GoPro RAW files (.GPR) are 12-bit, DNG-based raw images compressed with GoPro’s VC-5 codec to roughly 10-30MB, depending on the model you’re shooting with, as well as the detail and tonal range of the scene in the frame.1
Every Black-series GoPro since the HERO5 Black can shoot them — single photos on every model, with Burst, Night, and time-lapse photos added over the generations — but only with the Wide lens, never with SuperPhoto or HDR, and always with a JPG saved alongside.
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They’re worth using if you edit your photos: the RAW keeps the sensor data the camera’s JPG processing throws away, so you get cleaner high-ISO files, recoverable highlights and shadows, and your own choice of color and sharpening. They’re not worth it if you share straight from the phone, because the GoPro app works with the JPGs.
Below: what a GPR actually is (and why it isn’t quite a normal DNG), which models and modes can shoot RAW, why the processed modes can’t, how to switch RAW on and off on each generation, what opens the files, and the quirks I’ve run into with my own.
GoPro RAW at a glance
| GoPro RAW (.GPR) | |
|---|---|
| Format | “General Purpose Raw” — a DNG 1.3 variant with GoPro’s VC-5 wavelet compression; 12-bit |
| File size | About 3–7MB per photo (GoPro’s figure); 4:1 to 10:1 compression, vs ~2:1 for lossless DNG |
| Which cameras | HERO5 Black and every Black model since (HERO6–HERO13), plus Fusion. Not the Session cameras, HERO7 Silver/White, MAX, HERO11 Black Mini, or HERO (2024) |
| Which modes | Photo on all of them; Night and time-lapse photo from HERO6; Burst from HERO8. Never Continuous, LiveBurst, SuperPhoto, or HDR |
| Lens | Wide only (HERO6 onward). Linear, Narrow, SuperView, and zoom are JPG-only |
| Companion JPG | Always saved alongside; there is no RAW-only setting |
| Opens in | Lightroom / Camera Raw / Photoshop (since ACR 9.7 for the HERO5), darktable, Capture One, ON1, Iridient; not Apple Photos, Windows Photos, RawTherapee, or DxO — convert to DNG for those |
| Where the setting is | HERO5–7: RAW Format toggle in the photo settings. HERO8–13: Output > RAW (alongside SuperPhoto / HDR / Standard) |
What a GPR file actually is
GoPro built the format on Adobe’s DNG container but swapped the compression for VC-5, the wavelet codec it inherited from CineForm. The point was speed and size: an action camera with a small processor has to write bursts and time-lapses of thousands of frames, so GoPro wanted “DSLR-class image quality in a file nearly the same size as a JPEG.” GoPro publishes the codec and a converter as an open-source SDK.
The catch is that VC-5 isn’t a standard DNG compression. A program that reads ordinary DNGs won’t necessarily read a GPR — it has to have GoPro’s decoder built in. That’s why renaming .gpr to .dng doesn’t work, why Apple Photos and Windows Photos don’t open them, and why the universal fix is to run them through Adobe’s free DNG Converter (or GoPro’s gpr_tools), which rewrites them as regular DNGs. The step-by-step is in how to convert GoPro RAW (.GPR) to DNG for free.
The files are 12-bit, not the 14-bit you get from larger cameras. On a sensor this size (1/2.3-inch on the HERO5–8, 1/1.9-inch on the HERO11–13) that’s not the limiting factor; the sensor is.
You always get a JPG too
Every GoPro that shoots RAW saves a JPG of the same shot alongside the .GPR. GoPro’s manuals say it the same way in every generation: the JPG is “for immediate viewing on your camera or sharing with GoPro Quik.” The camera’s screen, the app, and GoPro’s cloud all work from the JPG; the RAW is there for your computer.
There’s no option to turn the JPG off. The RAW control is either a toggle (HERO5–7) or one of four Output choices (HERO8 onward), and none of them is “RAW only.” Treat it as a built-in safety net: if a RAW won’t open somewhere, you still have the picture. It does mean every photo costs two files, which matters for time-lapse — a one-hour lapse at a 5-second interval is 720 frames and 1,440 files.
