Google Photos now backs up RAW photos, but you have to be careful

Google Photos is a great tool for backing up your photos online, something you’ll appreciate if you lose data on your device. While most people will be well served by backing up all their JPG files, some power users may have additional RAW files to backup, especially if they’re using a camera-focused Android flagship. You could mark this folder to be backed up before, but the experience wasn’t ideal. Now, Google Photos is overhauling the experience by requiring users to back up their RAW files and display them in the main feed.

As I spotted it 9to5Google On the Pixel 8 that previously captured RAW photos through the Pixel Camera app, Google is displaying a new banner informing users that their RAW files will now be backed up and displayed in the main photo view.

As the report notes, tapping on a RAW image will now automatically load the RAW file (and its accompanying JPEG file, as Pixels can only shoot in RAW mode). The uploaded photo now appears in the main photo feed and has a “RAW” badge. JPEG is part of the “exploded” image.

Moreover, you can set RAW image as main image and delete JPEG file separately. Alternatively, you can delete the JPEG file and keep the RAW image.

Note that RAW files are large in size. For example, if a JPEG file is around 2-3MB, a RAW file will be between 15-20MB or more. If you shoot a lot of RAW photos, they’ll likely eat up your Google One storage space, as there’s no easy way to restrict RAW uploads. RAW images that you previously clicked will not load automatically, but all future RAW images will. For most users, we recommend shooting in JPEG format.