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Aug 13, 2026
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Sony RAW Viewer is Sony's free application for checking, playing and converting the RAW and X-OCN footage its cinema cameras record - VENICE, VENICE 2, BURANO, F65, F55, F5 and NEX-FS700 - with image control and export built in.
Sony RAW Viewer opens the files nothing else on a normal workstation will touch.
It plays, checks and converts the RAW and X-OCN footage that Sony's cinema cameras record, straight off the card, without transcoding first.
Sony gives it away, and if you are working with VENICE or BURANO material it is the reference tool for confirming what you actually shot.
What It Opens
The application handles Sony RAW and X-OCN recorded by these camera and recorder combinations:
- VENICE and VENICE 2 - including X-OCN from the MPC-3610, MPC-3626 and MPC-3628 bodies.
- BURANO - X-OCN from the MPC-2610.
- F65, F55, F5 and NEX-FS700 - with the SR-R4, AXS-R5 or AXS-R7 recorder attached.
X-OCN is Sony's compressed 16-bit format, and the reason it needs its own application is that the compression is Sony's own rather than a standard your editor already understands. Our guide to Understanding RAW Formats covers how these differ from the stills RAW files a camera-maker's photo software opens.
If the footage in question came off a Sony mirrorless body rather than a cinema camera, this is the wrong tool - that is what the Sony RAW Codec is for.
What You Can Do With It
Playback and review comes first. The point of the application is seeing high-resolution RAW and X-OCN as it was recorded, at full quality, so a take can be signed off rather than guessed at.
Image control comes next. Exposure, white balance and colour adjustments can be applied to check how a shot will sit once it reaches a grade, without committing to anything.
Then conversion. Footage exports to several standard video formats, which is how X-OCN gets into an edit that cannot read it natively - dailies, offline proxies, or a viewing copy for someone who is not on the post system.
What it is not. RAW Viewer is a review and conversion tool rather than an editor or a grading suite. It answers "is this take good and what does it look like", and hands off to something else for the rest.
What It Runs On
CHECK BEFORE YOU DOWNLOAD
Windows 10 is no longer supported. Sony lists Windows 11 only for the current release - the 2023, 2024 and 2025 updates, 64-bit. A Windows 10 workstation will not run it, and no compatibility setting changes that.
On macOS the current release covers Sonoma 14, Sequoia 15 and Tahoe 26, on Apple Silicon or an Intel Core i7 or Xeon.
Either platform wants at least 6GB of memory and about 500MB of disk for the application itself, though the footage you point it at will need vastly more. A discrete GPU is effectively required for smooth playback, and macOS builds now use Metal for GPU processing.
Where It Fits in a Post Workflow
RAW Viewer sits at the front of the chain, on set or in the machine room, before anything reaches an editor. It is what you open to confirm a card, check a take and generate something the rest of the pipeline can read.
After that, the grading and finishing happen elsewhere - DaVinci Resolve reads X-OCN natively and is the usual destination, and its free version handles the job without a licence.
If your set runs mixed cameras, the equivalent on the Blackmagic side is Blackmagic RAW, with Blackmagic RAW Player filling the same quick-check role RAW Viewer does here.
Windows is where Sony RAW gets awkward outside these tools, and it has been getting more awkward rather than less - our piece on what Sony's newer RAW compression did to Windows compatibility is worth reading if you are handling this material on a PC.
If You Are After a Photo Viewer
This page sits in the Image Viewers section, so it is worth saying plainly: RAW Viewer is a cinema tool and it will not open your camera roll. It reads Sony cinema RAW and X-OCN, and nothing else.
For stills RAW from any camera, FastStone Image Viewer and XnView both handle camera RAW alongside everything else.
IrfanView is the lightest of the three if all you want is something that opens instantly and gets out of the way.
On Windows 11, Microsoft Photos already handles most stills formats without installing anything, and the rest of the field is in our Image Viewers section.
If you are not sure what a file actually is before you go looking for software, our Codec Finder will narrow it down from the extension and the camera.
Version History
Changes in RAW Viewer 5.0:
- ICVFX Mode support for X-OCN from MPC-3628 and MPC-3626 (VENICE 2 / CineAltaV 2) V3.0
- X-OCN support for MPC-2610 (BURANO / CineAltaB)
- New Look presets - Warm, Cool, Vintage, and Teal and Orange
- Spirit level metadata extraction to CSV
- 2.2:1 aspect marker
- Metal for GPU processing on macOS
Sony has shipped point releases since. Their notes ship inside the download package rather than on the support page, so check the included release note for exactly what changed in the build you install.
Quick questions
Is RAW Viewer free?
Yes. Sony provides it at no cost for owners of its cinema cameras and for anyone handling their footage, with no licence, account or trial period.
Will it run on Windows 10?
No. Sony lists Windows 11 only for the current release, in the 2023, 2024 and 2025 updates. Older versions of RAW Viewer supported Windows 10 but are no longer maintained.
Can it open RAW photos from my Sony mirrorless camera?
No. It reads cinema RAW and X-OCN from the VENICE, BURANO, F-series and FS700 lines only. Stills RAW needs a photo application or the Sony RAW Codec.
What is X-OCN?
Sony's compressed 16-bit RAW format, designed to keep the latitude of full RAW at a fraction of the file size. It needs software that understands Sony's compression, which is why this application exists.
Do I need it if I already use DaVinci Resolve?
Not for grading, since Resolve reads X-OCN directly. RAW Viewer is quicker for checking cards and generating viewing copies without opening a project.
Does it edit video?
No. It reviews, adjusts image settings and exports to other formats. Cutting happens in an editor.
Download Sony RAW Viewer and check a card with it before your next shoot rather than during one, or tell us how it handled your footage if you already use it - which camera and which workstation is the useful part.