Which GoPros shoot RAW, and in which modes
RAW has been on every Black model since it arrived with the HERO5 Black in 2016, with the modes it works in widening over time. The table runs newest first. Sources are GoPro’s own manuals and support pages for each model.
| Model | RAW? | Photo modes with RAW | Lens | RAW resolution | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HERO13 Black | Yes | Photo, Burst, Night, Time Lapse, Night Lapse | Wide only | 27MP 8:7 | SuperPhoto also blocked in Burst and Night; GoPro’s support page allows lapse RAW from 3 s, the manual says 5 s |
| HERO12 Black | Yes | Photo, Burst, Night, Time Lapse, Night Lapse | Wide only; zoom forces Wide | 27MP 8:7 | Max Lens Mod photos are JPG only; Output hidden in Easy Controls |
| HERO11 Black | Yes | Photo, Burst, Night, Time Lapse (≥5 s), Night Lapse | Wide only (Narrow is gone; Linear is JPG-only) | 27MP 8:7 (5568×4872) | Burst in RAW slows the camera |
| HERO11 Black Mini | No | No photo mode at all | — | — | Stills only as frame grabs in Quik |
| HERO (2024) | No | — | — | 12MP JPG | No photo settings menu, no Protune |
| HERO10 Black | Yes | Photo, Burst (some rates), Night, Time Lapse, Night Lapse | Wide only | 23MP (5568×4176) | Not LiveBurst; GoPro’s support page allows lapse RAW from 2 s, the manual says 5 s |
| HERO9 Black | Yes | Photo, Burst (some rates), Night, Time Lapse (≥5 s), Night Lapse | Wide only | 23.6MP (5584×4192) — larger than its 20MP JPG | Not LiveBurst; SuperPhoto ships off on this model |
| HERO8 Black | Yes | Photo, Burst, Night, Time Lapse Photo, Night Lapse Photo | Wide only | 12MP | First with Burst RAW (not at every burst rate); RAW becomes an Output choice |
| HERO7 Black | Yes | Photo, Night, Time Lapse Photo, Night Lapse Photo — Burst not listed | Wide only | 12MP | SuperPhoto off; zoom off; interval ≥5 s |
| HERO7 Silver / White | No | — | — | — | No Protune or RAW |
| HERO6 Black | Yes | Photo, Night, Time Lapse Photo, Night Lapse Photo — not Burst | Wide only | 12MP | HDR off; zoom off; lapse interval ≥5 s |
| HERO5 Black | Yes | Photo only | Wide, Medium, or Narrow — not Linear (the only model that allows non-Wide) | 12MP | WDR must be off; toggle is RAW Format |
| HERO5 Session | No | — | — | — | JPG only |
| MAX | No | — | — | — | All JPG, including PowerPano |
| Fusion | Yes | Photo; Night/Time Lapse from firmware 2.0 (≥5 s) | Spherical | 18MP | Two GPRs per shot (one per lens); offload by card reader |
Two details worth knowing. On the HERO9 and HERO10 the RAW is a different size from the JPG (the HERO9’s 23.6MP RAW vs its 20MP JPG), so don’t assume the pair match pixel for pixel. And the time-lapse minimum interval for RAW is 5 seconds on most models, but GoPro’s model pages for the HERO10 and HERO13 list 2 and 3 seconds while the manuals still say 5 — check what your camera offers rather than trusting either.
Download some test files
Here are three versions of the same frame, straight from a HERO13 Black at 5568 × 4872 pixels:
- Original .gpr file — 10.2 MB
- Converted with Adobe DNG Converter — 21.9 MB
- Converted with GoPro’s gpr_tools — 54.3 MB
Start with the .gpr. If your software opens it, you can stop there and ignore the rest of this page. If it doesn’t, try the two DNG versions — those should open anywhere that reads DNG.
The size difference is the first thing you’ll notice. All three hold the same sensor data, but they store it differently.
GoPro’s VC-5 compression is efficient, so the original is the smallest file of the three. Adobe’s converter recompresses the data and roughly doubles it. gpr_tools doesn’t compress at all, which is why its version is more than five times the size of the .gpr you started with.
Nothing is lost in either conversion. I checked by converting the DNG back to .gpr and comparing the pixel values against the original, and they came out identical. You’re paying in disk space, not image quality. Side by side, the two DNG versions render the same, too — I compared them through the same decoder and the difference was too small to see.
One quirk with the gpr_tools version: it doesn’t write an embedded preview image, so it may show a blank or slow thumbnail in Finder, Bridge, or anything else that relies on previews. The file itself is fine, and your raw processor will render it normally. The Adobe version does include a preview, so if thumbnails matter to your workflow, that’s a point in its favor.
