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Format

Digital Negative Format (DNG)

Summary

Name
Digital Negative Format (DNG)
Version
1.1
Identifiers
  • PUID: fmt/152
  • MIME: image/tiff
Format type
Image (Raster)
Description
The Digital Negative (DNG) Specification describes a non-proprietary file format for storing camera raw files that can be used by a wide range of hardware and software vendors. DNG is an extension of the TIFF format, and is compatible with the TIFF-EP standard. This version was published in February 2005 and corrected the flaws in the first version. It has proved capable of representing raw images for a large variety of cameras (both when written in-camera or via conversion from other raw image formats) for a few years, and it is the version still typically written in-camera.
File extensions
dng, tif, tiff
Source
Digital Preservation Department / The National Archives

Relationships

Has priority over
Is previous version of
Is subsequent version of
Is subtype of

Internal signatures

DNG 1.1 (little-endian, BOF)

Note
TIFF header plus DNGVersion tag near BOF

Byte sequences

Min Frag Length
Absolute from BOF
Offset
0
Max offset
0
Byte Sequence
49492A00{0-4080}12C601000400000001010000
Endianness
Little-endian

DNG 1.1 (little-endian, BOF+EOF)

Note
TIFF header plus DNGVersion tag near EOF

Byte sequences

Min Frag Length
Absolute from BOF
Offset
0
Max offset
0
Byte Sequence
49492A00
Endianness
Little-endian
Min Frag Length
Absolute from EOF
Offset
0
Max offset
128000
Byte Sequence
12C601000400000001010000
Endianness
Little-endian

DNG 1.1 (big-endian, BOF)

Note
TIFF header plus DNGVersion tag near BOF

Byte sequences

Min Frag Length
Absolute from BOF
Offset
0
Max offset
0
Byte Sequence
4D4D002A{0-4080}C61200010000000401010000
Endianness
Big-endian

DNG 1.1 (big-endian, BOF+EOF)

Note
TIFF header plus DNGVersion tag near EOF

Byte sequences

Min Frag Length
Absolute from BOF
Offset
0
Max offset
0
Byte Sequence
4D4D002A
Endianness
Big-endian
Min Frag Length
Absolute from EOF
Offset
0
Max offset
128000
Byte Sequence
C61200010000000401010000
Endianness
Big-endian

Changelog

  • Updated in V116

    Release date
    23 November 2023

    Digital Negative Format (DNG) 1.1: Max-offset increased to 128000 bytes for EOF signatures and MIME type of 'image/dng' added. Submitted by Brigham Young University.

  • Updated in V105

    Release date
    29 June 2022

    Digital Negative Format (DNG) 1.1: Changed maximum offset in signature to the TIFF header and DNGVersion tag near EOF from 4084 to 10000 bytes. Submitted by Digital Repository, Historic Environment Scotland.

  • Updated in V103

    Release date
    11 March 2022

    Digital Negative Format (DNG): Changed maximum offset of 'TIFF header plus DNGVersion tag near EOF' from 4084 to 6000 bytes. Submitted by Digital Repository, Historic Environment Scotland.

  • Updated in V82

    Release date
    27 March 2015

    Digital Negative Format (DNG) 1.1: Set priority over Nikon Digital SLR Camera Raw Image File due to potential for clash.

  • Added in V60

    Release date
    11 June 2012

    Digital Negative Format (DNG) 1.1: Description added. Priority information added to avoid potential mis-identification with Tagged Image File Format, Tagged Image File Format for Electronic Photography (TIFF/EP), Exchangeable Image File Format (Uncompressed) 2.0, Exchangeable Image File Format (Uncompressed) 2.1, Exchangeable Image File Format (Uncompressed) 2.2.

    DNG 1.1 (little-endian, BOF): Signature developed through PRONOM Research.

    DNG 1.1 (little-endian, BOF+EOF): Signature developed through PRONOM Research.

    DNG 1.1 (big-endian, BOF): Signature developed through PRONOM Research.

    DNG 1.1 (big-endian, BOF+EOF): Signature developed through PRONOM Research.