Full RAW conversion or the camera’s own JPG?
A CR3 holds the sensor data and, on most Canon bodies we tested, a full-size JPG the camera made when you took the picture. The two modes give you one or the other:
- Full RAW conversion decodes the sensor data with LibRaw at the camera’s full pixel count, using the white balance the camera recorded, in sRGB. It takes a few seconds per photo.
- Camera’s embedded JPG saves the picture the camera rendered and stored in the file, in about a tenth of a second. When it is already upright and you keep it full size, it is saved without re-compressing. It may be more compressed than the camera’s own Fine JPG: our EOS R6 Mark II sample’s was 3.9 MB, where Canon’s manual estimates about 8.2 MB for a Fine Large JPG and 4.4 MB for Normal Large.
What we measured with this page (quality 92, full size; sizes as the converter shows them, where 1 MB is 1,048,576 bytes):
| Sample CR3 | File | Full RAW conversion | Time | Embedded JPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EOS M50 (24 MP), C-RAW | 14.2 MB | 6,024 × 4,020 px, 2.4 MB | 2.5 s | 6,000 × 4,000 px, 1.7 MB |
| EOS R (30 MP), RAW | 30.1 MB | 6,742 × 4,498 px, 2.8 MB | 2.8 s | 6,720 × 4,480 px, 1.4 MB |
| EOS R6 Mark II (24 MP), RAW | 28.0 MB | 6,022 × 4,024 px, 4.1 MB | 2.3 s | 6,000 × 4,000 px, 3.9 MB |
| EOS R50 (24 MP), C-RAW | 18.2 MB | 6,000 × 4,000 px, 4.8 MB | 2.4 s | 6,000 × 4,000 px, 4.5 MB |
| EOS R5 (45 MP), RAW | 38.8 MB | 8,191 × 5,463 px, 5.3 MB | 4.3 s | 8,192 × 5,464 px, 3.0 MB |
| EOS R5 Mark II (45 MP), RAW | 51.9 MB | 8,222 × 5,488 px, 8.3 MB | 4.4 s | HEIF preview, not JPG |
| EOS R8 (24 MP), RAW | 27.5 MB | 6,022 × 4,024 px, 4.5 MB | 2.4 s | HEIF preview, not JPG |
So on most bodies we tested the embedded JPG is already full size, and it is the quickest way to get the camera’s rendering. Our EOS R8 and EOS R5 Mark II samples store their preview as HEIF (HEVC) instead of JPG, which this page cannot save, so use the full RAW conversion for files like those. The two outputs can differ by a few pixels in each direction. Timings are from a desktop PC; phones and older laptops take longer.
Which Canon cameras work
The decoder is LibRaw 0.22.1. Its list of supported cameras covers Canon’s CR3 bodies from the EOS M50 to the EOS R1 and R5 Mark II, including the R, RP, R3, R5, R6, R6 Mark II, R7, R8, R10, R50, R100, 90D, 250D and 850D. We converted sample files from 11 bodies with this page, from the M50 — Canon’s first CR3 camera, announced in February 2018 — to the R5 Mark II and R6 Mark III.
The newest bodies are not on LibRaw’s list yet: the EOS R6 Mark III, R6 V, R8 Mark II, R50 V, PowerShot V1 and C50. Their files may open, but without the camera’s own colour data. In our test an R6 Mark III file came out with a strong magenta cast, while an R50 V file looked plausible but darker and bluer than the camera’s JPG. The converter warns when a file comes from one of these bodies; choose Camera’s embedded JPG to get the camera’s own picture. Apple’s list of supported RAW cameras (version 27, October 2026) includes all of them except the R8 Mark II, and Canon’s Digital Photo Professional lists them all as compatible cameras.
That is also why CR3 files from one Canon open on a computer while files from a newer one do not: the extension is the same, but each body needs its own entry in the software’s camera list. So a CR3 that will not open is not necessarily damaged; the program may simply not know that camera yet.
RAW, C-RAW, Dual Pixel RAW and RAW burst: what converts
| CR3 type | What Canon says | On this page |
|---|---|---|
| RAW | Stored with lossless compression | Full resolution — converted from 11 bodies |
| C-RAW (Compact RAW) | “C-RAW uses lossy compression”; same resolution, smaller files (R6 Mark II: about 13.2 MB against 26.1 MB for RAW) | Full resolution — converted from the M50, R, R5, R50 and R5 Mark II |
| Dual Pixel RAW | Extra dual pixel data, used by Digital Photo Professional’s Dual Pixel RAW Optimizer | Converted as a normal photo from an EOS R sample; the dual pixel data is not used |
| RAW burst (roll) | “A single file (roll) with multiple images” | Not tested yet. Extract the frames in the camera or with Digital Photo Professional first |
With HDR PQ switched on, Canon cameras record HEIF (.HIF) or RAW files. This page does not open .HIF files, and we have not confirmed whether any of our sample CR3s was shot with HDR PQ.
