.cr3 File Extension

What kind of file is a .cr3?

A .cr3 file is a Canon Raw 3 photograph. It keeps minimally processed sensor measurements, camera settings, metadata, and an embedded JPEG preview. Compared with a camera-finished JPEG, the raw data gives an editor more room to adjust exposure, white balance, color, noise reduction, and tonal range.¹

CR3 uses an ISO base media file format container, unlike the TIFF-based .cr2 format it replaced. A useful content check is the ftyp box followed by the crx brand. At byte offset 4, a CR3 normally contains 66 74 79 70 63 72 78, or ftypcrx in ASCII.²³

The conventional MIME type is image/x-canon-cr3. It is not registered with IANA, so software may depend on the suffix and file structure instead.⁴

How do I open a .cr3 on my computer?

Use a RAW processor that supports the camera model that created the file:

• Windows and macOS: Canon Digital Photo Professional opens compatible Canon RAW files and is the safest first choice. Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom support many CR3-producing cameras.⁵⁶
• macOS: Apple Photos and other system apps can use the RAW support built into the installed macOS release, but support varies by camera model.
• Linux: darktable supports CR3, though newly released cameras may require a software update.⁷

Web browsers do not natively develop CR3 files. For a website or message, export a rendered JPEG, WebP, or PNG, and keep the original CR3 for future editing.

Poly support for .cr3

Poly gives CR3 photos thumbnails, an image-viewer preview, available EXIF metadata, visual search, and agent understanding. You can find an image by filename, camera metadata, color, or visible content, then ask the Poly agent about what appears in the rendered photo.

Poly does not develop the raw sensor samples or OCR ordinary image text. A preview can therefore look different from the result produced by Canon DPP or another RAW editor. Review metadata before sharing originals because camera, lens, time, serial, and location fields can be sensitive.

History of .cr3

Canon introduced CR3 with the EOS M50 generation in 2018 as the successor to CR2.² The newer container supports Canon's current RAW workflows and the C-RAW option. Both normal RAW and Compact RAW use the same .cr3 suffix, so the filename alone does not reveal which recording mode was selected.

Canon reports a useful camera-specific example: on the 45-megapixel EOS R5, a typical RAW file is about 45.4 MB and a C-RAW file about 22 MB. Actual sizes vary by scene, and Canon notes that strongly brightening an underexposed C-RAW can reveal more noise.¹

Working with .cr3 and alternatives

Keep the CR3 as your original. Export a derivative based on its destination:

Canon DPP can render RAW images to JPEG or TIFF with the current adjustments applied.⁸ That export is one interpretation of the capture, not a replacement for the original CR3.