How to open .DNG files (Digital Negative) on Android, Windows and Linux

You switched on your phone camera’s RAW or Pro mode, or a photographer sent you their originals, and now there are .dng files next to the usual JPGs. They’re big, and many apps show a blank thumbnail or refuse to open them.

Folders opens DNG files on Android, Windows and Linux and shows the JPEG preview stored inside each one, free and offline. It doesn’t develop the raw data itself; for that you need a raw editor, and the good ones are free too.

What is a .DNG file?

DNG, short for Digital Negative, is a raw photo format Adobe published in 2004 as an open, documented alternative to the many private raw formats camera makers use. It’s built on TIFF, and anyone can read or write it without paying a licence fee.

A raw file holds what the camera’s sensor recorded, before the camera decides on white balance, sharpening, noise reduction and colour. That’s what makes raw useful: you can change those decisions later, recover detail in bright skies and dark shadows, and fix colour without the damage that editing a JPEG would cause. But raw data isn’t a finished picture. It has to be “developed” by software first, which is why most DNG files also carry a ready-made JPEG preview inside.

Where DNGs come from:

• Phones. Many Android phones’ Pro or RAW modes save DNG, and Apple’s ProRAW photos are DNGs too.
• Cameras that use DNG as their own raw format, from makers such as Leica, Pentax and Ricoh.
• Adobe DNG Converter and Lightroom, which turn other raw files (CR2, NEF, ARW and the rest) into DNG for archiving.

How to open a .DNG file with Folders

Android

1. Install Folders from the download page and allow file access.
2. Phone raw photos usually sit in DCIM/Camera beside the JPGs, though some camera apps use their own folder. Type *.dng in the search box to list them all.
3. Tap a DNG. Folders opens it in the image viewer, labelled “RAW · embedded preview”. If it’s in another app, use Open with → Folders.

Windows and Linux

1. Browse to the folder in Folders and double-click a DNG; the arrow keys move through the shoot.
2. On Windows, right-click a DNG in File Explorer → Open with → Folders; the installer adds it there.

What you can do with a DNG in Folders

• See the picture without any raw processing, because Folders shows the preview saved in the file. When a DNG holds more than one preview, Folders picks the largest, which for most cameras is full size.
• Zoom to check focus, and swipe or use the arrow keys to go through a shoot and pick the keepers.
• Details tells you the raw format, the full size of the raw image and the size of the preview you’re looking at.
• Share the DNG, or Open with another app to hand it to a raw editor.

What Folders doesn’t do: develop the raw data, change white balance or exposure, or convert the DNG to JPG. The preview shows the settings the camera or app used when the photo was saved.

Other ways to open .DNG files

• darktable and RawTherapee: free raw editors for Windows and Linux that develop DNG properly and export JPG.
• Adobe Lightroom (including Lightroom Mobile on Android) and Photoshop’s Camera Raw.
• Snapseed on Android opens DNG files for editing.
• Windows Photos, with Microsoft’s free Raw Image Extension from the Microsoft Store.

Problems opening a .DNG file?

The picture is small or blurry when you zoom in. The file only carries a small preview. Some phone camera apps save small ones, and Adobe DNG Converter lets you choose no preview, a medium one or a full-size one. Folders shows the largest there is; for full detail, open the DNG in a raw editor.

“This raw photo doesn’t include a preview image.” The DNG has no preview inside at all, so there’s nothing for a preview viewer like Folders to show. A raw editor such as darktable or RawTherapee will develop it.

The colours differ from the phone’s own JPG. The phone’s JPG went through all of its processing; the preview inside the DNG may not have. Neither is wrong: the raw data is what you edit from.

It won’t open, or the file is much smaller than its neighbours. Raw files are large, and a copy that stopped part-way is damaged. Copy it again from the phone or the memory card.

Questions people ask

Can I open a .DNG file on Android? Yes. Folders shows the preview inside any DNG that has one. To edit the raw data on the phone, use Lightroom Mobile or Snapseed.

How do I convert DNG to JPG? Use a raw editor: darktable or RawTherapee on a computer, Lightroom or Snapseed on a phone. They develop the raw data and export a JPG. Folders doesn’t convert raw files.

DNG vs JPG: what’s the difference? A JPG is a finished, compressed picture; a DNG holds the sensor data so you can make your own decisions about exposure and colour. DNGs are several times larger.

Is DNG better than CR2 or NEF? It holds the same kind of data in an open, documented format, which suits long-term archiving. Some photographers convert to DNG; others keep the camera’s own raw files to stay with the maker’s software.

Shooting Canon? See the CR2 and CR3 guide; Nikon users, the NEF guide. Or browse all 382 file types Folders opens.