How to Convert RAW Photos to JPEG, PNG, or TIFF

Every serious photographer shoots in RAW. The format captures the full sensor data from your camera — every photon of light, every shade of color, every bit of dynamic range — giving you maximum flexibility in post-processing. But RAW files are not images in the consumer sense. They cannot be uploaded to social media, embedded in a website, emailed to a client, or opened in most applications without specialized software.

At some point, every RAW file needs to become a JPEG, PNG, TIFF, or another standard format. The question is how to do this conversion properly — preserving the quality you worked to capture, applying the right settings for your intended use, and handling the dozens of proprietary RAW formats that different camera manufacturers insist on using.

This guide covers every step of that process, from understanding what RAW files actually contain to choosing optimal export settings for every common use case. Whether you are converting a single portrait or batch-processing ten thousand wedding photos, the principles are the same.

What RAW Files Actually Contain

A RAW file is not an image. It is a data dump from your camera's sensor, packaged with metadata about the capture conditions. Understanding what is inside helps you make better conversion decisions.

Sensor Data

The core of a RAW file is the unprocessed readout from the image sensor. On a typical modern camera, this is 12 to 16 bits per pixel per color channel, compared to the 8 bits per channel in a standard JPEG. That extra bit depth translates to dramatically more information in highlights and shadows — which is why RAW files can recover blown highlights and lift deep shadows in ways that JPEGs simply cannot.

The sensor data is also recorded before demosaicing. Most camera sensors use a Bayer color filter array, where each pixel captures only red, green, or blue light. The full-color image you see on your screen is reconstructed by interpolating the missing color channels — a process called demosaicing. Different RAW converters use different demosaicing algorithms, which is why the same RAW file can look slightly different when opened in Lightroom versus Capture One versus DxO PhotoLab.

Camera Metadata

RAW files embed extensive metadata: exposure settings (aperture, shutter speed, ISO), white balance as shot by the camera, lens information (focal length, distortion correction profiles), GPS coordinates if available, and camera-specific data like focus point location and metering mode. This metadata is preserved through conversion and can be stripped or retained as needed.

Manufacturer-Specific Encoding

Here is where things get complicated. There is no universal RAW format. Every camera manufacturer uses their own proprietary encoding, and many have changed their format across camera generations.

The proliferation of formats means that any RAW conversion tool must support a wide range of proprietary decoders. Software that works perfectly for your Canon CR3 files might not open your friend's Fujifilm RAF files at all.