A camera RAW file is the unprocessed readout straight off the sensor, and it carries the fullest metadata block of any photo file: the standard EXIF plus the vendor MakerNote, where the strongest camera fingerprints live. That MakerNote holds the body serial number unique to one physical camera, the shutter-actuation count, and on Canon the owner name registered in the menu - identifiers ordinary photo viewers hide and most JPEG strippers never touch. File X-Ray reads all of it in your browser, so the file never leaves your device. If the shot carries GPS, the coordinates are sent to draw a map and look up the address.
Scan a Camera RAW fileA RAW file is what photographers archive and often share as the untouched original, which is exactly why its metadata matters. File X-Ray reads the standard EXIF first, then decodes the MakerNote with its own per-vendor reader (Canon, Nikon, Fujifilm, Panasonic, Olympus) and cross-checks it against a full RAW decoder. The result surfaces the identifiers a normal image viewer leaves buried.
The headline finding is the camera body serial number. Read from the Canon, Nikon and Olympus maker notes or from the decoded RAW, it is unique to one physical body and ties together every photo that camera ever shot. On Canon files the owner name set in the camera menu comes out too, naming a person outright. Fujifilm, Panasonic and Olympus write a second internal serial (Panasonic's decodes into a model code, manufacture date and unit number), and where the lens records its own serial that appears alongside the body serial to fingerprint the exact kit.
Nikon, Fujifilm and Sony bodies record a shutter-actuation count - an odometer for the camera, and the figure used-camera buyers check to judge wear. Canon RAW files do not store it. You also get the firmware version, the full capture settings (ISO, shutter speed, aperture, focal length, lens model) and the exact date and time the frame was taken.
If the camera or a connected phone geotagged the shot, latitude, longitude and altitude come out and drop a pin on a map. File X-Ray decodes Canon (CR2, CR3, CRW), Nikon (NEF, NRW), Sony (ARW, SR2, SRF), Fujifilm (RAF), Panasonic (RW2), Olympus (ORF), Adobe DNG and a long tail of Pentax, Samsung, Hasselblad, Kodak, Minolta, Leaf, Phase One, Sigma and Leica raws. CR3 gets special handling because, unlike the other raws, it is not built on the standard TIFF layout - it uses an ISO-BMFF container the TIFF path cannot read, while DNG and the rest share the TIFF structure.
This is a selection. The full field manual documents the fields read from each format.
More than a JPEG. Because RAW keeps the full vendor MakerNote, a scan surfaces the camera body serial number, the owner name (on Canon), the lens and its serial, the shutter-actuation count, GPS location, firmware version, the full capture settings and the exact capture time - identifiers most image viewers hide.
Yes for Nikon (NEF), Fujifilm (RAF) and Sony (ARW), where the body records an actuation count File X-Ray reads directly from the file. Canon RAW (CR2, CR3, CRW) does not store a shutter count, so it cannot be read from the file itself.
Yes. The body serial and, on Canon, the owner name tie the file to you and your specific camera, and any embedded GPS pinpoints where you were standing. Photographers routinely share RAW originals as-is, which strip none of this.
You generally do not strip a RAW in place - the identifiers are woven into the sensor container and editing them can corrupt the file. Instead export a JPEG or TIFF (Lightroom and Camera Raw let you omit metadata on export) and share that, keeping the RAW private. File X-Ray reads RAW metadata but does not offer stripping for it.
Canon (CR2, CR3, CRW), Nikon (NEF, NRW), Sony (ARW, SR2, SRF), Fujifilm (RAF), Panasonic (RW2), Olympus (ORF), Adobe DNG, plus Pentax, Samsung, Hasselblad, Kodak, Minolta, Leaf, Phase One, Sigma and Leica raws - all decoded locally in the browser.
File X-Ray reads Camera RAW files entirely in your browser - the file never leaves your device. This format is inspected, not modified. Scan a file now.