The CIN file format, short for Cineon, was originally developed by Kodak in the early 1990s to support the first fully integrated digital mastering system for motion picture film. It is a raster image format specifically designed to represent scanned film frames in a digital environment. The format uses a 10-bit logarithmic encoding scheme, which is intended to match the density characteristics of physical film stock. This allows the file to preserve a high dynamic range and a wide color gamut, capturing details in highlights and shadows that would typically be lost in standard 8-bit or linear formats. Each CIN file usually represents a single frame of a movie. While the original Cineon hardware system was eventually discontinued, the CIN format became the industry standard for visual effects, compositing, and digital intermediate workflows for many years. It served as the direct technical precursor to the SMPTE DPX format, which is more commonly used today. Despite being an older format, CIN files are still encountered in legacy film archives and specific high-end post-production pipelines where maintaining the original logarithmic film data is required for precise color grading and restoration.