The 3FR file (.3fr)

3FR is the raw format of Hasselblad, the Swedish company that has made cameras since 1941, best known for the cameras that documented the first Moon landing. Its digital cameras are medium format: their sensors are much larger than the full-frame sensors of most professional cameras, and its current models, the X2D 100C, X2D II 100C and the CFV 100C digital back, have 100-megapixel sensors.

When one of these cameras takes a picture, it saves a 3FR file: the values read from the sensor plus metadata, with no processing applied. According to PRONOM, the format is based on TIFF, follows the Exif standard, and was developed in the early 2000s with Hasselblad's second generation of H-series digital cameras (the H2D), replacing the earlier Imacon 3F raw format.

If you also find "FFF" files from a Hasselblad, they're 3FR files that have been imported into Hasselblad's software (see the next section).

Hasselblad uses two raw file types. The camera writes 3FR. Phocus, Hasselblad's free raw processor and capture software, converts each 3FR into an FFF file when it imports it. The FFF is still a raw file: it holds the same sensor data, plus Phocus's settings, and can be exported from Phocus as TIFF, JPEG or DNG. ExifTool calls FFF the "Hasselblad Flexible File Format".

PRONOM records FFF as the earlier of the two formats and 3FR as its successor, yet Phocus still writes FFF today. In practice the practical rule is simple: keep the 3FR files from the card as your originals, whatever you do in Phocus. They're what every other application understands.

A 100-megapixel sensor produces a lot of data, and at least some Hasselblad cameras store it without compression. In tests published in 2022, diglloyd found that X2D 100C 3FR files are uncompressed, while most other camera makers offer lossless compression that keeps exactly the same data in less space.

• Adobe DNG Converter: in the same tests, converting to DNG saved about 23% with a full-size preview embedded, and about 32% with a medium preview or none. DNG's lossless compression keeps every value.
• Phocus: importing the 3FR to FFF gave savings similar to DNG with a full-size preview.
• Not worth it: embedding the original 3FR inside the DNG (an option in DNG Converter) makes each file far bigger than either.

• Phocus (Windows and macOS, free): Hasselblad's own software, with its colour profiles and lens corrections. It imports 3FR files as FFF and exports TIFF, JPEG or DNG.
• Adobe Camera Raw, Lightroom and Lightroom Classic: open 3FR files directly, with support for new models arriving in Adobe's regular updates.
• Capture One: added native 3FR support on 2 July 2026, in Capture One 16.8.3 and Capture One Mobile 3.3.4, for the X2D 100C, X2D II 100C and CFV 100C, with Hasselblad-made colour and XCD lens profiles. Tethered shooting is promised for later in 2026. Before that, Capture One users had to convert Hasselblad files first, for example to DNG.
• macOS and iOS: Apple's raw support list includes Hasselblad cameras from the H3D and CF backs to the X2D II 100C, so Photos and Preview open their 3FR files.
• Windows Photos: Microsoft's free Raw Image Extension is built on the open-source LibRaw library, which supports many Hasselblad models. Support for brand-new models takes longer here than in Phocus or Lightroom.

# camera, lens, exposure and date
exiftool photo.3fr

# list any embedded preview images and their tag names
exiftool -a -G1 -preview:all photo.3fr

# extract one by its tag name, for example
exiftool -b -PreviewImage photo.3fr > preview.jpg

If your software is too old for a camera, the free Adobe DNG Converter turns 3FR files into DNG, which older versions of Lightroom, Photoshop and most other converters can read.

• Lightroom or another app won't open the FFF. Phocus wrote it, and not every converter reads FFF files. Go back to the original 3FR, or export a DNG or TIFF from Phocus.
• A new camera's files won't open. Raw support is added per camera model. Update your software, or convert with the latest Adobe DNG Converter and open the DNG.
• Colours differ between Phocus and Lightroom. Each converter uses its own colour profiles and defaults. Phocus and, since 2026, Capture One use Hasselblad-made profiles; others approximate them.
• Lens distortion or vignetting looks worse elsewhere. Phocus applies Hasselblad's lens corrections automatically. In other software, turn on the lens profile if one exists for your lens.
• Files are huge and slow. That's 100 megapixels of raw data, uncompressed on some models. Convert to DNG with lossless compression for storage, and make smaller previews for browsing.

A 3FR can't run code, but it carries Exif metadata: camera model, lens, exposure settings, date and time, and GPS coordinates if location was recorded. Check with exiftool -a -G1 photo.3fr before sending raw files to someone you don't know, and share an exported JPEG with the metadata removed (exiftool -all= photo.jpg) when publishing.