The R3D file (.r3d, REDCODE RAW)

R3D is the file format of REDCODE RAW, the recording format of RED Digital Cinema's cameras. RED was founded by Jim Jannard in 2005, and its first camera, the RED ONE, first shipped in August 2007. RED describes REDCODE RAW as the first widely adopted raw codec for cinema workflows.

An R3D holds the image sensor's data, compressed, plus the camera settings as metadata. ISO, white balance, saturation and the look applied on set aren't baked in, so a colourist can change them later without losing quality. Each clip is a folder of files rather than a single file, which matters when you copy or send footage (see below).

Current RED cameras such as the V-RAPTOR can also record Apple ProRes in MOV files, either instead of R3D or alongside it as a lightweight proxy. R3D remains the default and the format RED's colour pipeline is built around.

A camera sensor sees brightness through a mosaic of coloured filters. A normal video camera interpolates that mosaic into full-colour pixels (demosaicing, or debayering), applies white balance and a tone curve, and compresses the finished picture. REDCODE compresses the mosaic itself, using wavelet compression, which avoids the blocky artefacts of DCT-based codecs such as H.264 at high compression. Demosaicing happens later, on the computer, in RED's image processing pipeline.

That pipeline is called IPP2 on current cameras. It converts the raw data to RED's Log3G10 encoding in the REDWideGamutRGB colour space, a log image designed to keep every stop of highlight and shadow detail. Viewed without a LUT or output transform, Log3G10 looks grey and low in contrast. That's expected: choose a Rec.709 or HDR output in the RED settings of your software, or apply a LUT.

Because the processing happens in software, RED can improve it after the fact: footage shot years ago can be developed with a newer pipeline by updating the SDK, the same way a photographer reprocesses old raw photos with a new version of Lightroom.

Current RED cameras, such as the KOMODO and V-RAPTOR families, offer four R3D Quality settings. RED's recommendations and the data rates for the V-RAPTOR [X] 8K VV at 24 fps, from its operation guide:

Older cameras of RED's DSMC2 generation, such as the DSMC2 DRAGON-X, instead let you pick a target compression ratio between 2:1 and 22:1, with 8:1 as the default. If the camera can't reach the target at the chosen resolution and frame rate, it shows the ratio in yellow and uses the next one it can. None of the settings is lossless: REDCODE is always lossy, but at the lighter settings the loss is hard to see.

RED cameras organise media in folders, and one clip is rarely one file:

A001_0101AB.RDM/                  the magazine (reel)
  A001_C001_0101AB.RDC/           one clip
    A001_C001_0101AB_001.R3D      first 4 GB segment
    A001_C001_0101AB_002.R3D      next segment …
    A001_C001_0101AB_003.R3D
    A001_C001_0101AB.RMD          settings, once changed in software
    A001_C001_0101AB.mov          ProRes proxy, on cameras that make one
    A001_C001_0101AB.rtn          RED thumbnail

• Segments. RED cameras split long clips into 4 GB files; the RED ONE used 2 GB. Applications that read R3D join the segments back into one continuous clip when you open the first one.
• .RMD files store settings changed after shooting, in REDCINE-X PRO or Final Cut Pro for example. The R3D files themselves aren't modified.
• Proxies. The V-RAPTOR can record a ProRes proxy alongside the R3D, in the same .RDC folder, for fast editing.

• RED's own cameras: every generation since the RED ONE (2007), through the DSMC and DSMC2 families to the KOMODO (shipping since 2020) and the V-RAPTOR (announced in 2021, the first of the DSMC3 generation).
• Under Nikon: RED released Nikon Z-mount versions of the V-RAPTOR [X] and KOMODO-X in February 2025.
• R3D NE: a version of REDCODE RAW for the Nikon ZR, a Nikon mirrorless camera. NE stands for Nikon EXPEED: it uses the raw compression hardware in Nikon's processor and RED's colour pipeline, so it grades like other RED footage.

RED's software can also process Nikon's own N-RAW (.NEV) files if they're renamed to .R3D. RED points out that such files are still N-RAW: they lack the in-camera characterisation and metadata of a real R3D NE file and won't match one shot on the same camera.

RED holds patents on recording compressed raw video inside a camera. It has licensed them to other companies, and they have been tested several times:

• Apple (2019): challenged one of RED's patents in the United States and lost later the same year.
• Nikon (2022–2024): RED sued Nikon in 2022, after a firmware update gave the Nikon Z9 internal raw video recording. In 2024 Nikon bought RED, which became a wholly owned subsidiary.
• Japan (2026): Panasonic challenged RED's Japanese compressed-raw patent in 2022. In a ruling reported in August 2026, Japan's Intellectual Property High Court upheld the Japan Patent Office's decision to invalidate it, dismissing appeals by RED and Nikon. The ruling applies only in Japan.

• RED's own tool: REDCINE-X PRO, free from RED for macOS and Windows, plays R3D clips (it includes RED PLAYER), adjusts the raw settings non-destructively and transcodes to other formats.
• Grade and edit: DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro read R3D directly, with RED's raw controls. RED says all major post-production tools use its SDK, which also does the decompression and debayering.
• Final Cut Pro: install RED's free Apple Workflow Installer, then import with optimised and proxy media switched off. Changes to RED RAW settings are saved to an .RMD file next to the clip.
• Inspect: REDCINE-X PRO shows the metadata. FFmpeg's demuxer reads only older RED1 files, so don't rely on FFmpeg, VLC or HandBrake to view R3D footage.

To make a version anyone can watch, export from Resolve, Premiere or REDCINE-X PRO: H.264 or H.265 MP4 for review, ProRes MOV for editing elsewhere, or OpenEXR image sequences for visual effects. Set the output colour space and gamma (or a LUT) first, or the export will look as flat as the log image.