Support for Raw and HEIC images
Mid to high-end cameras support the Raw image format. The latest release of Tag That Photo (during the week of April 12, 2021) expands the list of supported image formats from the current TIF, PNG and JPG formats to include Raw and HEIC formats.
To support viewing and scanning HEIC and RAW images we use Microsoft-supplied image drivers. To test whether you have the appropriate drivers available on your system we have provided a system function for this:
From the Help menu, choose Diagnostics, then select Check RAW & HEIC Image Support. This function attempts to display a HEIC and a RAW formatted image. If you can view the images then you are all set. If not, then you can find the necessary drivers below.
These drivers can be found at the Microsoft store (the base drivers are free). See images below from the MS Store. For HEIC you may also require the HEVC extension (approx. $1 USD).
• RAW:
• HEIC/HEIF:
• For HEIC/HEIF: you may also need the following HEVC extension depending on the version of Windows you are running.
We create the following additional files to support RAW and HEIC images:
• XMP metadata file (commonly referred to as a “sidecar”). It has the same name as the original image file, but with an XMP file type. It is typically less than 20kb in size. When moving RAW or HEIC images be sure to also copy the XMP file to preserve the metadata.
• A JPEG thumbnail version of the RAW or HEIC image. This could consume 200k to 300k per image. These images are not as important as the XMP metadata and will be recreated if they don’t exist and an image is found in a new location.
The MS codec is built using code from the "libraw" open source project, so the image formats supported are whatever libraw supports:
Special Note:
When moving images around on your hard drive, be careful that all related files for an image are moved. This includes the XMP sidecar for RAW and HEIC images. TTP also creates a JPEG thumbnail image for RAW & HEIC images. The important part is the XMP sidecar since it holds the image’s unique and valuable metadata. The JPEG thumbnail will be recreated if it doesn’t exist when the image is first scanned.
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