What is a .RWL file?
RWL is Leica’s camera RAW format. Opened in Adobe Lightroom.
- Did you know
- RWL is the raw format used by several Leica cameras.
- RWL is Leica’s raw extension, but the data inside is essentially identical to Panasonic’s RW2, a legacy of the two firms’ camera collaboration.
- Because RWL mirrors RW2, the same raw developers - such as Lightroom or darktable - decode both without needing separate support.
- RWL files use a TIFF-based structure that stores the sensor’s Bayer mosaic alongside EXIF metadata and an embedded preview image.
- Keeping 12 to 14 bits per channel, an RWL holds far more tonal information than the JPEG a Leica can also produce simultaneously.
- What Analyser shows you
- Open camera RAW files from Sony (ARW), Canon (CR2, CR3, CRW), Nikon (NEF, NRW), Fujifilm X-Trans (RAF), Sigma Foveon (X3F), Olympus (ORF), Panasonic (RW2), Pentax (PEF), Adobe DNG and many more. Reads full EXIF and lens data, the true sensor resolution, GPS and histograms, recovers the Sony and Nikon shutter actuation count, and develops the RAW - decoding the sensor to a full-resolution image, or extracting the embedded preview when a true demosaic is not available.
- Open a .RWL file
- Drag a .RWL file onto the Analyser home page (or tap to pick one). It opens entirely in your browser - nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and it works offline once installed.