Seedling
RAW vs JPEG and Bit Depth
#camera#lightroom#raw#jpeg#bit-depth
Find a note across all PARA categories
Same shutter press, but the amount of information saved differs by tens of times depending on format.
| RAW | JPEG | |
|---|---|---|
| Bit depth | 12 / 14 / 16 bit | 8 bit (fixed) |
| Steps per channel | 4096 / 16384 / 65536 | 256 |
| White balance | Freely changeable in post | Baked in (lossy to change) |
| Color space | Sensor's native gamut | Compressed to sRGB / AdobeRGB |
| File size | 20–100 MB | 2–10 MB |
| Lightroom response | Sliders work strongly | Sliders weak |
8-bit = 2⁸ = 256 steps per channel. 14-bit = 2¹⁴ = 16,384 steps per channel.
Combined across RGB:
256 sounds plenty until you start editing. The moment you push, the difference explodes.
A JPEG gradient lives in 256 steps. Lift one band by 50% in post and the same number of steps is now stretched across a wider range — gaps between steps become visible.
JPEG original: ▓▓▒▒░░ (6 gradient steps)
Lifted +50%: ▓ ▓ ▒ ▒ ░ ░ (gaps between steps)
↑ this is why you see stripes in skies
The "JPEG shadows/highlights wouldn't recover" experience you've had is exactly this. 8-bit can survive one mild edit; push hard and it crumbles.
The option you've seen in camera menus.
JPEG is the camera's finished interpretation. RAW is the signal the sensor saw.
→ Exposure and ISO are decisions you make at capture. Color and tone, with RAW, are almost all post-able.
RAW is flat, with no color science applied. The pretty image on the camera LCD is the JPEG preview. Open RAW in Lightroom and you may see something more muted at first. The value of RAW only comes through after editing.