Description of Nikon camera RAW formats : NEF and NRW

Version 0.31 (27apr2024)

(this is work in progress)

Introduction

Since 1999, some Nikon cameras can create files with RAW data, the first one being D1 with 12 bits compressed NEF files.

With D1X, lossy compression was added, and can be considered as "visually lossless". D70 was first non pro camera to offer NEF, but only lossy / compressed. 14 bits NEF were available in 2007 with D3 and D300.

Z9 and Z8 use new High Efficiency (HE) and High Efficiency* (HE*) compressions which is TinyRaw, and not supported yet by opensource libraw/DNGLab. https://onlinemanual.nikonimglib.com/z9/en/psm_raw_recording_94.html

NEF (Nikon Electronic Format) is from high end models, and NRW (Nikon RAW) for Coolpix, starting with P6000.

NEF and NRW are TIFF based formats.

https://www.nikonimgsupport.com/eu/BV_article?articleNo=000006125&lang=en_GB

N-RAW (NEV file) 12bits video

Support from open source projects

model	release date	format	dcraw / libraw support
D1	06/1999	NEF 12bits uncompressed	1.49, 4apr2002
D1X	02/2001	12 bits, uncompressed or lossy compression	1.47, 29mar2002
D1H	02/2001	12 bits, uncompressed or lossy compression	1.57, 5may2002
Coolpix 5000	09/2001	NEF 12 bits uncompressed	1.69, 16oct2002
D100	02/2002		1.60, 20jun2002
Coolpix 5700	05/2002	NEF 12 bits uncompressed	1.64, 7aug2002
D70	01/2004	NEF 12 bits compression	1.167, 16feb2004
Coolpix 8400	09/2004	NEF	1.229, 21jan2005
D2X	09/2004	NEF 12 bits, WB decryption	1.250, 18apr2005
		jpeg thumbs	1.368, 25feb2007
D3/D300	08/2007	NEF 12 or 14bits, compressed or lossless compressed	1.393, 8.78, 30oct2007, 14bits
		split NEF	1.409, 11dec2008
Coolpix P6000	08/2008	NRW 12bits
D4S	02/2014	small RAW (yuv, NEFCompression = 8)	1.471, 23feb2015
D810	05/2016	small RAW
D6	09/2019	lossless (NEFCompression = 3)	nikon_14bit_load_raw
Z50	12/2019
Z9	10/2021	NEF TicoRAW

Z9

- IFD#0 (22 entries)
  
  - 0x00FE, SubfileType = 1 (Reduced-resolution image  )
  
  - ...
  
  - 0x014a, SubIFD (8 entries)
    
    - 0x00FE, SubfileType = 1 (Reduced-resolution image  )
    - 0x0103, Compression = 6
    - 0x0201, JpgFromRawStart
    - 0x0202, JpgFromRawLength
    - ...
  
  - SubIFD#1
    
    - 0x00FE, SubfileType = 0 (Full-resolution image  )
    - 0x0100, ImageWidth = 8280
    - 0x0101, ImageHeight = 5520
    - 0x0102, BitsPerSample = 14
    - 0x0103, Compression = 34713 (0x8799)
    - 0xc7d5, NEFInfo (SubDirectory)
      - MakerNote (10 Entries)
  
  - SubIFD#2 (8 entries)
    
    - 0x00FE, SubfileType = 1 (Reduced-resolution image  )
  
  - SubIFD#3 (14 entries)
    
    - 0x00FE, SubfileType = 1 (Reduced-resolution image  )
    - ImageWidth = 384
    - ImageHeight = 256
  
  - SubIFD#4 (14 entries)
    
    - 0x00FE, SubfileType = 1 (Reduced-resolution image  )
  
  - SubIFD#5 (14 entries)
    
    - 0x00FE, SubfileType = 1 (Reduced-resolution image  )
  
  - ExifIFD
    
    - MakerNote (72 entries)
      
      - PreviewIFD
        - 0x0103, Compression = 6
      - 0x0051 (24 bytes). Compression : "01010500" 00 00 **0e 00** 00 00 00 00 06 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 (https://exiftool.org/TagNames/Nikon.html#NEFCompression)

exiftool -a -H -u -v3 -g3 d:\raw_samples\z9\DSC_2999.NEF

https://exiftool.org/TagNames/EXIF.html

Compression

2002 - D100

12 bits compressed

2014 - Small RAW

with D4s (2014)

https://www.popphoto.com/news/2014/05/how-exactly-does-nikons-raw-size-s-nef-work/
Digging into Nikon RAW Size S NEFs, May 2014, https://www.rawdigger.com/howtouse/nikon-small-raw-internals/
RAW size 'S', DPReview, D810, may 2016, https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikon-d810/4

D3

uncompressed

  | + [SubIFD1 directory with 17 entries]
  | | 0)  SubfileType = 0
  | |     - Tag 0x00fe (4 bytes, int32u[1]):
  | |        2be6a: 00 00 00 00                                     [....]
  | | 1)  ImageWidth = 4288
  | |     - Tag 0x0100 (4 bytes, int32u[1]):
  | |        2be76: 00 00 10 c0                                     [....]
  | | 2)  ImageHeight = 2844
  | |     - Tag 0x0101 (4 bytes, int32u[1]):
  | |        2be82: 00 00 0b 1c                                     [....]
  | | 3)  BitsPerSample = 14
  | |     - Tag 0x0102 (2 bytes, int16u[1]):
  | |        2be8e: 00 0e                                           [..]
  | | 4)  Compression = **1**
  | |     - Tag 0x0103 (2 bytes, int16u[1]):
  | |        2be9a: 00 01

