MillFile

Convert CR2 to JPG

CR2 is what Canon's DSLRs wrote for fifteen years. Drop one here and get a full-resolution JPG back, decoded on your own device - nothing is uploaded.

Quality:

Selected: Standard

Other formats: RAW to JPG CR3 to JPG NEF to JPG ARW to JPG DNG to JPG

Why CR2 files keep needing conversion

Canon shot CR2 on its DSLRs from the mid-2000s until the mirrorless switch, so an archive of family photos from a 400D or a 5D Mark II is a folder of TIFF-based containers holding sensor data, a JPEG preview and Canon's maker notes. Nothing about the format is broken. The friction is downstream: portals, print shops and forums want a JPG, and the tools written to open raw files have moved on to newer cameras.

This page reads the container and decodes the sensor data here, in this tab. The decoder is LibRaw compiled to WebAssembly - the same code desktop raw software is built on - and our own measurement on a 26 megapixel frame is two to three seconds. A file from 2007 never leaves your machine.

Nothing is uploaded. The RAW file is decoded in this tab by LibRaw compiled to WebAssembly — no upload step, no server copy, no account.

Questions about converting CR2 to JPG

Does this work with sRAW and mRAW files?

Yes, and it is worth knowing what they are. On bodies that offer them, sRAW and mRAW are reduced-resolution raw: roughly half and a quarter of the sensor's linear resolution, JPEG-compressed inside the CR2 container. They decode normally here, but the JPG comes out at that smaller size, because that is what the camera recorded. Nothing is lost in conversion - the detail was never in the file.

Will the JPG keep Canon's Picture Style?

No. Picture Style is a rendering decision applied on top of the raw data, and it lives in Canon's own processing, not in the pixels. This page renders with the white balance recorded in the file and a standard demosaic, so the JPG is a clean, neutral full-resolution image. Use it when you want the picture rather than the look.

Are fifteen-year-old CR2 files still readable?

Generally yes, and old files are the safer case. The CR2 container changed very little across Canon's DSLR years, so a decoder that reads a 2011 file reads a 2017 one. The risk runs the other way: a body released after the decoder was built can use a variant nothing recognises. If that happens the row says so, per file, instead of failing quietly.

Does converting to JPG lose highlight detail?

Some, unavoidably. The decode keeps the full bit depth the sensor produced, but a JPEG is 8 bits per channel, so very fine gradation across a bright sky can band where the CR2 held it smoothly. If you need more than 8 bits, keep the CR2 - this page produces a JPG, and that limit is the format's, not the converter's.