Blackmagic RAW

Blackmagic RAW is a modern RAW video format and codec from Blackmagic Design for digital cinema and television production. It is a very efficient and versatile codec that encodes images in a custom non-linear 12-bit space with a wide dynamic range. With Blackmagic RAW, filmmakers and broadcasters can get RAW image quality with the speed and convenience of video files. The free Windows package installs Blackmagic RAW Player and plugins for editing applications.

Features

Dynamic Range: Blackmagic RAW encodes images in a 12-bit non-linear space designed to keep the maximum amount of color data and dynamic range. This gives filmmakers and broadcasters the ability to capture a wide range of tones and color hues, from the brightest highlights to the darkest shadows.

Blackmagic RAW offers the ability to produce high quality images with smaller file sizes.

Compression: Blackmagic RAW moves part of the de-mosaic processing into the camera and uses efficient compression that gives visually lossless images while keeping file sizes manageable. It offers constant bitrate settings of 5:1, 8:1, 12:1 and 18:1 and constant quality settings Q0, Q1, Q3 and Q5.

Multi-platform Support: Blackmagic RAW is supported through a free SDK on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It is also supported in popular editing applications, such as Adobe Premiere Pro and Avid Media Composer through free plugins, and natively in DaVinci Resolve.

Speed: Blackmagic RAW is designed for fast decoding. It is optimized for AVX, AVX2 and SSE4.1 processors, works across multiple CPU cores and is GPU accelerated with CUDA, OpenCL and Apple Metal, so clips play back smoothly during editing and grading.

Workflow: Blackmagic RAW makes it easy to integrate into existing workflows. Clips are stored as single files instead of image sequences, and the settings made in the camera travel with the file as metadata, so they appear in DaVinci Resolve and other supported applications, where they stay editable.

Image Quality: Blackmagic RAW uses Blackmagic Design Generation 5 Color Science for accurate skin tones and faithful colors, and the Blackmagic RAW Player shows clips with consistent color between different software. Q0 and 5:1 suit effects-heavy work, while 12:1 and 18:1 give very small files.

Customization: Blackmagic RAW allows you to change image settings after the shoot without altering the original data. You can adjust ISO, white balance, exposure, contrast and saturation, and keep the changes in human-readable .sidecar files or as embedded 3D LUTs.

Scalability: Blackmagic RAW is highly scalable and can be used for both large and small productions, from feature films and episodic television to broadcast news, weddings and corporate video. It is also highly efficient, so you can record longer on the same media.

Blackmagic RAW is a powerful and versatile codec that gives filmmakers and broadcasters RAW image quality with the speed of a video codec. With its efficient compression, cross-platform SDK, fast decoding, metadata-based workflow and non-destructive controls, and with no license fees, Blackmagic RAW is a practical codec for productions shot on supported cameras.