Why the processed modes are JPG-only
SuperPhoto, HDR, and the HERO5’s WDR don’t work with RAW, and that isn’t GoPro being awkward. A RAW file is one frame of unprocessed sensor data. SuperPhoto and HDR are multi-frame processes — the camera shoots several exposures and merges and tone-maps them into a finished image. There is no single sensor readout that corresponds to that result, so there’s nothing to save as RAW. GoPro’s own wording: “SuperPhoto does not work with RAW Photo or Protune” and “HDR does not work with RAW Photo or Exposure Control.”
Night Photo is the exception that proves it: a long exposure is still one frame, so RAW is allowed. The same logic rules out the other computed outputs — LiveBurst, Star Trails, Light Painting, Vehicle Lights, PowerPano — and Continuous (holding the shutter down), which GoPro excludes on every model because the camera can’t write two files per frame fast enough.
One myth while we’re here: RAW has never required Protune. On the HERO5–7 they’re separate settings that sit next to each other; on later models Protune is available in RAW rows and non-RAW rows alike. The confusion comes from SuperPhoto, which turning on either RAW or Protune switches off. What RAW does do is make the Protune color, sharpness, and white balance settings advisory — they’re applied to the JPG and stored as metadata for the RAW, which your software can ignore. (More on that in Protune sharpening and Protune explained.)
How to turn RAW on and off
| Generation | Where | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|
| HERO12 / 13 Black | Settings shortcut > Capture section > Output > RAW Format | SuperPhoto / HDR / Standard / RAW — pick one. Not reachable in Easy Controls — switch to Pro Controls |
| HERO9 / 10 / 11 Black | Photo mode > press and hold the preset pill > Output > RAW (Mode button confirms) | Same four choices; time-lapse presets have their own Output |
| HERO8 Black | Photo settings > Output; Time Lapse settings > Output | SuperPhoto / HDR / Standard / RAW — pick one |
| HERO7 Black | Photo screen > settings > RAW; Time Lapse screen > settings > RAW (Time Lapse + Night Lapse Photo) | “Turn on to save your photos as both .jpg and .gpr files” |
| HERO6 Black | Photo (or Time Lapse) mode > swipe left > RAW Format — Photo and Time Lapse have separate toggles | Off / On |
| HERO5 Black | Photo mode > swipe to the advanced settings > RAW Format | Off / On toggle |
| Turning it off | Same place: choose Standard (HERO8+) or toggle RAW off (HERO5–7) | — |
In the Quik app you change the same per-preset settings from the camera-control screen. Two things the app won’t do: it won’t pull the GPRs off the camera (it transfers the JPGs), and GoPro’s cloud upload keeps only the JPGs except for single photos. If you shoot RAW, get the files off the card with a reader. See my GoPro SD card recommendations for cards that keep up with Burst RAW.
What opens GoPro RAW files
Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, Camera Raw, and Photoshop have read GPR since the HERO5 (Camera Raw 9.7 / Lightroom 6.7), with support for each new model arriving in a later release — Adobe’s list runs through the HERO13 and the 2026 MISSION 1. Adobe ships no camera-matching color profiles for any GoPro, which is why a freshly imported GPR doesn’t look like the camera’s JPG.
| Software | Opens .GPR? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Adobe Lightroom / LrC / Camera Raw / Photoshop | Yes | From ACR 9.7; HERO12/13 need ACR 17 / LrC 14 |
| Adobe DNG Converter (free) | Yes | The universal workaround: converts GPR to standard DNG for anything below |
GoPro gpr_tools (SDK) | Yes | Command line; you compile it yourself |
| darktable (free) | Yes | Since 2.6 |
| Capture One | Yes | Since 12.1.5, as “Generic GoPro HERO RAW” |
| ON1 Photo RAW | Yes | Since 2023 |
| Iridient Developer | Yes | Lists every Black model through HERO13 |
| Apple Photos / macOS / iOS | No | Apple’s RAW list has no GoPro entries; convert to DNG |
| Windows Photos (Raw Image Extension) | No | Microsoft states GPR is unsupported |
| RawTherapee | No | — |
| DxO PhotoLab / PureRAW | No | Nothing newer than the HERO4 era; no GPR |
| Affinity Photo | No | Long-standing request, no support found |
| GoPro Quik (desktop / mobile) | No | Desktop app discontinued; mobile works with the JPGs |
For the step-by-step on the conversion route, see how to convert GoPro RAW (.GPR) to DNG for free.
