DxO and Affinity join forces to take your photos from RAW file to finished edit

DxO and Affinity have joined forces to make the journey from RAW processing to full image editing considerably easier, with the new DxO PhotoLab 10.1 introducing one-click export directly into Affinity.

Available now as a free update for existing PhotoLab 10 users, version 10.1 marks the first stage of a wider partnership between DxO Labs and Affinity by Canva.

At the heart of the integration is Affinity’s native .AF file format, enabling photographers to develop a RAW image inside PhotoLab before sending it directly into Affinity for more advanced retouching, compositing, typography and layout work.

The idea is to combine what both applications arguably do best. PhotoLab remains responsible for RAW development and DxO’s image-processing technology, while Affinity takes over when photographers need a more traditional layer-based editing environment.

Each export creates a native Affinity document containing the fully developed photograph, with users also given the option of including the untouched original image as a second layer for comparison, masking or blending later in the process.

“We’re thrilled to see DxO tightly integrating with Affinity to make it seamless for photographers to combine world-class RAW editing with cutting-edge editing, retouching and design,” says Duncan Clark, CEO of Pro Design for Canva.

“Photographers and designers have been telling us loud and clear that they want simple, smooth workflows instead of fighting to get different products to talk to each other. This partnership is further evidence that a new generation of creative tools is meeting that need.”

The integration is particularly interesting because Affinity’s Pixel, Vector and Layout studios all operate within the same .AF format. In practical terms, that means a photograph can begin as an image-retouching project and eventually become part of a finished design or page layout without requiring users to keep moving between different file formats.

Anyone who does not already have Affinity installed can also create a free account and begin installing the software from within PhotoLab.

“For more than 20 years, DxO has focused on extracting every ounce of quality from a RAW file,” says Jérôme Ménière, founder and CEO of DxO.

“What happens after the RAW is developed – retouching, compositing, layout – deserved a partner of the same caliber. With Affinity, PhotoLab users now have a complete professional workflow, from RAW file to finished page, with no subscription required.”

This is only the beginning of the partnership. DxO says further Affinity integrations are planned across its software range, beginning with Nik Collection, while support for the .AF format inside PhotoLab will continue to expand with additional workflow improvements expected before the end of the year.

That could make the relationship particularly appealing to photographers already using Nik Collection for black-and-white conversion, film emulation and creative finishing alongside their main editor.

DxO PhotoLab 10.1 is available now as a free update for DxO PhotoLab 10 users on macOS and Windows, while a 30-day trial of PhotoLab is also available. Affinity is free on macOS and Windows, with its long-awaited iPad version scheduled to arrive in November.