Instagram Supports Uploading ProRAW Photos Taken With iPhone 12 Pro

Instagram is today rolling out support for the new ProRAW photos that are able to be captured with the iPhone 12 and the iPhone 12 Pro Max.

apple proraw format
Instagram developer Tim Johnsen shared the news on Twitter, where he also said that ProRAW photos in the DNG format are not able to be edited on Instagram. Further details aren't available, but it seems that Instagram is converting the ProRAW file into JPG that's shown on Instagram.

Support is limited, but those who take ProRAW photos and edit them outside of Instagram will be able to share the resulting image directly on the social network without having to create a separate JPG. ProRAW images are large in size, coming in at around 25MB, so Instagram is compressing them.

ProRAW is an ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro and ‌iPhone 12 Pro Max‌ feature that was enabled with the iOS 14.3 update. It takes advantage of the computational photographer features that Apple adds into its ‌iPhone‌ while also giving users control over white balance, noise reduction, sharpening, and more.

As photographer Austin Mann highlighted earlier this week, ProRAW is ideal in situations where Apple's general algorithms may struggle, such as mixed indoor lighting, extreme low light, and super high dynamic range images.

Popular Stories

iOS 26 on Three iPhones

iOS 26's Liquid Glass Design Draws Criticism From Users

Wednesday September 17, 2025 2:56 pm PDT by
It's been two days since iOS 26 was released, and Apple's new Liquid Glass design is even more divisive than expected. Any major design change can create controversy as people get used to the new look, but the MacRumors forums, Reddit, Apple Support Communities, and social media sites seem to feature more criticism than praise as people discuss the update. Complaints There are a long...
iPhone 17 Pro and Air Feature

Two iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air Colors Appear to Scratch More Easily

Friday September 19, 2025 10:02 am PDT by
As reported by Bloomberg today, some of the new iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air models on display at Apple Stores today are already scratched and scuffed. French blog Consomac also reported on this topic. The scratches appear to be most prominent on models with darker finishes, including the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max in Deep Blue, and the iPhone Air in Space Black. Images Credit: Consoma ...
iOS 26

iOS 26.0.1 Coming Soon, Likely With iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro Fix

Thursday September 18, 2025 9:17 am PDT by
Apple is preparing to release iOS 26.0.1, according to a private account on X with a proven track record of sharing information about future iOS versions. The update will have a build number of 23A350, or similar, the account said. It is likely that iOS 26.0.1 will fix a camera-related bug on the new iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro models. In his iPhone Air review, CNN Underscored's Henry T. ...
M6 MacBook Pro Feature 1

Apple's Rumored MacBook Pro Redesign: 6 New Features Anticipated

Wednesday September 17, 2025 4:26 am PDT by
Apple in October 2024 overhauled its 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, adding M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chips, Thunderbolt 5 ports on higher-end models, display changes, and more. That's quite a lot of updates in one go, but if you think this means a further major refresh for the ‌MacBook Pro‌ is now several years away, think again. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has said he expects only a small ...
iOS 26

iOS 26.1 to iOS 26.4: Here Are 5 New Features to Expect on Your iPhone

Tuesday September 16, 2025 11:17 am PDT by
iOS 26 was finally released on Monday, but the software train never stops, and the first developer beta of iOS 26.1 will likely be released soon. iOS 18.1 was an anomaly, as the first developer beta of that version was released in late July last year, to allow for early testing of Apple Intelligence features. The first betas of iOS 15.1, iOS 16.1, and iOS 17.1 were all released in the second ...
Tim Cook Rainbow

Apple Reportedly Plans to Launch These 10 Products in 'Coming Months'

Sunday September 14, 2025 8:45 am PDT by
Apple's annual September event is now in the rearview mirror, with the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, iPhone Air, Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3, Apple Watch SE 3, and AirPods Pro 3 set to launch this Friday, September 19. As always, there is more to come. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple plans to release many products in the...

Top Rated Comments

btrach144 Avatar
62 months ago

Why would anyone want a 20+ meg RAW file posted to Instagram exactly?
If you read the article then you’d see that Instagram is likely converting the heavy ProRAW file into a lightweight JPEG.

Instagram is not known for high quality photos. They compress the heck out of anything you upload.

They’re dropping that 25MB file into probably a 500K jpeg and certainly not keeping the ProRAW file.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CubeHacker Avatar
62 months ago
Now how about that iPad version that they’ve been working on for... 6 years?
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Blackstick Avatar
62 months ago
Why would anyone want a 20+ meg RAW file posted to Instagram exactly?
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SVTmaniac Avatar
62 months ago
The whole purpose of RAW is so you can edit the photo the way you want and preserve maximum quality the save it as a jpeg so why would anyone upload a RAW directly without editing?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chabig Avatar
62 months ago

Why would anyone want a 20+ meg RAW file posted to Instagram exactly?
The more data you give Facebook, the more they can do with it!
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kiensoy Avatar
62 months ago

Why would anyone want a 20+ meg RAW file posted to Instagram exactly?
Because maybe you shot the RAW for something else but now that you have it you might wanna upload it to Instagram as well.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)