RAW vs JPG for Product Photography

One format gives you more flexibility, the other saves time. Here's the honest tradeoff.

The Real Difference

RAW is the unprocessed sensor data from your camera. JPG is a compressed, baked-in interpretation of that data. RAW gives you wide latitude to fix exposure, white balance, and color after the shot. JPG gives you a small, fast file that's ready to use but far less forgiving.

For product photography the answer is almost always RAW, because the ability to recover a highlight or nudge white balance is worth the extra storage. Retouchable accepts both formats and runs the same pipeline on either, so a RAW upload and a good JPG produce comparable results.

How It Works with Retouchable

Default to RAW

For anything you plan to edit, shoot RAW. Storage is cheap, reshoots aren't.

Use JPG for Speed Jobs

Fast turnaround shoots or reference shots can ship as JPG. Just don't expect to rescue exposure later.

Shoot RAW+JPG If Unsure

Most cameras can write both at once. You get the instant preview of JPG and the safety net of RAW.

5 RAW vs JPG Tips

RAW Files Are 5-10x Bigger

Plan storage accordingly. A full day shoot in RAW can fill a 256GB card without warning.

White Balance Is Free in RAW

Change white balance after the fact with zero quality loss. In JPG it's a destructive edit.

JPG Clips Faster

JPG has 8 bits per channel. RAW has 12 or 14. That's why a blown JPG highlight can't be recovered but a RAW one often can.

Sharpening Is Baked Into JPG

The camera applies sharpening before it saves the JPG. RAW lets you decide how much and where.

RAW Needs a Converter

Lightroom, Capture One, and Retouchable all handle RAW. A basic image viewer won't.

RAW or JPG, Same Clean Result

Upload either format and get catalog-ready output without a RAW converter step.

Try Retouchable Free No credit card required. 5 free generations.

Why Retouchable for Editing Fundamentals

RAW Support

Upload RAW files directly from Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji, and most other major brands.

Same Pipeline for Both

JPG and RAW uploads go through the same rendering pipeline for consistent output.

Highlight Recovery

Moderately clipped highlights get pulled back automatically on RAW uploads.

No Manual Conversion

Skip the RAW converter step. Retouchable reads the file directly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will my JPG look worse than a RAW upload?

Usually not noticeably. If the JPG is well exposed and in focus, the output quality is comparable.

Can Retouchable read my camera's RAW?

Yes for all major mirrorless and DSLR brands. Niche medium format may need a DNG conversion first.

Is DNG better than proprietary RAW?

DNG is more universally supported but smaller in file size. Image quality is identical.

How much storage do I need for RAW?

Roughly 25-50MB per shot on a 24MP camera. Budget a 1TB drive per 20,000 images.

Ready to Stop Worrying About Formats?

Retouchable handles RAW and JPG equally well.