The main difference between any JPEG and RAW file is its size. RAW files are significantly bigger than JPEG and other image file formats. That’s because they contain all the raw image information captured by your digital camera’s sensors, completely uncompressed. Like working with a film negative from a traditional camera, the RAW file holds all the original detail, so you have complete control over what you do with it. If a RAW image is under or overexposed, the wider dynamic range makes recovery a lot easier, with greater control over sharpening. Because RAW files are lossless, unprocessed, and uncompressed, they maintain their original high quality and don’t experience any drops in resolution due to resizing. You need to process and convert a RAW file into a JPEG, TIFF, or another relevant format before you can open and edit it. Software such as Adobe Photoshop Lightroom enables you to process RAW files, edit, and export as, for example, a JPEG or PNG — making a copy so you still have the RAW file with all its detail.