DropYourFiles

Blog · October 26, 2026

How to share raw photos with a client.

“I can’t open these. They all say .CR3.” Your client double-clicked the first one and got a gray icon.

Sometimes the job is the raws: an agency with its own retoucher, a brand that grades in-house. Your client still has to look at them first, and a raw file opens on almost nothing they own.

By Vitaly Kibenko

Your client sees the picture.

Upload the raws as they are. DropYourFiles makes a preview of each one, either from the JPEG your camera tucked inside the file or by developing it at half size. Your client looks through them like any other photos, pins notes on them, hearts favorites, and approves.

A client’s page with photo folders named Not in a folder, Selects, Iceland and Portraits, and a column of notes pinned to photos, one asking to crop in closer.
Your client’s side: photos in folders, and notes pinned to the exact spot on a frame. A sample project with invented names.
A man with gray locs at a laptop on a desk in a mountain meadow. The headline reads “One link from anywhere, to anyone.” and the line at the foot, “Sent from the middle of nowhere.”
Raw files go up as they are, and your client downloads them as they are.

Which raw files get a preview.

Canon CR2, CR3 and CRW, Sony ARW, SRF and SR2, Nikon NEF and NRW, Fujifilm RAF, Olympus ORF, Panasonic RW2, Pentax PEF, DNG, and the less common RAW, RWL, 3FR, ERF, KDC, MRW, MOS, X3F and IIQ.

For video, ProRes RAW plays with a neutral, ungraded look. RED, Blackmagic RAW, ARRIRAW, Canon Cinema RAW Light and Nikon N-RAW don’t play in the browser; they go across as files to download.

After approval, three ways to take them.

  1. Before approval, nothing

    While the project is in review your client sees marked previews, and the raws stay put.

  2. After approval, the raw files

    Original is the default, so your client gets IMG_0412.CR3 exactly as you shot it.

  3. Or a JPG for screens

    Web size gives your client a JPG of each one instead, IMG_0412.jpg, for a quick look or an email.

Questions.

Can my client see raw photos without special software?

Yes. Your client sees a preview of each raw file in the browser, on a phone or a computer, and never has to open the raw itself.

Will my client get the original raw files?

Yes, once they approve. Original is the default download, and Web size gives a JPG instead.

Can my client leave notes on a raw photo?

Yes, the same as any photo: tap the spot, type the note, draw on it if it helps.

Does RED or Blackmagic RAW footage play?

Not in the browser. Those files go across to download. ProRes RAW does play, with a neutral look.

Keep reading.

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