---
name: "dcraw"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "dcraw"
version: "9.28.0-5"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/dcraw"
---

# dcraw(1)

command-line decoder for raw digital photos

## NAME

dcraw - command-line decoder for raw digital photos

## SYNOPSIS

**dcraw** \[*OPTION*\]... \[*FILE*\]...

## DESCRIPTION

**dcraw** decodes raw photos, displays metadata, and extracts thumbnails.

## GENERAL OPTIONS

- **-v**

  Print verbose messages, not just warnings and errors.

- **-c**

  Write decoded images or thumbnails to standard output.

- **-e**

  Extract the camera-generated thumbnail, not the raw image. You'll get either a JPEG or a PPM file, depending on the camera.

- **-z**

  Change the access and modification times of an AVI, JPEG, TIFF or raw file to when the photo was taken, assuming that the camera clock was set to Universal Time.

- **-i**

  Identify files but don't decode them. Exit status is 0 if **dcraw** can decode the last file, 1 if it can't. **-i -v** shows metadata.

- **dcraw**

  cannot decode JPEG files!!

## REPAIR OPTIONS

- **-I**

  Read the raw pixels from standard input in CPU byte order with no header.  Use **dcraw -E -4** to get the raw pixel values.

- **-P deadpixels.txt**

  Read the dead pixel list from this file instead of ".badpixels". See **FILES** for a description of the format.

- **-K darkframe.pgm**

  Subtract a dark frame from the raw data.  To generate a dark frame, shoot a raw photo with no light and do **dcraw -D -4 -j -t 0**.

- **-k darkness**

  When shadows appear foggy, you need to raise the darkness level. To measure this, apply **pamsumm -mean** to the dark frame generated above.

- **-S saturation**

  When highlights appear pink, you need to lower the saturation level. To measure this, take a picture of something shiny and do **dcraw -D -4 -j -c** photo.raw **\| pamsumm -max**

- The default darkness and saturation are usually correct.

  - **-n noise\_threshold**

  Use wavelets to erase noise while preserving real detail. The best threshold should be somewhere between 100 and 1000.

- **-C red\_mag blue\_mag**

  Enlarge the raw red and blue layers by the given factors, typically 0.999 to 1.001, to correct chromatic aberration.

- **-H 0**

  Clip all highlights to solid white (default).

- **-H 1**

  Leave highlights unclipped in various shades of pink.

- **-H 2**

  Blend clipped and unclipped values together for a gradual fade to white.

- **-H 3+**

  Reconstruct highlights.  Low numbers favor whites; high numbers favor colors.  Try **-H 5** as a compromise.  If that's not good enough, do **-H 9**, cut out the non-white highlights, and paste them into an image generated with **-H 3**.

## COLOR OPTIONS

By default, **dcraw** uses a fixed white balance based on a color chart illuminated with a standard D65 lamp.

- **-w**

  Use the white balance specified by the camera. If this is not found, print a warning and use another method.

- **-a**

  Calculate the white balance by averaging the entire image.

- **-A left top width height**

  Calculate the white balance by averaging a rectangular area. First do **dcraw -j -t 0** and select an area of neutral grey color.

- **-r mul0 mul1 mul2 mul3**

  Specify your own raw white balance. These multipliers can be cut and pasted from the output of **dcraw -v**.

- **+M** or **-M**

  Use (or don't use) any color matrix from the camera metadata. The default is **+M** if **-w** is set or the photo is in DNG format, **-M** otherwise. Besides DNG, this option only affects Olympus, Leaf, and Phase One cameras.

- **-o \[0-6\]**

  Select the output colorspace when the **-p** option is not used:

   **0**   Raw color (unique to each camera)\
    **1**   sRGB D65 (default)\
    **2**   Adobe RGB (1998) D65\
    **3**   Wide Gamut RGB D65\
    **4**   Kodak ProPhoto RGB D65\
    **5**   XYZ\
    **6**   ACES

- **-p camera.icm** \[ **-o output.icm** \]

  Use ICC profiles to define the camera's raw colorspace and the desired output colorspace (sRGB by default).

- **-p embed**

  Use the ICC profile embedded in the raw photo.

## INTERPOLATION OPTIONS

- **-d**

  Show the raw data as a grayscale image with no interpolation. Good for photographing black-and-white documents.

- **-D**

  Same as **-d**, but with the original unscaled pixel values.

- **-E**

  Same as **-D**, but masked pixels are not cropped.

- **-h**

  Output a half-size color image.  Twice as fast as **-q 0**.

- **-q 0**

  Use high-speed, low-quality bilinear interpolation.

- **-q 1**

  Use Variable Number of Gradients (VNG) interpolation.

- **-q 2**

  Use Patterned Pixel Grouping (PPG) interpolation.

- **-q 3**

  Use Adaptive Homogeneity-Directed (AHD) interpolation.

- **-f**

  Interpolate RGB as four colors.  Use this if the output shows false 2x2 meshes with VNG or mazes with AHD.

- **-m number\_of\_passes**

  After interpolation, clean up color artifacts by repeatedly applying a 3x3 median filter to the R-G and B-G channels.

## OUTPUT OPTIONS

By default, **dcraw** writes PGM/PPM/PAM with 8-bit samples, a BT.709 gamma curve, a histogram-based white level, and no metadata.

- **-W**

  Use a fixed white level, ignoring the image histogram.

- **-b brightness**

  Divide the white level by this number, 1.0 by default.

- **-g power toe\_slope**

  Set the gamma curve, by default BT.709 (**-g 2.222 4.5**). If you prefer sRGB gamma, use **-g 2.4 12.92**. For a simple power curve, set the toe slope to zero.

- **-6**

  Write sixteen bits per sample instead of eight.

- **-4**

  Linear 16-bit, same as **-6 -W -g 1 1**.

- **-T**

  Write TIFF with metadata instead of PGM/PPM/PAM.

- **-t \[0-7,90,180,270\]**

  Flip the output image.  By default, **dcraw** applies the flip specified by the camera. **-t 0** disables all flipping.

- **-j**

  For Fuji Super CCD cameras, show the image tilted 45 degrees. For cameras with non-square pixels, do not stretch the image to its correct aspect ratio.  In any case, this option guarantees that each output pixel corresponds to one raw pixel.

- **-s \[0..N-1\]** or **-s all**

  If a file contains N raw images, choose one or "all" to decode. For example, Fuji Super CCD SR cameras generate a second image underexposed four stops to show detail in the highlights.

## FILES

- ./.badpixels, ../.badpixels, ../../.badpixels, ...

  List of your camera's dead pixels, so that **dcraw** can interpolate around them.  Each line specifies the column, row, and UNIX time of death for one pixel.  For example:

  ```
   962   91 1028350000  # died between August 1 and 4, 2002
  1285 1067 0           # don't know when this pixel died
  ```

  These coordinates are before any stretching or rotation, so use **dcraw -j -t 0** to locate dead pixels.

## SEE ALSO

[**pgm**(5)](/pgm/5.md), [**ppm**(5)](/ppm/5.md), [**pam**(5)](/pam/5.md), [**pamsumm**(1)](/pamsumm/1.md), [**pnmgamma**(1)](/pnmgamma/1.md), [**pnmtotiff**(1)](/pnmtotiff/1.md), [**pnmtopng**(1)](/pnmtopng/1.md), [**gphoto2**(1)](/gphoto2/1.md), [**cjpeg**(1)](/cjpeg/1.md), [**djpeg**(1)](/djpeg/1.md)

## AUTHOR

Written by David Coffin, dcoffin a cybercom o net