Microsoft says it plans to deliver native support for digital camera RAW images in the next major version of Windows, code-named "Longhorn." It will also distribute a RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer for Windows XP, allowing consumers to view thumbnails and preview and print Canon and Nikon RAW files from Windows Explorer in Windows XP. These features, as well as the ability to organize and edit Canon and Nikon RAW files, will also be available in a future version of Digital Image Suite.

RAW formats vary from camera to camera; the name refers to the native format of the image data captured by the camera's sensor before it is processed by firmware and written to the camera's storage. The processing manipulates the image, changing its sharpness, saturation, contrast and other attributes based on user settings. These manipulations can't be reversed after the file is saved in another format, like JPG, so the RAW data represents the most malleable version of the image.

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