How to open .NEF files (Nikon raw photos) on Android, Windows and Linux

You copied a card from a Nikon camera and half the files end in .NEF. Your phone’s gallery skips them and Windows shows a blank icon, yet the JPEGs from the same day open fine. Nothing is wrong: NEF is Nikon’s raw format, and most everyday apps don’t read raw.

The short answer to how to open a .NEF file: use a viewer that reads the preview Nikon stores inside every raw file, or a raw editor if you want to develop it. Folders does the first, for free, on Android, Windows and Linux.

What is a .NEF file?

NEF stands for Nikon Electronic Format. A Nikon camera saves one when image quality is set to RAW, or RAW + JPEG. Instead of a finished picture, it keeps the sensor’s data, with white balance and Picture Control stored as instructions rather than baked in. That’s why photographers shoot NEF: highlights, colour and exposure can be fixed later, with far more room than a JPEG allows.

Like most raw formats, a NEF is built on TIFF. Next to the sensor data (12 or 14 bits per pixel) it carries a JPEG preview, rendered by the camera, and EXIF details such as shutter speed, aperture and lens. Files are named DSC_0001.NEF by default.

Extension	What it is
.nef	Raw photo from Nikon DSLRs and Z mirrorless cameras
.nrw	Raw photo from Coolpix compact cameras that offer raw

NRW is the same idea for Nikon’s compacts, but support for it is patchier: some programs that open NEF refuse NRW.

How to open a .NEF file with Folders

On Android

1. Get Folders from the download page and install the APK.
2. Open it and allow access to your files when Android asks, so it can see your photos.
3. Copy the NEFs from the camera’s card to the phone, for example with a USB-C card reader.
4. Browse to the folder, or search for part of the name, such as DSC_.
5. Tap the NEF. It opens in the image viewer.

If a NEF reaches you through a chat app or email, choose Open with → Folders.

On Windows and Linux

1. Install Folders: the setup file on Windows, or the deb, rpm, AppImage, Flatpak, Snap or tar.gz package on Linux.
2. Browse to the folder in Folders and double-click the NEF.
3. On Windows the installer also adds Folders to File Explorer’s Open with menu for NEF and NRW, so you can right-click a file there and pick Open with → Folders.

What you can do with it in Folders

Folders works as a quick .NEF file viewer rather than an editor:

• See the photo. The viewer shows the JPEG preview stored inside the NEF, marked RAW · embedded preview. Zoom in to check focus or a closed eye.
• Flip through the shoot. Swipe, or use the arrow keys on a computer, to move through the photos in the folder. After a RAW + JPEG day, both versions sit side by side.
• Read the details. Details lists the camera, lens, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, focal length, flash, date taken and location (if recorded), plus the raw’s size in megapixels and the preview’s size.
• Share or tidy up. Share sends the file to another app; the file browser renames, moves or zips NEFs.
• If a file has no usable preview, Folders says so and offers Open with another app.

What it doesn’t do: Folders never decodes the sensor data. You can’t change white balance, recover highlights or export the NEF to JPEG here, and Convert to isn’t offered for raw files. That’s a job for a raw editor.

Other ways to open .NEF files

• NX Studio: Nikon’s own free viewer and editor for Windows, updated for new Nikon cameras.
• darktable or RawTherapee: free, open-source raw editors for Windows and Linux.
• Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop’s Camera Raw: paid, and widely used by professionals.
• Windows Photos with Microsoft’s Raw Image Extension from the Microsoft Store, which adds raw previews to Photos and File Explorer.

Problems opening a .NEF file?

• Your editor is older than your camera. Raw editors add support one camera at a time. If an older version of Lightroom or darktable says a NEF (or a Coolpix NRW) isn’t supported, update it or try NX Studio. Recent Nikon bodies also offer High Efficiency raw, which older software can’t read.
• The copy stopped halfway. A card pulled out too early can leave a broken file. A NEF is usually tens of megabytes, so one of a few hundred kilobytes is a clue. Copy it again.
• The colours differ from your editor. That’s expected. The preview is the camera’s own rendering, with its Picture Control applied; an editor starts from the sensor data with its own defaults.

Questions people ask

Can I open a NEF file on Android? Yes. Folders shows the picture from the preview inside the NEF, with its camera details. To edit the raw data itself, you need a raw editing app.

How do I convert NEF to JPG? Develop it in NX Studio, darktable or RawTherapee and export a JPEG or TIFF. Folders can’t convert raw files. If you shot RAW + JPEG, the JPEG is already sitting beside the NEF.

NEF vs DNG: what’s the difference? NEF is Nikon’s own raw format; DNG is an open raw format from Adobe that many cameras and phones use. Adobe’s free DNG Converter turns NEF into DNG. See how to open DNG files.

Shooting Canon as well? Read how to open CR2 and CR3 files, or browse all 382 file types Folders opens.