Convert camera RAW photos: CR2, NEF & ARW to JPG, PNG & TIFF

RAW formats store the sensor readout with the camera's full tonal range and no baked-in compression choices, which is why they are large and why they carry so much editing latitude. Each manufacturer has its own — CR2 and CR3 from Canon, NEF from Nikon, ARW from Sony, and others — so "RAW" is really a family of related formats, not one. That variety is also why so little software opens them directly.

Converting a RAW to a standard image decodes that sensor data into ordinary pixels in a format everything understands. This is a conversion, not a develop step: Novus Convert produces a faithful standard image from the RAW rather than offering the exposure, white-balance, and tone controls of a RAW editor. When you need heavy corrective editing, develop the RAW in a dedicated tool first; when you need a usable file from the RAW, convert it here.

Because RAW is a family of formats, confirm that your specific one — the exact extension your camera writes — is listed with the output you want in the /conversions directory before you load a batch. CR2, NEF, and ARW are among the decoded inputs, alongside others, and the standard image outputs include JPG, PNG, and TIFF. Checking first means you are not waiting on a decode for a pair the route does not produce.

Novus Convert identifies each file by its signature rather than its extension, so a RAW file is read as what it truly is and offered the correct outputs. If your RAW format is uncommon or very new, the directory is the honest answer on whether it decodes yet — the upload and output control on the pair's page is the reliable signal that the route is live.

Open convert.novusstreamsolutions.com/convert and add your RAW files by dragging them in or choosing them with the file picker. RAW files are large, so the queue may take a moment to read them, and each row carries its own output selector — a batch off a shoot can head to the same format in one pass, or a few can differ. Set each row to the output the photo needs.

Choose the target by destination. JPG is the answer for sharing, uploading, and sending — it opens anywhere and keeps the file small. PNG gives a lossless copy without JPG's compression, useful when the image will be edited further. TIFF is the heavyweight master for print and archival work, preserving detail at the cost of a large file. The decode runs locally through the in-page RAW decoder, so the sensor data never leaves your machine.

RAW is the most demanding image input because the files are big and the pixel counts are high. Image routes accept a source up to 100 MB and 80 megapixels per decoded image, and a modern high-resolution RAW can approach those numbers, so a very large file may sit near the limit. The ceiling applies to the decoded source, not the image it produces, and an over-limit file fails cleanly without touching the original.

Because RAW decoding and re-encoding happen in the tab's memory, convert a big shoot a few files at a time rather than dropping hundreds at once, keep the tab in the foreground, and download and clear finished rows to free memory before the next wave. A TIFF output in particular is large on disk, so plan storage for a master-quality batch.

Match the output to what matters. If size and shareability win, JPG is right and its compression is invisible for most photographs. If you want no compression loss, PNG or TIFF preserves the pixels — at a much larger file. Transparency is not a factor here: a photograph is fully opaque, so there is no alpha channel to preserve, and the white-background flattening that matters for a transparent logo simply does not apply to a converted RAW.

Daily download allowances are tracked in your browser and reset by the local calendar day, with the remaining count shown beside the download control and the current figures listed on the Help page. The app is free, but free is not unlimited, which is worth remembering when a single shoot can be hundreds of frames.

The download control appears only after the result passes validation — the output has to be a genuine, decodable image of the promised type before it is offered. For photos you intend to keep or print, that guarantee is worth more than a fast download, because a malformed file would only surface later. A row that fails validation fails alone, leaving the images that already succeeded untouched.

Results live behind temporary object URLs in the current session and vanish when you remove a row or close the tab, so save every converted image before you leave — nothing is stored on a server for you to return to. Because the RAW never left your device, re-running a row recreates a lost result in moments. Keep the original RAW files: they are your true masters, and the converted images are copies made from them.