D810

Nikon NEF Compressed

  | + [SubIFD1 directory with 17 entries]
  | | 0)  SubfileType = 0
  | |     - Tag 0x00fe (4 bytes, int32u[1])
  | | 1)  ImageWidth = 7380
  | |     - Tag 0x0100 (4 bytes, int32u[1])
  | | 2)  ImageHeight = 4928
  | |     - Tag 0x0101 (4 bytes, int32u[1])
  | | 3)  BitsPerSample = 12
  | |     - Tag 0x0102 (2 bytes, int16u[1])
  | | 4)  Compression = **34713**
  | |     - Tag 0x0103 (2 bytes, int16u[1])

lossy type 2

  | | | 43) NEFCompression = **4**
  | | |     - Tag 0x0093 (2 bytes, int16u[1])

lossless

  | | | 43) NEFCompression = **3**
  | | |     - Tag 0x0093 (2 bytes, int16u[1])

small

  | | | 43) NEFCompression = **8**
  | | |     - Tag 0x0093 (2 bytes, int16u[1])

uncompressed

  | + [SubIFD1 directory with 17 entries]
  | | 0)  SubfileType = 0
  | |     - Tag 0x00fe (4 bytes, int32u[1])
  | | 1)  ImageWidth = 7380
  | |     - Tag 0x0100 (4 bytes, int32u[1])
  | | 2)  ImageHeight = 4928
  | |     - Tag 0x0101 (4 bytes, int32u[1])
  | | 3)  BitsPerSample = 14
  | |     - Tag 0x0102 (2 bytes, int16u[1])
  | | 4)  Compression = **1**
  | |     - Tag 0x0103 (2 bytes, int16u[1])

lossy type 1

  | | | 34) NEFCompression = **1**
  | | |     - Tag 0x0093 (2 bytes, int16u[1])

D5

  | | | 16) SerialNumber = 3000234
  | | |     - Tag 0x001d (8 bytes, string[8]):
  | | |         3838: 33 30 30 30 32 33 34 00                         [3000234.]

  | | | 47) NEFCompression = **3**
  | | |     - Tag 0x0093 (2 bytes, int16u[1]):
  | | |         36c4: 03 00

  | | | 49) NEFLinearizationTable = F0.... .(...r^.....e.... ..-......X-P..
  | | |     - Tag 0x0096 (46 bytes, undef[46]):
  | | |         883c: 46 30 00 02 00 02 00 02 00 02 20 00 b7 28 aa 9d [F0........ ..(..]
  | | |         884c: e0 72 5e 90 1a f6 1e 99 65 82 f0 af bf 20 d2 d0 [.r^.....e.... ..]
  | | |         885c: 2d c8 c7 0c a1 84 c7 58 2d 50 d3 ab 00 00       [-......X-P....]

 | | | 56) ShutterCount = 15042
  | | |     - Tag 0x00a7 (4 bytes, int32u[1]):
  | | |         3730: c2 3a 00 00                                     [.:..]

Z50

  | + [SubIFD1 directory with 19 entries]
  | | 0)  SubfileType = 0
  | |     - Tag 0x00fe (4 bytes, int32u[1]):
  | |        460a6: 00 00 00 00                                     [....]
  | | 1)  ImageWidth = 5600
  | |     - Tag 0x0100 (4 bytes, int32u[1]):
  | |        460b2: e0 15 00 00                                     [....]
  | | 2)  ImageHeight = 3728
  | |     - Tag 0x0101 (4 bytes, int32u[1]):
  | |        460be: 90 0e 00 00                                     [....]
  | | 3)  BitsPerSample = 14
  | |     - Tag 0x0102 (2 bytes, int16u[1]):
  | |        460ca: 0e 00                                           [..]
  | | 4)  Compression = **34713**
  | |     - Tag 0x0103 (2 bytes, int16u[1]):
  | |        460d6: 99 87

34713 = Nikon NEF Compressed

Z7_ii

packed 14 bits

  | | | 54) NEFCompression = 10
  | | |     - Tag 0x0093 (2 bytes, int16u[1]):
  | | |         880c: 0a 00

2021 - Z9 - high efficiency - TicoRAW

References

Exiftool, Phil Harvey, Nikon Tags
Nikon D1 RAW format, DPReview, page 14, november, 2000, https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond1/14
NEF file format v0.1, Fabrizio Giudici, 2003, https://hwiegman.home.xs4all.nl/fileformats/nef/NEF.pdf
D70, may 2004 : Is the Nikon D70 NEF (RAW) format truly lossless? · Fazal Majid's low-intensity blog
Nikon encrypts D2X WB, PhotoshopNews, 17apr2005, https://photoshopnews.com/2005/04/17/nikon-d2x-white-balance-encryption/
NEF compression curves, Bill Claff, 28jan2021 (D1->Z7) : https://photonstophotos.net/NikonInfo/NEF_Compression.htm
NEF version info, Bill Claff, 2Jul2021 (D1->Z7 II) : https://photonstophotos.net/NikonInfo/NEF_Version_Matrix.htm
http://lclevy.free.fr/nef/ (2009)
DNGlab

lclevy/nikon_nef