A CR2 file is not a finished photo. It holds what the sensor recorded, one colour value per pixel behind a red, green or blue filter, plus a JPEG preview the camera made for its own screen. To get a JPG, the raw data has to be developed: white balance chosen, the two missing colours of every pixel interpolated, a tone curve applied and the result compressed. Our converter develops the real raw data, it does not just pull out the preview. That one fact explains most of what you will see.
Why convert CR2 to JPG
- You shot RAW only and need pictures to send, print at a photo lab or upload to a portal that accepts JPG.
- Windows shows no thumbnails for CR2 without an extra codec, and most web services, phones and TVs cannot open it.
- An old archive from an EOS 350D, 40D or 5D Mark II needs quick previews before you decide what to edit properly.
- Size: a 24-megapixel CR2 has 25 to 35 MB, a JPG of the same picture usually a fraction of that.
What our converter does with a CR2
The raw file is decoded completely and developed with fixed settings, the same for every file:
- Full decode at full resolution. An EOS 80D file gives a JPG of about 6000 × 4000 pixels. The embedded preview is not used.
- White balance as shot, the value the camera stored in the file. If the camera got it wrong, the JPG is wrong too.
- AHD demosaicing (Adaptive Homogeneity-Directed), a widely used interpolation method.
- Colour converted with the camera's colour matrix to sRGB, 8 bits per channel. Brightness is set automatically so that about 1 % of the pixels reach pure white. Blown highlights stay clipped, there is no highlight recovery.
- No noise reduction, sharpening, lens correction or Picture Style.
- JPEG quality 90, portrait shots turned upright.
The camera's EXIF data (lens, exposure, date, GPS) is not copied into the JPG. If you need it, transfer it afterwards with ExifTool: exiftool -TagsFromFile IMG_0001.CR2 -all:all IMG_0001.jpg.
Why the JPG looks different from the camera's own JPEG
The JPEG your Canon writes is Canon's development, and our converter does not imitate it. Typical differences:
- Picture Style. Standard adds contrast, saturation and sharpening. Our result sits closer to Neutral: flatter and softer, which is a good base for editing but can look dull next to the camera JPEG.
- Black and white comes out in colour. The Monochrome Picture Style only affects the JPEG and the preview. The raw data always contains colour.
- Auto Lighting Optimizer and Highlight Tone Priority. ALO lifts shadows in the JPEG only. With HTP (shown as D+) the camera exposes the raw about one stop darker to protect highlights and brightens the midtones in its own JPEG. Without that curve the development looks darker or flatter.
- Lens corrections. Peripheral illumination, chromatic aberration and distortion correction and the Digital Lens Optimizer are applied in the camera or in Canon software. Here, wide-angle shots show darker corners and barrel distortion.
- Noise. High-ISO shots look grainier because in-camera noise reduction is missing.
Want exactly the camera look? A CR2 usually contains a full-size JPEG made by the camera. ExifTool extracts it in a second: exiftool -b -PreviewImage IMG_0001.CR2 > IMG_0001.jpg. Canon's free Digital Photo Professional develops the file with the Picture Style you set.
CR2, CR3, sRAW and Dual Pixel RAW
CR2 appeared in 2004 with the EOS 20D and replaced the older CRW format. It is built on TIFF and stores 12 or 14 bits per pixel with lossless compression. Canon EOS DSLRs used it until about 2018. The EOS M50 introduced CR3, which is based on the ISO base media file format, the same container family as MP4, and offers the lossy C-RAW option with files roughly 30 to 40 % smaller. EOS R mirrorless cameras and later DSLRs such as the 90D write CR3. Our converter accepts CR3 files with the same settings.
| CR2 | CR3 | JPG | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Introduced | 2004 (EOS 20D) | 2018 (EOS M50) | 1992 |
| Container | TIFF-based | ISO base media file format | JFIF/EXIF |
| Bit depth | 12 or 14 bit | 12 or 14 bit | 8 bit |
| Compression | lossless | lossless or C-RAW (lossy) | lossy |
The reduced-size sRAW and mRAW modes store already interpolated data. We convert them too, the JPG then has the reduced resolution. Dual Pixel RAW files from the EOS 5D Mark IV contain an extra image for Canon's focus and bokeh adjustments; we develop the normal image and ignore the extra one.
Other ways to convert CR2 to JPG
- macOS: Preview and Photos open CR2 directly, File → Export saves a JPEG, developed by Apple's raw engine.
- Windows 10 and 11: the free Raw Image Extension from the Microsoft Store adds thumbnails and lets the Photos app open CR2.
- Canon Digital Photo Professional: free for Canon owners, gives the Canon look and processes whole folders. For hundreds of photos this is the better choice, our free limit is 10 files per hour.
Our converter helps when you have no software installed, work on a phone or Linux, or just need a few JPGs fast. Keep the CR2 files themselves. For long-term archiving, Adobe's free DNG Converter turns them into the openly documented DNG format. Nikon users will find the counterpart on the NEF to JPG page, and more about the format on the CR2 format page.