Raw Compact
Brightbox Studios presents
For Nikon Z RAW video
Up to 4×smaller.Still Raw
Lighter RAW copies of your R3D NE and N-RAW clips, real conversion between the two, and a way to check every frame before you keep it.
Launch offer · limited timeUS$25 OFFThe product film
Every shot in this film was played from Raw Compact files (Studio level), coloured with RED’s IPP2 Rec.709 LUT. The test frames, difference view and sizes are real measurements from those clips, not a promise for every shot.
The problem
RAW eats drives.
- 28 GBa minute of ZR 6K/60 RAW at High quality
- 35 minof that fills a 1 TB drive
- ~140 minon the same drive after Raw Compact’s Max level
From Nikon’s published bitrate for 6K 59.94p High (3,780 Mbps). Real files vary with the scene.
Four steps. One window.
- Add clipsDrop files or folders, offload a card, or let a watch folder do it.
- Pick a levelFour levels set by your camera’s own bitrates. Test any frame first.
- Choose the outputSame size or 4K from 6K. Keep the format or convert N-RAW ↔ R3D NE.
- Save and compressEvery new file is checked as it’s written. Originals are only read.
Problem · You don’t know how small is too small
Four levels, set by your camera.
Each level is a size your ZR already understands: Master is High ÷ 1.5, Studio matches the camera’s own Normal, Edit is High ÷ 3, Max is High ÷ 4. The app shows what each level would save on your clips before anything runs.
Example: one 20 GB clip shot at the camera’s High quality. Here’s what each level turns it into:
- MasterHigh ÷ 1.5 · saves 6.7 GB13.3 GB
- StudioCamera’s own Normal · saves 10 GB10 GB
- EditHigh ÷ 3 · saves 13.3 GB6.7 GB
- MaxHigh ÷ 4 · saves 15 GB5 GB
20 GB in→10 GBout, saved asNZR_4210_RC-MQ.R3D
Targets, not measured files: real sizes move with the scene. Every level is lossy.
Problem · You can’t see what you’d lose until it’s too late
Check any frame before you keep it.
Play the clip, stop anywhere and compress a few frames as a test. Then compare the original and the new file up to 400%: side by side, split, or as a difference picture where black means identical.
- Size of that frame in both files, read from the files themselves
- Rec.709 or Log, the same conversion on both sides
- Clipping and noise read out for the area you’re looking at
- Nothing is saved until you choose
Problem · Judging by eye isn’t enough
Scopes, like your grading suite.
Waveform, RGB parade, vectorscope and histogram of both pictures at once. The original draws blue, the new file orange, and they add up to white where they agree.
- Corner panel or full-frame overlay
- Skin-tone line and colour-bar targets on the vectorscope
- Colour pickers read RGB and IRE on both sides
Problem · Two RAW formats from one camera
N-RAW ↔ R3D NE, converted for real.
Shot some clips in N-RAW and some in R3D NE? Want everything on RED’s colour pipeline, or back in Nikon’s? Raw Compact converts each clip so it opens like the camera’s own file of that type. It doesn’t just rename the extension.
- Readthe camera’s RAW data
- Movethe recording level by the half stop between the two formats
- Re-labelthe colour calibration the way the camera writes it
- Writea new RAW file, still RAW, checked frame by frame
On its own it keeps about the original size. Pick a level to convert and compress in one pass.
Tested against the camera: in four scenes, colour of the converted R3D NE matched the camera’s own R3D NE 4–10× more closely than the eye can see, and exposure matched within 0.08 stop where the light didn’t change between takes.
Problem · You deliver 4K but shot 6K
4K from 6K, still RAW.
6K clips become 4032 × 2268, the camera’s own 4K size, without debayering, so they still grade as RAW. At Studio that’s about four times smaller than the 6K original. Clips already shot in 4K keep their size.
- Compare a 4K test against the 6K original, lined up pixel for pixel
- Optional HD edit proxy, still RAW, in its own folder
Problem · The shoot is bigger than the drive
Fit it to the drive you have.
