ARRI live webinar– Exploring ARRICORE: A Visually Lossless RGB Codec

ARRI is having a free live webinar called Exploring ARRICORE: A Visually Lossless RGB Codec that will be hosted by commercial DP Charles Bergquist, along with Picture Shop’s Supervising Colorist Peter Doyle and Senior Colorist Frederik Bokkenheuser.

In the webinar, you will explore ARRICORE beyond high-speed capture, including how it compares to ARRIRAW, how it intercuts with other codecs, and the grading considerations for colorists. The webinar will take place on Sep 3, 2026 at 3 pm EST.

Supervising Colorist Peter Doyle is one of the industry’s most influential colorists, known for developing innovative techniques and distinctive looks across major studio films including Creed III, Darkest Hour, Edge of Tomorrow and Wrath of Man, alongside visually ambitious projects such as The Tragedy of Macbeth, Cyrano, Inside Llewyn Davis and the award-winning series Disclaimer.

Senior Colorist Frederik Bokkenheuser brings extensive premium episodic and documentary expertise to the discussion, with credits including M.I.A., The Rookie: Feds, Netflix’s Archive 81, Elton John: Never Too Late and BTS: The Return.

ARRICORE

• Cinematic RGB quality with efficient compression
• Faster proxy generation for more efficient post workflows
• Full creative control in post-production
• 50% lower data rate compared to ARRIRAW
• Seamless integration with ARRI tools and partner software
• Futureproof RGB codec optimized for ALEXA 35’s 17 stops of dynamic range and beyond
• 18 bit linear image data from the ALEV4 sensor stored in a RGB file in a logarithmic coding (called “Sensor Log” by ARRI)”
• Enabling higher in-camera speeds in ALEXA 35 Xtreme with up to 330fps in regular or up to 660fps in Sensor Overdrive mode
• Flexible adjustments in post-production such as exposure index, white balance and tint
• MXF essence wrapping documented in SMPTE RDD 61:2025 – ARRICORE

ARRICORE that is only available with the Xtreme or cameras that get upgraded to the Xtreme. ARRICORE is a de-bayered and compressed RGB recording codec available for ALEXA 35 Xtreme and all future cameras. ARRICORE is not uncompressed. It uses a sophisticated new compression method for RGB data.

ARRIRAW offers uncompromised image quality; however, ARRI has had a number of customers who tell them that they can’t afford to use it, and they want them to make something that’s high quality, but with a lower data rate. In ARRIRAW, the camera doesn’t have to do a lot of processing. So the bottleneck you run into is the recording speed of the drive.

ARRI spent quite a long time trying to figure out this puzzle. The problem they always ran into was that anything that gives you higher image quality at compression levels needs a lot more processing power.

When the ALEXA 35 was being designed, they didn’t have that amount of processing power, but with the ALEXA 35 Xtreme, they now do.

ARRICORE is a next-generation RGB codec. It is not RAW, it is RGB. ARRI is debayering in camera, and then they are encoding and doing a compression of the signal in the camera as well. ARRI claims this delivers superb image quality with post-flexibility at a low data rate. Color wise ARRICORE is as flexible as ARRIRAW or ProRes since REVEAL Color Science, ARRI’s image processing engine, develops all recording formats to the same target (LogC4) within the same pipeline.

With ARRICORE, just like RAW, the sensitivity, white balance, and tint are not baked in, and you can change them in post.

Also, the way ARRICORE is encoded allows you to do a very fast proxy generation. So in post, you can very quickly get a half or quarter resolution image out of it, faster than with other codecs.

ARRICORE embeds metadata directly within the file header, encapsulated in the MXF wrapper. All metadata elements are formally defined, documented, and maintained in accordance with official SMPTE Registered Disclosure Documents (RDDs). The mapping of the ARRICORE bitstream and its associated metadata into the MXF container is specified in SMPTE RDD 61, while SMPTE RDD 55 defines metadata elements that are independent of the codec.

Since there’s an encoder in the camera and a decoder in ARRI’s software developer kit, which they use for the ARRI Reference Tool, third parties like Film Light, Blackmagic, etc., can use the decoder. ARRI has been working for the last year and a half with the third-party tool providers, and they are actively working on implementing ARRICORE right now.

ARRI will continue to work on the ARRICORE decoder to make it better

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ARRICORE also has a much lower data rate than other existing codecs ARRI has been using. It has about half the data rate of ARRIRAW, and a little less than ProRes 4444. It is even less than ARRIRAW with HDE, even though that’s not a really fair comparison, because ARRIRAW with HDE happens during the download.

You do need to use the Codex 2TB Compact Drive to capture the highest frame rates. If you are using the 1TB Compact Drive, then the highest frame rates will be slightly reduced.

ARRICORE can certainly reduce the number of drives you need on the set and your download times. Your recording time doubles that of ARRIRAW, and your download speed halves.

Both ARRIRAW and ARRICORE start with 18 bits. So ARRI is taking 18 bits, and they are sticking them into both of these.

ARRICORE is also fully compatible with ARRI Textures, allowing cinematographers to define the image’s structure and character at the point of capture. As with ProRes and ARRIRAW, the ARRI Textures are baked into the image.

ARRICORE provides the same on-set and post-workflows as with existing ALEXA 35 codecs. Everything works the same way. Every look file, textures, metadata, and audio all work the same way. It’s compatible with the existing 1TB and 2TB Codex Compact Drives. However, it is not compatible with the 1TB Compact Drive Express, as that is for ProRes only.

Currently, there’s one ARRICORE flavor. ARRI is looking into further optimizations that would allow them to run ARRICORE at a lower data rate without making compromises on image quality.

ARRICORE is being released initially as a beta version, and early user feedback will help to fine-tune its performance.

So ARRI now has three codecs in the camera. There’s ARRIRAW, which is the highest image quality, uncompressed, unencrypted, and really the standard choice for the largest productions in the world. Then you have the new ARRICORE, which is claimed to offer great image quality at a lot lower data rates, where the sensitivity, white balance, and tint are not baked in, and you get the most extreme frame rates. Finally, there is the workhorse Apple ProRes, which also has excellent image quality. However, sensitivity, white balance, and tint are baked in on set, but you do have the option to use different flavors. ProRes is still the most universally used codec in the business, and you can give anybody a ProRes file, and they know how to play it back