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A raw format developed by Blackmagic Design and used by a variety of Blackmagic cameras.
This format relies on the increased processing capabilities of modern cameras to perform a certain amount of in-camera pre-processing (including noise management, sensor profiling, and edge reconstruction) to partially de-mosaic the image and then re-encode the result, factoring in the characteristics of the originating image sensor. The image is encoded in such a way as to later enable typical raw controls but with efficiently compressed files (using a custom non-linear 12-bit space) that are not computationally challenging to decode and use. BRAW media can be encoded at either
a Constant Bitrate (with variable compression of 3:1, 5:1, 8:1, and 12:1) or at Constant Quality (with a variable bitrate).
BRAW Sidecar Metadata Files
BRAW files have been designed to accommodate descriptive metadata that enables look management from on-set through post. This metadata is both embedded in the .braw files and included within
.sidecar files that are saved alongside the media. Metadata .sidecar files that are present always takes precedence over the embedded metadata for purposes of decoding. However, if there’s no .sidecar file, decoding of the .braw file falls back on the embedded metadata.
Modifying Sidecar Files
You can use the Camera Raw palette of the Color page to Update a BRAW clip’s sidecar file with changes made to the Camera Raw settings. Click Update Sidecar to save changes, and click Export Frame to export a one-frame image for reference.