RAW, JPEG, and TIFF: What You Can Upload

Every edit in a project starts with a file that made it in in the first place, and that first step gets less attention than it deserves. Before a Personal AI Profile, a manual slider, or an export ever touches a photo, Imagen has to accept whatever file you hand it. The short answer is that covers nearly everything a working photographer shoots or receives: RAW, JPEG, and TIFF all upload directly into the same project, with no conversion step required. Here is what that actually covers, why the format you upload still matters even before you start editing, and the handful of formats that have not made the list yet.

The three formats you can bring into a project

Imagen accepts three file types on upload: RAW, JPEG, and TIFF. Between them, that covers the two ends of how most working photographers actually gather images: RAW for a shoot you just finished, JPEG or TIFF for anything that already passed through another camera setting, another editor, or another photographer’s hand before it reached you. You do not need a separate conversion pass to get any of the three into a project.

What happens next is the same regardless of which of the three you started with. Once a file is uploaded, it sits inside a project that culls, edits, reviews, and exports together, in whatever order you choose. Skip AI culling and select frames yourself if you would rather, or let it run and refine afterward. The format decision you made on the way in does not lock you into a particular path once the file is in the project.

Why the format you upload still matters

Export format gets most of the attention because it is the last decision before a client sees anything. Upload format matters earlier and more quietly: it decides how much room a Personal AI Profile and the built-in editor (Beta) actually have to work with. A RAW file carries the full range of data your sensor captured, so an AI Profile correcting exposure or white balance is working from the widest possible starting point. A JPEG or TIFF that already went through in-camera processing or an earlier edit carries baked-in decisions: highlights that were already compressed, a white balance that was already locked in. Imagen can still edit those files, but there is less headroom to recover something that was already clipped before it arrived.

In practice, this is less a rule and more a planning habit. If a gallery is going through a full AI Profile pass and you want maximum flexibility on exposure and color, RAW gives you the most to work with. If the photos already look right, perhaps they were shot JPEG on purpose for speed, or they arrived from a second source already processed, uploading them as they are and using Imagen for culling, rating, and a lighter touch-up is a perfectly reasonable way to use the same project.

Uploading RAW straight off the card

For a shoot you just finished, RAW upload works the way you would expect: import the cards into a new or existing project, and the files are ready for culling and editing without an intermediate conversion step. You are not asked to render anything to a different format first, or run it through a separate application, before Imagen can read it.

This matters most for photographers who shoot in volume: weddings, events, and multi-day bookings, where getting from card to project quickly changes how much of the week is spent waiting versus reviewing. Because the same project handles culling and editing together, a RAW upload can move straight into an AI culling pass, or you can skip that step and rate frames manually if you already know which ones matter. Either way, nothing about the RAW format itself adds an extra stage before you start working.

Bringing in JPEG or TIFF that already went through another pass

Not every photo that needs culling, rating, or a review pass started life as a RAW file fresh off your own camera. Photographers switching tools mid-season often have a drive full of JPEGs and TIFFs that were already processed somewhere else. A studio consolidating a portfolio might want to bring years of already-finished TIFFs into one place to rate and organize them. Both cases upload the same way RAW does, straight into a project, without a separate step to prepare them first.

Culling a shoot inside the Imagen project view

Once uploaded, a JPEG or TIFF behaves like any other file in the project. It can be culled, searched for with the assistant, rated, flagged, and, if you want, run through an AI Profile or a manual adjustment on top of whatever processing it already carries. The ceiling on how much you can change is lower than it would be on a RAW file, since some decisions were already baked in before it arrived, but the file is still fully part of the workflow rather than sitting outside it.

Mixed-format shoots: several cameras, several sources, one project

A lot of real bookings are not a single camera producing a single format. Picture a boutique studio covering a two-day corporate event: the lead photographer shoots RAW throughout, while an associate brought in for the second day hands over a card of JPEGs from a different body, shot as backup coverage rather than a primary set. Both sets of files upload into the same project, side by side, with no extra handling required for either one.

That matters because the finished gallery has to read as one event, not two mismatched folders. Running both sets through the same Personal AI Profile, inside the same project, is what keeps a JPEG from a backup camera from looking visibly different from the RAW files that make up the bulk of the delivery. Clients looking at the final set are not expected to notice which frame started as which format, and with everything uploaded into one project, they generally will not.

The formats that are not supported yet

It is worth being upfront about where upload support stops today, rather than let a photographer find out mid-import on a deadline. HE NEF files, DNG Lossy files, Smart Previews on their own, and Capture One files are not currently supported. If your camera or a prior tool defaults to one of these, converting to a supported RAW, JPEG, or TIFF file before upload avoids a surprise partway through bringing in a shoot.

In practice this affects a small share of working photographers, since most camera bodies default to a standard RAW format or JPEG rather than the specific types listed above. It is still worth a quick check the first time you import from a new camera body, a rented body, or a tool you have not used with Imagen before. None of this is a permanent ceiling. It reflects where this first version of the workflow focused its support, and format coverage is the kind of thing worth checking back on rather than assuming it will stay fixed.

Getting the most out of whatever you upload

The practical takeaway is simple: upload in whatever format you already have, RAW for a fresh shoot, JPEG or TIFF for anything that arrived already processed, and let the project sort out culling, editing, review, and export from there in whatever order suits the job. You are not penalized for mixing formats within a single gallery, and you are not required to convert anything just to get started.

If you want a broader look at how the pieces of a modern editing workflow fit together once your files are in the project, the valuable tips library walks through culling, editing, and delivery in more depth than a single article on upload formats can cover.

What’s new in Imagen: Imagen is now an intelligent, agentic Studio for professional photographers, built so that culling, editing, review, and export all share one project that you can work through in any order. RAW, JPEG, and TIFF go straight in, and when you are done you can export finished JPG, TIFF, or PNG files from Imagen or send your AI edits on to Lightroom Classic as XMP. Photographers are getting access gradually while the Studio is in beta.

Frequently asked questions

What RAW formats can I upload to Imagen?

Most camera RAW formats upload without a conversion step. The exceptions worth knowing are HE NEF and DNG Lossy, which are not currently supported. If you are unsure about a specific camera body, a quick test upload before a paying shoot is worth the couple of minutes it takes.

Can I upload JPEG or TIFF files instead of RAW?

Yes. JPEG and TIFF both upload directly, which is useful for photos that already came from another camera setting, another editor, or a second photographer’s card. They can still be culled, rated, and edited inside the same project as any RAW files in the gallery.

What happens if I try to upload a file type that is not supported?

Files in the unsupported list, currently HE NEF, DNG Lossy, Smart Previews alone, and Capture One files, will not come into the project as they are. Converting to a supported RAW, JPEG, or TIFF format before uploading avoids the issue entirely.

Does the format I upload limit what I can export later?

No. Upload format and export format are independent decisions. Whether a photo started as RAW, JPEG, or TIFF, you can still export it as JPG, TIFF, or PNG once it is ready, depending on what the destination actually needs.

Ready to see what your own files look like inside a project? Upload a real shoot, RAW, JPEG, or TIFF, and start in Imagen’s new Studio, where culling, editing, and export share one project, at imagen-ai.com.