Every camera — whether it’s a dedicated digital camera or the Camera app on Android or iPhone — places the photos you take in a DCIM folder. DCIM stands for “Digital Camera Images.”
The DCIM folder and its layout come from DCF, a standard created back in 2003. DCF is so valuable because it provides a standard layout.
Meet DCF, or “Design rule for Camera File system”
DCF is a specification created by JEITA, the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association. It’s technically standard CP-3461, and you can dig up the arcane standards document and read it online. The first version of this standard was issued in 2003, and it was last updated in 2010.
The DCF specification lists many different requirements with a goal to guarantee interoperability. The file system of an appropriately formatted devics — for example, an SD card plugged into a digital camera — must be FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, or exFAT. Media with 2 GB or larger of space must be formatted with FAT32 or exFAT. The goal is for digital cameras and their memory cards to be compatible with each other.
Ultimately, just having a standard is important — whatever the standard is. That’s why the DCIM folder has followed us from point-and-shoot cameras to smartphone and even tablet camera apps. The Picture Transfer Protocol, or PTP, isn’t the same as the DCF standard, but it serves a similar purpose. It’s been superseded by MTP and other standards, but PTP is supported by Android devices and iPhones for communicating with photo-management applications that support this standard.
As usual, we’re all carrying an old-and-arcane standard forward because it’s better to be compatible with everything than design something new from scratch. That’s the same reason why email is still so popular!
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