Blackmagic Studios has just announced their new RAW codec, Blackmagic RAW, claiming it to be a “next generation codec.” But what exactly is Blackmagic RAW and how does it work? In this article, we’ll dive into the details and answer all your burning questions about this new technology.
First off, Blackmagic RAW is a visually lossless codec, meaning that it compresses footage into a much smaller data set that will later decode into an identical image to the uncompressed data. While this technology isn’t new, Blackmagic is touting some impressive new tech that will offer equal or better image quality to any other codec on the market, but at file sizes similar to those found in lossy encoding techniques like h.264.
But that’s not all. Blackmagic is also claiming that their RAW codec will have equal or greater image quality, bit depth, dynamic range, and control as any other RAW codec. This is thanks to a new advanced de-mosaic process that splits the decoding workload between your computer and the camera recording the footage, allowing for unrivaled capture and playback speeds over any other RAW codec.
But what really sets Blackmagic RAW apart is its open development strategy. Unlike ProRes Raw, which requires manufacturers to pay licensing fees to use their technology, Blackmagic has included a Software Developer’s Kit (SDK) that will enable manufacturers of cameras, external recorders, and post-production programs and plugins to take full advantage of Blackmagic RAW immediately.
Blackmagic RAW also offers best-in-class performance over the competition for an array of modern imaging and playback requirements, including high-resolution recording and playback, high frame rate recording and playback, HDR recording and playback, codec flexibility for various cameras and sensors, simultaneous recording of proxy files, and cross-platform support for every step in the imaging and post-process pipeline.
But what about fidelity? Blackmagic RAW doesn’t sacrifice image quality for speed and flexibility. In fact, it offers compression ratios ranging from 3:1 all the way up to 12:1, and its Q0 and Q5 options should dramatically deepen the resultant image quality of your footage. Blackmagic RAW also employs a non-destructive 12-bit non-linear color space to produce “extremely accurate skin tones and gorgeous, lifelike colors” that should rival the color reproduction of the best cameras on the market today.
Blackmagic RAW is currently in beta and is completely free to download and try, as long as you have the Ursa Mini Pro 4.6k or the beta release of Resolve 15.1. When the official release comes, expect a slew of supported devices, programs, and plugins. Everything we’ve seen so far about Blackmagic RAW leads us to believe that this will be the RAW codec to beat in the coming years.
Other Articles
