issue anymore because you can purchase large memory cards and they are fairly inexpensive. In fact, if you go back a few years most people, we should in JPEG because it was the most practical format to shoot in.  Today it’s a little bit different. Most people will shoot in raw unless there is some specific reason why you need to shoot in JPEG. One of those reasons might be if you do a lot of social media posts where you should your photograph and you need to share that immediately. Shooting in JPEG then means that you can just get the image straight out of the camera and share it on social media via phone. In fact, a lot of people will shoot what is referred to as RAW+JPG. This is when the camera will record one rule format image and the JPG as well.

If you don’t have any requirements for shooting JPEG I would recommend shooting in RAW.  it’s going to give you the greatest flexibility when doing your editing by allowing you to push your image a lot further than a JPEG file.  Once you finish your edit, of course, you can output a copy of your file JPEG format. This is going to provide you with the cleanest and best quality file possible.

Conclusion

My conclusion is easy. Shoot RAW unless you have to shoot JPEG.