If you want to bring out the very best in your RAW photo files, DxO PureRAW has long been one of the most highly-rated applications to use. I’ve been using this software for several years, and it’s been encouraging to see successive versions of PureRAW introduce new features and better performance.
Now, we have yet another iteration of this software to work with: DxO PureRAW 6. For this latest upgrade, the DxO team hasn’t gone overboard with a whole host of new features, but has instead focused on improving the software’s speed, efficiency, and accuracy.
With that in mind, I wanted to know: is it actually worth making the transition and upgrading to DxO PureRAW 6, or can you still get by with PureRAW 5? Read on through my DxO PureRAW 6 review for a full breakdown of my thoughts.
What Is DxO PureRAW 6?
For those who aren’t familiar with this particular piece of software, DxO PureRAW is a standalone app designed for pre-processing RAW image files.
It’s not a fully-fledged photo editor; instead, it’s what you use before you actually move into your main editing phase. It helps you tidy up your RAW files, enhancing the little details and eliminating visual clutter or noise before you move on to make bigger and broader changes.
Casual photographers often skip this step and simply move right onto their favorite editor application to adjust their photos’ lighting, colors, etc. But many professionals and serious photography enthusiasts appreciate the value the the “pre-editing” phase provides.
I’ve found that it saves me a reasonable amount of time in the long run, as apps like DxO PureRAW are able to improve my RAW files so much, I don’t have to do as much editing later on. Using this app also often helps me get even better results in the end, with crisper details and more dynamic colors.
It’s not a “must-have” for everyone, but for those who want to produce and deliver the absolute finest images for their clients, it’s a worthy inclusion in your photo processing tech stack.
I’ve been using it since the first version of DxO PureRAW came out in 2021. Since then, DxO Labs (which is based in Paris, France) has steadily improved this app, making it faster, more efficient, and smarter, thanks to the introduction of AI features and technologies.
Its core features include noise reduction – which involves cleaning up high-ISO images for clearer and smoother files for you to work on later on – as well as lens corrections – which involves removing lens flares, chromatic aberration, vignetting, and similar distortions.
System Requirements
Mac
Minimum system configuration:
- Apple M1 or Intel® Mac with AMD Radeon™ Pro RX5700
- 8 GB RAM
- 6 GB available disk space
- 1280 x 768 display
- macOS 15.7 (Sequoia)
Recommended system configuration:
- Apple M2 Pro
- 32 GB RAM
- 50 GB available disk space
- 1920 x 1080 display
- macOS 26 (Tahoe)
Windows
Minimum system configuration:
- Intel® Core™ 10000 series or Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 165H or AMD Ryzen™ with 4 cores
- 16 GB RAM
- 6 GB available disk space
- 1280 x 768 display
- Microsoft® Windows® 10 version 22h2
- Microsoft® Windows® 11 version 24H2
Graphic card:
- NVIDIA RTX™ 2000 with 6 GB of VRAM with latest drivers
- AMD Radeon RX6000 series with 8 GB of VRAM with latest drivers
- Intel ARC with 8 GB of VRAM with latest drivers
Or NPU:
- Intel® AI Boost for Core™ Ultra
Recommended system configuration:
- Intel® Core™ 10000 series or Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 165H or AMD Ryzen™ with 8 cores
- 32 GB RAM
- 50 GB available disk space
- 1920 x 1080 display
- Microsoft® Windows® 11 version 24H2
Graphic card:
- NVIDIA RTX™ 4060 Ti 16 GB with latest drivers
- AMD Radeon™ RX 7800 XT 16 GB with latest drivers.
What’s New in DxO PureRAW 6?
As I said earlier, DxO PureRAW 6 doesn’t reinvent the wheel or introduce dozens of new features. Instead, it brings four core additions:
- A new RAW processing standard known as DeepPRIME XD3
- High-fidelity DNG compression
- AI sensor dust removal
- An overall boost to the app’s speed and efficiency
That might not sound like much at first glance, but, having worked with DxO PureRAW 5 recently and then tested PureRAW 6 for the purposes of this review, I was quite astonished by how different the two versions feel.
Here’s a closer look at everything that’s new this time around.
DeepPRIME XD3 RAW Processing
Previous versions of PureRAW have utilized DxO Lab’s own “DeepPRIME” technology, which is basically a RAW file denoising engine. Even with the most distorted, high-noise files, this engine has the power to find and eliminate noise, delivering pictures with remarkable levels of clarity and detail.
DeepPRIME XD3 is the next evolution of that engine. It introduces support for both Bayer and X-Trans sensor cameras and builds on the strong foundations established in prior versions to raise the bar for noise reduction and detail recovery in RAW processing.
I’ve been thoroughly impressed with prior versions of the DeepPRIME engine, so I was eager to see whether DeepPRIME XD3 lived up to the hype, or if it was little more than a marketing gimmick to push sales for PureRAW 6.
Here’s what I found.
To test out the new tool, I selected this RAW file of a bird on a branch. There’s clearly a great image here, just waiting to be brought to its full glory, but the original RAW file had quite a lot of noise affecting almost the entire frame.
