Most cameras (including the one on your smartphone) can capture images in a variety of qualities these are usually a RAW format such as NEF on Nikon
RAW files are higher quality, contain more information, detail and colour. They are usually significantly larger than jpg files. RAW Files are not image files but a collection of all of the sensor data from and allows camera settings such as white balance, sharpness and contrast to be reset after the photograph has been taken. This allows the images to remain high quality when they are edited. With Jpeg (or jpg) files, all settings are ‘baked in’.
Most professional photographers use RAW files, as it allows much more control over the images. Most cameras also allow you to shoot in multiple formats, so that you can have small images that can be exported and used quickly and RAW images for editing later.
