Microsoft releases codec pack

Microsoft has released a codec pack providing native RAW support to both Windows Explorer and Windows Live Photo Gallery, according to media reports on Wednesday. With the pack installed, Explorer will show data of the RAW files produced by most popular digital cameras, and Windows Live Photo Gallery will offer its full range of editing and metadata manipulation features. The pack is free, and available for both 32 and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7. RAW image formats are commonly used by Digital Singular Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera enthusiasts because it preserves all the original uncompressed data and pixels recorded by camera sensors, providing finer control over the quality of the image. Now users don't need to rely on third-party software such as Adobe Bridge to preview RAW images. The codec released will bring support for more than 120 cameras to the Windows Live Photo Gallery 2011 as well as Windows Explorer for previewing. Editing of RAW images can be performed in Photo Gallery.