Canon CR3 file issues on Macintosh

This is a continuing problem with Apple bugs in the Canon Camera Raw CR3 file converters. Here is a position of the information that I made on the Canon Forum. I'm still waiting for a solution from Apple.

https://community.usa.canon.com/t5/EOS-DSLR-Mirrorless-Cameras/macOS-support-for-CR3-flies-from-EOS-R5-mark-ii/td-p/522350/page/3

My Post on the Canon Forum on the problems with handling Canon CR3 files in Apple photos.

Feb 19, 2026

I have spent some time with Apple on this problem on February 11, 2026 and the tech support promised to send it up the line for a fix. The day after that, Apple shipped the Tahoe 26.3 update, and clearly the fix was not ready for that update. In the meantime, I've been saving my Canon R5 Mark II photos to two memory card: one gets the Compact Raw CR3 and the other gets the HEIF version of the photo. I take a lot of bird photos, so I'm forced to edit the HEIF versions to see what I want to save. When I finally get the fix for the CR3 bug, I'll reprocess the top photos from raw.

The problem seems clearly to be with Apple, since DPP 4 handles the files fine. 

Here are some interesting features of the issue for me.

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• I have been doing weekly photo shoots of Compressed CR3 files with my Canon EOS R5 Mark II. My shoot from Feb 3 was processed fine in Apple Photos, but the problem first appeared when I tried to process files that I took on February 10: the problem appeared, and I worked with Apple on February 11 to find a resolution (none appeared, so they escalated the problem to a higher level, and I've heard nothing since).
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• I changed nothing in my camera firmware or my Apple software (Sequoia at the time), between Feb 3 when everything worked and Feb 10 when ALL of my CR3 files failed. Something happened behind my back. It seems likely that Apple silently slipped an update onto my machine with an automatic update.
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• I subsequently updated my computer to Tahoe 26.3 in a failed effort to solve the problem.
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• The problem was not restricted to the latest Compressed CR3 files that I downloaded on Feb 10. I went back to earlier CR3 files (Compressed and not Compressed) and the problem suddenly appeared with them if I attempted to edit them further with Photos. I exported unmodified originals from Photos from these earlier CR3 shots and the exports showed the same problem, even though I had successfully edited them with Photos earlier.

Looking back over threads discussing Apple problems with Canon Raw photos, it seems that Apple has a history of solving the problems and then breaking them with a later update. This certainly isn't consistent with what I normally expect from Apple.

Hurrah. Apple has fixed the problem.

When I opened up my computer this morning (March 20, 2026), it had rebooted. It is now running Tahoe 26.3.1 (a). The new part is the (a). The Canon CR3 raw files are now properly opened in Preview and Photos. The Finder Thumbnails are still black, but that is something that is probably to be fixed in the background.

After some searching, I managed to find the raw version loaded on DPReview of the bicycle photo 237A4138.crw that you show above. (Note that DPReview gives you the option to Copy URL of a picture so that people don't need to struggle to find it. In this case, it is Copy URL https://www.dpreview.com/sample-galleries/3976759896/canon-eos-r5-mark-ii-sample-gallery/2204683051.) On my computer, that picture file gives a useable Finder Thumbnail and Quickview shows the picture, but that picture breaks down to white and red if I attempt to resize it in the Finder, which is the behaviour reported by others in this thread. The Get Info in your screenshot says that your computer will default to opening it with DxO PhotoLab 9. That is not Apple software and I don't have it. But, that can explain why you are having no problems opening the software.

The CR3 raw files from my camera have not seen any other software, such as DxO PhotoLab or the software used by DPReview. They have a black Thumbnail, a black Quickview and a red and white picture in Preview. If the files were processed through DxO or DPReview software, they could have received a useable Thumbnail and Quickview photo (albeit one that cannot be resized). Note that my Raw CR3 files give a black Quickview that turns to red and white when I resize it, but the bicycle file you show from DPReview gives a proper picture in Quickview that turns to red and white when I attempt to resize. To me, this is consistent with the hypothesis that the DPReview file has had an added Preview and Quickview jpg or png when they worked with it. Essentially, they added these versions of the image for the Finder, presumably without affecting the RAW file. That is a reasonable, but unproven hypothesis.

The issues that I describe persist on a plain vanilla MacBook Air running Tahoe 26.3. It only has Apple's default photo software on it.

Canon EOS R5 Mark II cameras, such as mine, do not have the Dual Pixel RAW feature that you mention. Apple explains that it dropped that feature with the Mark II because they felt that the other features (many powered by AI) that they added to the camera obviated the need for it.

Actually, my Finder thumbnails are black, and QuickLook is black. I showed that to the Apple rep when I had to bug report.

My first efforts to look into this involved a Google search and I found that similar problems had occurred with the Apple treatment of Canon RAW files. I seem to recall that it was broader than the simple delay of accommodating a new RAW file format for a new camera.

It seems plausible that Apple is having trouble identifying what type of RAW file they have, when they attempt to decode it. For example, if they find that the RAW CR3 file for an EOS R6 III has a different identification, they may try to generalize and use the same decoding for earlier CR3 files. They would get into trouble with the different pixel dimensions, for example if they developed a modified decoding for the R6 III and then simply assumed that it should also apply to a R5 II. They really need to keep a full set of RAW files from different camera models over they years and then test their new RAW converters to ensure that the old converters weren't broken.

Today, I finally got a reply from the Apple support person with whom I had filed the problem:

"Thank you for contacting Apple Support. 

"I did not notice the initial update from the Engineering team, but did get an update from them.  The engineering team is investigating the issue with the file not being properly viewable on the MacOS and will update me when they have any additional information.

"The Engineering team did advise to keep the computer up to date, as the issue would have to be addressed with a macOS update to address the issue directly."

Gordon S wrote:

I have heard nothing more from Apple. No updates available for my computer and the problem persists. I wonder if they are revamping their who RAW support architecture, because it has seemed to be unreliable in the past.

I have heard nothing more from Apple. No updates available for my computer and the problem persists. I wonder if they are revamping their who RAW support architecture, because it has seemed to be unreliable in the past.