What RAW gets you (and doesn’t)
The gains are the usual raw ones, scaled to a small sensor. You get cleaner files at high ISO — DPReview found the HERO12’s JPG noise reduction “very noticeable” at ISO 1600–3200 while the raws “look cleaner, with better fine detail.” You get more latitude in the highlights and shadows than the baked JPG. And you get your own white balance, color, and sharpening instead of GoPro’s fairly heavy-handed defaults.
Don’t expect miracles on dynamic range. I’m not going to quote a stops figure because nobody has measured one credibly for any GoPro; what I can say is that a 1/1.9-inch sensor recovers far less than a full-frame one, and a blown sky is usually still a blown sky. Where RAW helps most is the middle: midday contrast, shadows you want to lift a little, skin tones, and the GoPro greens.
The first thing everyone notices is that the RAW looks flat and soft next to the JPG. That’s expected. The JPG has had the camera’s contrast curve, color, sharpening, and — on recent models — a lot of local tone mapping applied; the RAW has had none of it. In my own HERO13 files, when I match a GPR to its JPG on exposure, white balance, tone, and color, what’s left over is that local tone mapping, which no global slider reproduces. You’re meant to develop it, not judge it on import. A profile or preset gets you most of the way — see JPG vs RAW on GoPros for side by sides.
And because RAW is Wide-only, the fisheye look comes with it. Lightroom’s Lens Corrections profile removes it in one click, and the Distortion slider lets you keep some if you like it — a Linear look for GoPro RAW files, and the general method in removing GoPro fisheye in Lightroom. Profile coverage for new bodies sometimes lags Adobe’s file support by a few months.
Gotchas
- Two files, sometimes different sizes.
GOPR1234.JPGandGOPR1234.GPRsave together; on the HERO9/10 the RAW has more pixels than the JPG. In my HERO13 files the JPG and GPR sequence numbers are offset by one rather than shared — I match pairs by capture time, not name. - The GPR carries no GoPro maker notes. Which mode, lens, and Protune settings you used are recorded in the JPG only. Delete the JPG and you lose that record.
- The GPR’s orientation tag is always “upright.” The JPG carries the real rotation; if a RAW imports upside down, that’s why.
- Burst + RAW slows the camera. GoPro’s own warning: processing time goes up and back-to-back bursts suffer. Use a fast card.
- Zoom and RAW. Zoom must be off for RAW on the HERO6–8; on the HERO12/13 RAW forces the Wide lens.
- Protune values are advisory for the RAW. Sharpness, Color, and White Balance are baked into the JPG and only stored as metadata for the GPR — your converter can ignore them.
- Keep firmware current. GoPro notes that some photo modes and settings only appear on up-to-date firmware; Fusion only gained lapse RAW in firmware 2.0.
- The cloud strips your raws. GoPro’s auto-upload returns JPGs; RAW download works only for single photos. Offload from the card.
Common questions
Is GoPro RAW the same as DNG?
Nearly, but not quite. It’s a DNG container with GoPro’s VC-5 compression inside, so only software with GoPro’s decoder opens it directly. Converting it with Adobe DNG Converter produces a standard DNG that anything can read.
Can I shoot RAW without the JPG?
No. Every RAW-capable GoPro saves a JPG alongside; there is no RAW-only option on any model.
Why can’t I select RAW?
Usually because the lens isn’t Wide, zoom is on, SuperPhoto or HDR is selected, you’re in Continuous or LiveBurst, or the time-lapse interval is too short. On the HERO12/13, switch from Easy to Pro Controls to see the Output setting.
Does RAW work with linear on any GoPro?
No. Linear and the other digital lenses are JPG-only on every model; the HERO5 Black allowed Medium and Narrow with RAW, but even it excluded Linear. Straighten the Wide RAW in Lightroom instead.
Which GoPros can’t shoot RAW at all?
The Session cameras, HERO7 Silver and White, MAX, HERO11 Black Mini (no photo mode), and HERO (2024).
Is RAW worth it on a GoPro?
If you edit, yes — especially in tricky light and at high ISO. If you post straight from the app, no; the JPG is what the app uses, and shooting RAW just fills the card faster. Side-by-side comparisons: JPG vs RAW on GoPros.
- Sources: GoPro’s user manuals and model support articles (HERO5 through HERO13, MAX, Fusion, HERO (2024), HERO11 Black Mini), GoPro’s GPR SDK documentation, Adobe’s Camera Raw supported-cameras list, Apple’s and Microsoft’s RAW-support pages, and DPReview’s HERO12 review. Figures were checked in August 2026. [↩]
