dcraw vs ON1 Photo RAW

dcraw is a free utility for decoding camera RAW photos, displaying metadata, and extracting thumbnails. The maker’s page reports support for 731 cameras, with documented examples of camera-specific formats including CRW, CR2, MRW, NEF, and RAF. Its four interpolation methods are bilinear, VNG, PPG, and AHD. Output color-space choices include sRGB, Adobe RGB, ProPhoto RGB, XYZ, and ACES. By default, dcraw writes PGM, PPM, or PAM; the -T option writes TIFF with metadata. The maker provides C source and Linux build instructions, including a gcc command, and says a self-contained DCRAW.EXE can be built for DOS or Windows from a source file in the directory. A basic plugin loads RAW files into GIMP, while the manual lists gphoto2 and Netpbm utilities among related command-line tools. The maker describes using it to process camera images after downloading them to a Linux PC. One important format limit: dcraw cannot decode JPEG files. It is free for all uses and is listed for Linux and Windows.

ON1 Photo RAW is paid desktop software for photographers who want RAW processing, editing, organization and export in one application. It supports batch editing, layers, masking, AI retouching and cloud sync, and browses files where they are stored while providing tags, albums, stacking and AI keywording. Built-in AI tools include NoNoise AI, Resize AI, Generative Erase, Sky Swap AI, Restore AI and Brilliance AI. Super Select AI, subject and background masks and AI depth masks target specific areas. Optional connections are listed for Photoshop CC, Photoshop Elements, Lightroom Classic, Apple Photos and Affinity Photo; MAX adds Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom plugins. Restore AI uses cloud processing, and ON1 says submitted photos are not used to train models. The standard edition installs on two computers, MAX on three, and subscriptions on up to five, depending on plan. A 30-day trial is available, with no free plan.