Tell Raw Compact the space you have: 500 GB, 1 TB, the free space on your drive, or any size. It picks a level for each clip, best quality first, and re-plans after every clip with the real sizes.
Example: a 1.6 TB shoot. Your drive:
Fits on 1 TB: about three quarters of the footage at Master, the rest at Studio.
MasterStudioEditMaxDrive size
Problem · Big batches are a black box
Watch it run.
Speed, time left and the space you’re saving, live, for each clip and the whole batch. Pause stops at once and picks up from the same frame. Set up the next batch in a new tab while this one runs.
- Progress in the Dock and a notification when it’s done
- Keeps the Mac awake while it works
- After a crash, finished files are safe and the rest is ready to finish
Problem · Offload, back up, compress: three jobs
One pass from the card.
Plug in a card and Raw Compact offers to offload it: the original RAW is backed up and checked, the clips are compressed, and photos, audio and sidecars are copied with their folders. Then the card can be reused.
Problem · Footage keeps landing in a folder
Watch folders do it for you.
Pick folders to watch and a preset. New clips start compressing on their own once they’ve finished copying, after a five-second countdown you can stop. It keeps watching from the menu bar, even with the window closed.
And the small things that save a day.
“Did I already do this one?”
Finished clips are remembered by their content, so the same clip isn’t compressed twice by accident.
“Which level suits this shot?”
Try every level on one clip, or Test all to compress a few frames of every clip and flip through them.
“Log thumbnails all look grey.”
Thumbnails and Compare show Rec.709 by default, through your own official LUT if you add one.
“My laptop chokes on 6K.”
Add a small HD edit proxy of each clip, still RAW, in its own Proxy folder.
“A new card arrived mid-batch.”
Open a new batch tab and set it up. It starts when the current batch finishes.
“The client wants proof.”
Save a batch report PDF, or a verification report for one clip: sizes, frames checked, originals untouched.
“Will my edit still relink?”
Keep the camera’s file names, and keep the card’s folder structure when you add whole folders.
“What if a file is bad?”
Each new file is decoded and checked as it’s written. A clip that fails a check isn’t kept, and your original is never changed.
New to Raw Compact?
A step-by-step guide, from your first clip to the batch report.
Open the guideMade for one camera.
Works with
Nikon Z R3D NE and N-RAW (.NEV) video, on Apple silicon Macs with macOS 14 or later. You’ll need a RAW-capable editor or reader to grade the copies.
Doesn’t touch
Your originals. Raw Compact always writes new files next to the names you choose, and a clash gets a number, never an overwrite. NEF and NRW photos, Intel Macs and other cameras are out of scope.
Keeps
Your audio, identical sample for sample, and the folder structure of your card. Camera file names can stay as shot, so your editor relinks without fuss.
Limited timeoffer.
A licence that never expires, every 1.x update included, one activated Mac at a time. After an online check it works up to seven days offline.
US$25 off for the first 100 buyers. Code EARLY100 is applied when you press Buy.
The trial does everything, with a watermark on exports. After you buy, your licence key arrives with your Gumroad receipt: in the app choose Settings ▸ Enter licence key and paste it. Apple silicon Mac, macOS 14 or later. Questions? [email protected]
Fine print
Compression is lossy: review texture, motion and heavy grades against the original before choosing a stronger level. File sizes are targets based on Nikon’s published bitrates. Conversion results were measured at ISO 800 with daylight white balance; other settings may differ. Moving to another Mac means deactivating online first; if a Mac is lost, email support and we’ll reset it. Refunds are handled case by case: if Raw Compact doesn’t work on your supported Mac and we can’t fix it, you get your money back. Launch offer: US$25 off the US$75 price for the first 100 buyers, with code EARLY100: US$50 before any sales tax. After that the price is US$75. Payments, receipts and sales tax are handled by Gumroad, the merchant of record.