With the image selected, I simply had to right-click on it and select the “Process” function.
I was then presented with the “Process Settings” menu, where I could adjust which engine the app used (obviously, I selected DeepPRIME XD3 to see how good it was), as well as other options, like dust removal and optical corrections.
The processing was remarkably rapid; in about 10 seconds, DeepPRIME XD3 had worked its magic and I was given the option to view or export my new and improved file.
As you can see in the screenshot below, the results speak for themselves:
On the left, you can see how the image looked prior to processing. On the right are the results of PureRAW 6’s DeepPRIME XD3 technology.
The difference is quite staggering. There’s so much noise on the left side of the image when compared to the right, and the level of detail in the moss is clear to see. The bird, too, is significantly sharper, with cleaner edges, while the background now appears smooth and harmonious.
Like I said, I’ve used previous versions of DeepPRIME and have been impressed by this technology in the past. Even so, DeepPRIME XD3 is, without doubt, a significant upgrade over past versions. The results are crisper and more attractive than ever before.
High-Fidelity DNG Compression
One of the challenges of working with RAW files is the sheer size of them. I know from past experience that some of my high-end cameras capture RAW photos that are several hundred megabytes in size, and that can make it very slow to process them, edit them, and move them from place to place.
DxO PureRAW 6 aims to address this longstanding issue with the introduction of its high-fidelity compression feature, which lets you export DNG files that are up to four times smaller than regular ones. The best part is that it promises to not impact the actual quality of your images at all.
So, after processing an image with PureRAW 6, you can take your new and improved image into your editor with the same dynamic range and crispness, but with a file that’s significantly smaller, like 50MB instead of 200MB, for example.
The advantages of this feature are clear to see. With smaller files, you can save large amounts of space, either on your own devices or any cloud storage services you use for keeping your pictures safe and organized.
It’s also faster and more efficient to move smaller files around between apps and devices; imports take less time, backups are easier to set up, and so on. Plus, since the smaller images retain their quality, you don’t have to worry about any noise or visual issues creeping back in during compression.
Having spent so many hours in the past just sitting and waiting for my apps and devices to process or transfer large RAW and DNG files, I fully appreciate the value of this addition. It might even be my favorite thing about PureRAW 6, because of the long-term positive impact it will have on my workflows.
More: DxO PhotoLab Review
AI Sensor Dust Removal
One of the very few new features introduced with DxO PureRAW 6 is the AI sensor dust removal system. As the name implies, this uses AI technology to automatically detect and remove sensor dust from your RAW files.
It can work on individual images or batches and is said to be able to process even large numbers of files in a matter of seconds.
I found this new feature in the “Process Settings” menu under the “ReTouch” section. The way this part of the menu is laid out suggests that other AI-powered features could be added here in the future, but, for now unfortunately dust removal is the only option.
As you can see, you can toggle the feature on and off and adjust its sensitivity prior to processing.
Given that sensor dust is almost inevitable over time, even when you take good care of your cameras, it’s helpful to have a feature like this to fix photos with unwanted distortions.
Speed and Efficiency Upgrade
DxO Labs also claims that PureRAW 6 is faster and more efficient than past versions of this software.
Having worked with prior versions of PureRAW, I can confirm that this app does feel faster and more responsive. It retains the intuitive interface and core features users know and love, but carries out its tasks with a greater level of power and performance.
On average, I found that it only took a matter of seconds for this app to process a single RAW image, and even groups of several files could be cleaned up in under a minute.
Interestingly, however, I did notice a minor flaw on the “Queue” screen. The timer on the right side, which shows how much estimated time is left to process the images, is often completely inaccurate.
In the example above, for example, I was processing three photos and the countdown clock told me it would take over three minutes. In reality, it took about 25 seconds. Naturally, I was pleased to see the app perform so well, but it’s a shame that the queue timer doesn’t seem to accurately reflect this.
The Final Verdict: Does DxO PureRAW 6 Justify the Upgrade?
I started this review wanting to find out if DxO PureRAW 6 is worth the upgrade: does it bring enough new features and improvements to the table to justify the $89.99 minimum price that users will have to pay to progress to this version from PureRAW 5 or older iterations?
The answer isn’t a definitive yes or no, because the truth is that it depends on how much RAW processing you actually do, which will, in turn, impact the overall value you get from this application.
For myself, PureRAW 6 is just about worth the upgrade. It doesn’t deliver game-changing new features, but its quality of life improvements are clear to see; with this application, I can work through batches of RAW images so much more quickly and get smaller files that are easier to work with in my editor apps.
But I understand that not everyone will feel the same way. If you don’t necessarily see the value in pre-editing your RAW files or only do so from time to time, for example, then PureRAW 5 should still be sufficient.
Overall, you have to ask yourself how much you’re going to use this app. If you almost always fine-tune your RAW photos before editing them and you want to optimize your workflows as much as possible, it’s a must-buy. For more casual and sporadic use, it’s not necessary.
