

Raw files may also be processed directly through the macOS Finder and Windows File Explorer. Imported raw files then appear in PureRaw's "lightbox" (pictured below) for processing. Raw files are added to PureRaw via drag-and-drop from a local file browser or through a plugin for Adobe Lightroom Classic (accessed through the File>Plugin Extras menu). This is what makes PureRaw a raw pre-processing app, for it optimizes raw photo files before they are imported and edited elsewhere. PureRaw does all of this - apply optical corrections, denoise, add detail, and sharpen - when a raw file's data is demosaiced (the process of turning zeros and ones into a visual image). PureRaw also includes four denoising algorithms of varying strengths, two of which use deep learning to reconstruct detail that would otherwise be lost in the denoising process.

The software uses DxO's own custom-built optical modules (which DxO claims includes over 70,000 possible camera and lens combinations) to fix optical distortion, vignette, and chromatic aberration. PureRaw is a standalone version of the raw demosaicing engine used by PhotoLab, DxO's raw photo editing equivalent to Lightroom, Capture One, etc.

DxO is seeing this review at the same time as you. No money changed hands, and the company has not been editorially involved. Disclaimer: DxO provided me with a free license of PureRaw 3 to produce this review.