Convert CR3 to JPG without losing quality: what is kept and what is not
No CR3 to JPG conversion is lossless. Canon describes its RAW files as 14-bit and its JPGs as 8-bit, which matches a standard baseline JPG (ITU-T T.81), and JPG compression discards fine detail. What the converter keeps:
- the full pixel dimensions (unless you choose Half or Web size);
- quality 92 by default, which you can raise or lower;
- the camera details: make, model, lens, date and time, exposure, aperture, ISO and focal length are copied into the JPG’s Exif, with the photographer’s name and copyright if the camera recorded them;
- sRGB for the full RAW conversion; the camera’s JPG keeps the colour space the camera was set to.
GPS location and the camera’s serial number are left out unless you tick Include GPS location and camera serial number, so a shared photo does not reveal where it was taken or which camera took it. Keep the CR3 files: they hold the extra bit depth that lets you rescue highlights and shadows later, which a JPG cannot. Your CR3 is only read, never changed.
Why the JPG may not look like the camera’s
A RAW file stores what the sensor saw; the look is applied when it is developed. The camera develops its own JPG with settings such as Picture Style, Auto Lighting Optimizer and lens corrections — the same options its RAW image processing menu offers. The full RAW conversion here uses the white balance the camera recorded and LibRaw’s automatic brightness, not those settings. Even Canon says processing RAW in the camera “will not produce exactly the same results as processing RAW images with Digital Photo Professional”.
If you want the camera’s look, choose Camera’s embedded JPG. Photographers on Canon’s and other forums also describe a CR3 that looks right for a moment in a viewer and then changes colour. A likely reason: some viewers show the embedded JPG first, then their own decode of the RAW data, which goes wrong when they do not know the camera.
Other ways to convert CR3 to JPG: Digital Photo Professional, the camera, Mac, Windows, Lightroom
- Canon Digital Photo Professional 4 (free from Canon; the download may ask for your camera’s serial number): for one photo, choose File → Convert and save. To batch convert CR3 to JPG, select the photos and choose File → Batch process, then Execute; with none selected, it converts every image in the window. Its Dual Pixel RAW Optimizer is where the dual pixel data can be used.
- In the camera: on recent EOS R bodies, Playback → RAW image processing turns one or several CR3s into JPG or HEIF on the card, with the shot settings or your own (brightness, white balance, Picture Style, colour space). The EOS R50 V uses Creative Assist instead, which saves JPGs.
- CR3 to JPG on Mac with Preview: open the file, choose File → Export, pick JPEG in the Format menu, set the quality and save. For several files, open them in one window, select them in the sidebar and export. This works when your macOS version supports your camera.
- CR3 to JPG on Windows: Microsoft’s free Raw Image Extension “adds native viewing support” for RAW files, CR3 included, in File Explorer and Photos. It is built on LibRaw, so it may not know the newest bodies either; R6 Mark III owners have reported purple pictures in Photos. For converting, use Digital Photo Professional or this page.
- Lightroom and Photoshop open CR3 through Camera Raw, and the minimum version depends on the camera: Camera Raw 16.4 (Lightroom Classic 13.4) for the R5 Mark II, 17.3 (14.3) for the R50 V, 18.0 (15.0) for the R6 Mark III and 18.5 (15.5) for the R8 Mark II. Adobe says RAW burst roll files “are not readable” by Camera Raw or Lightroom.
- CR3 to JPG on iPhone: this page can run in a mobile browser — choose the CR3 from Files. If the browser cannot make an image that large in one piece, the tool saves it at half size and says so; if it runs out of memory while decoding, that file fails with a message. We have not yet tested it on an iPhone.
Converting Sony RAW files instead? The ARW to JPG converter uses the same decoder.
Can you convert JPG to CR3?
No. A CR3 holds sensor data from before the photo was developed; a JPG holds 8-bit developed pixels. Renaming a file or changing its format cannot bring back what was never in it. In the same way, a C-RAW file cannot be turned back into a full RAW: the data its lossy compression discarded is gone. Keep the original CR3s if you may want to edit them later.
Why nothing is uploaded
Many online converters send your photos to their servers and keep them for a while. Here, the RAW decoder (LibRaw compiled to WebAssembly) is downloaded once from this site and runs in your browser tab; it is only allowed to connect to this site, to load its own files. While we converted 16 CR3 files, no request carried any part of a photo; the only other requests went to Google Analytics, for the page-view statistics described in the privacy policy. You can check: open your browser’s developer tools on the Network tab while converting.