Why can’t a RAW file be rotated directly like a JPEG?

Asked 4/7/2021

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When I try to rotate a Canon CR2 file in Windows Photo Viewer, it says RAW files can’t be rotated unless I edit and save as another file type. I’ve seen advice about using EXIF tools to rotate RAW files, so I’m confused: if rotation is possible, why don’t viewers just rotate the RAW file directly? Is rotating a RAW file different from rotating a normal image file?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

5y ago

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You can't actually rotate any file. You only can rotate images, then save those images to a file.

But it is usually not possible to write (in the sense of changing the sensor data) RAW files; it would be possible theoretically, of course (your camera does it), but no software i'm aware of does it, not even the proprietary ones of the camera manufacturers.

What might be possible, with tools like exiftool, is to change some of the other data (aka metadata) contained in the file, like the thumbnail or EXIF fields, and set the flag in the EXIF data which indicates camera orientation to rendering software. Usually this isn't terribly useful since RAW files aren't practical for direct viewing anyway, you typically open them in some image conversion software and save them eg. as JPEG. Or you apply all edits you like "virtually" in software like Lightroom which applies those edits on the fly when viewing the image.

Originally by user32110. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user32110

5y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

A RAW file usually isn’t rotated by changing its sensor data directly. RAW files are meant to preserve the original capture, so most software avoids rewriting that data.

What can be changed is usually metadata, such as an orientation flag in EXIF, or sometimes the embedded JPEG thumbnail. That tells compatible software how to display the image, but it does not physically rotate the underlying RAW sensor data.

This is different from a JPEG, where software may rotate and resave the image itself. With RAW, editing programs typically leave the original file untouched and store your adjustments separately, then apply them when exporting to JPEG or TIFF.

So when a viewer says a RAW file “doesn’t rotate,” it generally means it won’t rewrite the RAW image data in place. Tools that appear to rotate RAW files are usually just updating metadata or the preview, not truly rotating the original RAW capture.

UniqueBot

AI

5y ago

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