Convert Camera RAW to PNG
Upload a NEF, CR2, CR3, ARW, DNG, ORF, RW2, RAF, PEF, SRW or X3F file and get back an upright 8-bit RGB PNG that opens anywhere. Two things to know up front: the PNG carries no EXIF, so shot date, camera, lens and GPS do not travel with it, and no ICC profile is written either, so files that go through a full decode come out in sRGB while files that reuse the camera's own JPEG preview keep that JPEG's colors untagged.
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Why convert RAW to PNG
A RAW file is not a picture yet. It is a dump of the sensor's single-channel photosite values plus the manufacturer's own metadata, written in a format that changes with every new camera body. That is why Chrome, Gmail, Slack, web upload forms and most CMS editors refuse it, and why a NEF or CR3 that previews fine in your file manager fails the moment you try to attach it. Something has to demosaic the sensor data and write a standard RGB image first.
On this page that happens on our servers, in one of two ways. Most RAW files contain a JPEG preview the camera rendered itself; we pull it out with exiftool and use it only if its long edge is at least 90 percent of the full sensor decode, so thumbnails and 1920-pixel proxies are discarded. Nikon NEF and iPhone ProRAW DNG files normally pass that test, which means you get the rendering you saw on the camera's screen. Sony ARW and Fuji RAF files embed previews well under full size, so they always go the other route: a full demosaic with LibRaw's dcraw_emu using the camera's white balance, AHD interpolation and sRGB output, with RawTherapee 5.9, a current-LibRaw WebAssembly decoder and dcraw 9.28 tried in turn if the first one cannot read the body. Newer cameras that LibRaw 0.20 has no color matrix for are sent to the WebAssembly decoder first.
PNG's own compression is lossless, so once you have the file you can open it, edit it and re-save it as PNG without the generation loss repeated JPEG saves cause. What it cannot do is give back what was never in the pipeline: on the preview path the PNG is decoded from the camera's JPEG and inherits that JPEG's compression artifacts in a lossless wrapper, there is no alpha channel since RAW files have no transparency, no EXIF or ICC profile is written, and we add no noise reduction, lens correction, highlight recovery or exposure adjustment. So this is the right tool when you need a working copy of a RAW shot for an editor, a design file, a documentation page or a form that only takes PNG, without installing anything. It is the wrong tool when you need a 16-bit master, embedded color management or EXIF intact; for those, develop the RAW in RawTherapee, darktable, Lightroom or Camera Raw and export from there. Keep the original RAW as the archive either way.
How to convert RAW to PNG
- Copy the RAW off the memory card completely before converting. A half-copied file is the most common failure here, and we reject files whose bytes are all zeros or all 0xFF with a message asking you to copy the original again.
- Check the size. Each RAW file must be 80MB or smaller, which rules out uncompressed 14-bit files from 45-61MP bodies. If yours is over the line, shoot or export compressed RAW, or convert it to DNG in Adobe DNG Converter first.
- Drop your files on the converter above, up to 10 per batch without an account. On a Mac copied through a non-Mac filesystem, pick the real file and not the small companion whose name starts with a period.
- Select PNG as the output format and start the conversion. Files are uploaded over HTTPS and processed on our servers; each RAW has a two-minute budget to finish decoding.
- Download the PNG. The result is always upright, because the RAW's orientation flag is applied before encoding.
- If you need the shot's metadata back, copy it from the original with a command like exiftool -TagsFromFile original.nef output.png.
What this converter does
- Reads NEF, CR2, CR3, ARW, DNG, ORF, RW2, RAF, PEF, SRW, X3F and generic .raw, case-insensitive, plus any body known to LibRaw, RawTherapee 5.9 or the bundled WebAssembly decoder (including Sony A1 II lossless ARW, Canon R5 Mark II CRAW and Fuji X-H2 compressed RAF).
- Four decoders tried in order, so a body that one version of LibRaw does not recognize can still be read by another.
- Uses the camera's embedded full-size JPEG when it is at least 90 percent of the sensor's long edge, and a neutral camera-white-balance demosaic otherwise.
- Neutral decode path: camera white balance, AHD demosaic, sRGB, with no noise reduction, lens correction, highlight recovery or exposure changes. When the camera's own full-size preview is used, you get the body's rendering instead.
- Lossless PNG compression at level 6, 8-bit RGB, safe to edit and re-save without further degradation.
- Handles up to 10 files per request on a free or guest account, 25 on Plus and 50 on Pro, with an 80MB cap per RAW file on every plan.
Video Tutorial
Watch this step-by-step tutorial to learn how to convert RAW files to PNG format online for free using MiConvert.com. No software installation required.
RAW to PNG questions
How do I convert a RAW file to PNG?
Add the file above, pick PNG and start. The camera format is detected from the content, not just the extension, so NEF, CR2, CR3, ARW, DNG, ORF, RW2, RAF, PEF, SRW and X3F all go through the same pipeline. Nothing to install, and no account is needed within the guest limits.
Can I convert RAW to PNG without losing quality?
Partly. PNG itself uses lossless compression, so nothing is lost when you save or re-save it. But the conversion drops the RAW's extra bit depth, and when we reuse the camera's embedded JPEG preview the PNG inherits that JPEG's compression. For a true 16-bit result, develop the RAW in desktop software and export from there.
Is the PNG 16-bit?
No. Output is 8 bits per channel RGB. The decoders write an 8-bit intermediate and the PNG encoder keeps it at 8-bit, so there is no 16-bit option on this page today.
Does the PNG keep EXIF, the shot date or GPS?
No. Neither path writes EXIF or an ICC profile, so camera model, lens, ISO, shutter speed, date and GPS are all dropped. The fix is to copy the tags from the original afterwards with exiftool -TagsFromFile. Keep the RAW if that metadata matters.
Does this work with iPhone RAW (ProRAW) files?
Yes. An iPhone DNG converts normally, and because it carries a full-size embedded preview the camera's own rendering is usually what ends up in the PNG. Orientation is handled, so a portrait shot stays portrait. If the file picker on your phone will not offer the DNG, save or share the file to Files first and pick it from there.
How does this compare with Photoshop or Camera Raw?
Camera Raw develops the file: you control exposure, highlights, noise reduction, lens profiles, color space and bit depth, then export. We do none of that. We either reuse the camera's JPEG rendering or run a neutral demosaic with the camera's white balance, which is fine for a quick usable copy, and we do not claim the colors will match a Lightroom or Camera Raw export.
Why did my file fail, and why is the PNG bigger than the RAW?
The usual causes are a file over 80MB, a truncated or all-zero copy from the card, or a camera body none of the three decoders reads, in which case the conversion fails with a "may not be supported" message and you will need your camera maker's own software or a DNG export from Adobe DNG Converter. On size: a PNG stores three full channels per pixel and lossless compression cannot squeeze photographic noise, so it is routinely several times larger than the RAW; choose JPG or JXL if file size matters.
What happens to my photos after conversion?
The RAW is processed on our servers, not in your browser. Your upload is deleted as soon as the job's last attempt ends, and the PNG and its download link stay available for about four hours before being deleted automatically. Transfers use HTTPS and the link is an unguessable random token, though anyone holding that link can use it until it expires. File names, sizes and outcomes are logged for operations, and signed-in users get a history row.