CIRAWFilter decoderVersion scope and RAW 9

Question

Zapsurfer OP

Created 1d

Replies 2

Boosts 0

Participants 4

This post is from the WWDC26 Image Processing Q&A.

I’m really excited about RAW 9, great work!

Since RAW 9 is not enabled by default, are there any recommended use cases where it makes sense to select it by default, if supported?

For compatibility handling, should I treat decoderVersion as covering all processing and adjustments performed by CIRAWFilter, or does it mostly affect the RAW decoding stage? When switching decoder versions, should I re-evaluate which CIRAWFilter adjustments are supported?

Also, the macOS 26 headers appear to expose version9 and version9DNG. Is RAW 9 actually supported on macOS 26 runtimes?

Thanks!

Answered by Engineer in 893502022

It can make sense to select RAW 9 by default and the reason we did not do that as that there is a performance cost to the new processing. If that performance cost is acceptable to your app then you can use RAW 9 by default - up to you.

The decoderVersion changes the Demosaic and Noise Reduction in our pipeline while other parts of the pipeline are common to RAW 8.

version9DNG uses the metadata in the DNG file and in this case the NoiseProfile is most relevant. When using version9 then Apple calibrated noise and color are used.

Answer 1

Engineer OP

Apple

1d

If you change the decoderVersion of a CIRAWFilter instance, then you should check which CIRAWFilter adjustments are supported using the isSupported properties.

Answer 2

Engineer OP

Apple

1d

Accepted Answer

Recommended

It can make sense to select RAW 9 by default and the reason we did not do that as that there is a performance cost to the new processing. If that performance cost is acceptable to your app then you can use RAW 9 by default - up to you.

The decoderVersion changes the Demosaic and Noise Reduction in our pipeline while other parts of the pipeline are common to RAW 8.

version9DNG uses the metadata in the DNG file and in this case the NoiseProfile is most relevant. When using version9 then Apple calibrated noise and color are used.