Nikon Electronic Format RAW Image

Nikon photographers are the most common users of NEF files. These photographers, who may be professionals or amateurs, capture images with their Nikon cameras and save the raw data in NEF files.

The NEF format supports 12-bit or 14-bit data, depending on the camera used to capture the image. Any adjustments to image settings such as exposure, hue, tone, sharpening, and white balance can be applied with photo editing software once the image is saved to a computer.

Changes to the image are stored as instruction sets separate from the raw image data in the NEF file. This means that no matter how many edits are applied to the image you can revert back to the original.

You can open NEF files with various image-editing and viewing applications. Microsoft Photos (Windows) and Apple Preview (macOS) are free applications that support NEF images and are bundled with Windows and macOS. Also, ViewNX2 is a free utility for Windows and Mac developed by Nikon to browse, edit, and share NEF photos.

Other, more advanced image editors that support NEF files include Adobe Photoshop (Windows and macOS) and Corel PaintShop Pro (Windows and macOS). Also, you can view NEF images on Android, iOS, and Chrome OS devices with Google Photos .

Several applications, including Microsoft Photos, Apple Preview, Adobe Photoshop, and Corel PaintShop Pro, can convert NEF files to other formats.

For example, Microsoft Photos can convert NEF files to the following formats:

Programs that open NEF files

Updated: April 20, 2023