Photo Mechanic is designed to be able to view the files produced by most major camera manufacturers. Generally, this is a proprietary RAW format (Canon CR2, Nikon NEF, etc.), or it is a compressed format like a JPEG. By default when viewing RAW files, Photo Mechanic displays the JPEG that is embedded in the RAW file, as this allows for the fastest browsing experience. It is also possible to use Adobe DNG Converter to render a preview from the RAW data, though this option is rarely needed.
RAW file formats
ARW | Sony RAW Format |
CR2 | Canon RAW Format |
CR3** | Canon RAW Format |
CRW/THM | Canon RAW/THM pair |
DNG | Digital Negative Format |
ERF | Epson RAW Format |
IIQ | Phase One RAW Format |
MOS | Leaf RAW Format |
NEF | Nikon RAW Format |
ORF | Olympus RAW Format |
PEF | Pentax RAW Format |
RAF | Fuji RAW Format |
RAW | Panasonic/Leica RAW Format |
SR2 | Sony RAW Format |
SRF | Sony RAW Format |
STI | Sinar RAW Format |
TIF | Canon 1D/1Ds RAW TIFF Format |
X3F | Sigma RAW Format |
Photo File Formats
BMP | Windows Bitmap |
EPS-TIFF | Encapsulated Postscript with TIFF preview |
GIF | Graphics Interchange Format |
| HEIC* | High-Efficiency Image Container |
| HEIF, HIF* | High-Efficiency Image File Format |
JPEG | Joint Photographic Experts Group |
PSD | Photoshop (saved in maximum compatibility mode) |
PICT | Mac Pict format |
PNG | Portable Network Graphics |
TIFF | Tagged Image File Format |
TGA | Targa |
Video file formats***
AVI | Windows AVI |
MOV | QuickTime Movie |
MPEG | MPEG 2 Movie |
MPEG4 | MPEG 4 Movie |
*HIF (HEIC/HEIF) is a new format that some cameras support and produces images that have better color fidelity than JPEGs. Photo Mechanic 6 supports HIF files produced by most cameras on the market. You may have some trouble with your workflow outside of Photo Mechanic 6 so you should check the other software in your workflow before you fully adopt it.
**Some Canon models will embed an HEIF in CR3 files when shooting in their HDR modes. Photo Mechanic cannot preview these CR3 files at this time. We recommend setting your camera to record an HEIF sidecar file along with the RAW if you would like to be able to use Photo Mechanic to browse these images.
***Windows users will need to install GStreamer in order to preview still images for video file formats. Video playback is only available on macOS.