If something was too dark in the image, the information would be lost in the JPEG, but in the Raw file, it could be recovered. With Raw, you get all the information from the camera and have complete control of the settings.

Okay, so now that you know what JPEGs and Raw files are, here is why a Raw is superior to a JPEG: The problem with JPEG files is that the decisions that are made during compression sometimes affect the picture in an adverse way part of the reason why what you see in the viewfinder or screen of the camera isn't always the same as what you see afterward on your computer. What is a Raw file? A RAW image file is a file from the image sensor of a camera that contains minimally processed data in other words, what a raw file captures is exactly what the sensor on the camera sees, no compression applied which is why raw files are so much larger than JPEG files. Even if you've set up the entire shot in full manual mode and set up everything yourself, the JPEG processing still needs to make some decisions as it compresses all the information striking the sensor into one little file. In that time, the camera quickly collects all the light information, analyzes things such as the white balance* and the temperature of the light** and quickly compresses it into a reasonably sized file, most of the time, a JPEG. Once you frame up your shot on your camera and hit the shutter, the light floods the sensor of the camera in order to record the image onto your memory card. What is a JPEG file? A JPEG file is a digital image that has been through a lossy compression. Well, in order to understand the significance about Raw files, we have to look at some definitions:

Camera raw file