RAW to GIF Converter

What happens when you convert RAW to GIF

• The RAW is developed by LibRaw, the open-source camera RAW decoder, on our conversion server: the sensor data is turned into a full-colour picture with the white balance the camera recorded, AHD demosaicing and standard sRGB colour.
• ImageMagick then saves it as a GIF with a 256-colour palette built from the photo, at the camera's full resolution. The photo is turned the way the camera was held.
• This is a neutral, straight development, much like the camera's own JPG settings switched off: no lens corrections, noise reduction or creative styles are applied, so it can look flatter than an edited version.
• GIF allows only 256 colours, so skies and skin tones pick up visible banding. Choose JPG or PNG unless a program insists on GIF.
• Raw files from other cameras, such as CR2, NEF, ARW or RAF, can be dropped here as well; each is read as its own format.
• This conversion runs on our server: the file is uploaded, converted, and deleted together with the result as soon as the result has been sent back to you. Nothing is kept. Files up to 25 MB are accepted.

How to convert RAW to GIF online

1. Press "Choose RAW files" and select one or more files, or drag them onto the box. Files up to 25 MB each can be converted.
2. There are no settings to choose: the converter keeps everything the target format can hold.
3. Press "Convert to GIF". The file is uploaded to our conversion server, converted in a few seconds, and deleted together with the result as soon as the result is sent back.
4. Save each GIF with its download button. Our server has already deleted both your RAW and the GIF by then.

Why convert RAW to GIF?

RAW files usually come from Panasonic Lumix cameras made before 2008, such as the FZ18, FZ30 and LX2, and the Leica models built with them. People convert them to GIF because a GIF loops silently in any chat app, email or forum post without a play button.

In short, RAW is good at what it was made for, and GIF is the more practical choice when the file has to open, upload or print somewhere else. RAW does not open in browsers; Lightroom, darktable and RawTherapee open it, while GIF opens and animates in every browser.

How to convert RAW to GIF on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android

On Windows

Open this page in Chrome, Edge or Firefox, drag your RAW files in from File Explorer, and press Convert. Each GIF is saved to your Downloads folder.

On a Mac

Safari, Chrome and Firefox all work. Drag the RAW files from Finder onto the drop zone and the GIF files land in Downloads.

On iPhone and iPad

Open the page in Safari and tap Choose RAW files. You can pick from Photos or from the Files app. The converted GIF appears in Files, in the Downloads folder; to put it in your photo library, open it there, tap Share and choose Save Image.

On Android

Open the page in Chrome, tap Choose RAW files and pick them from Files or your gallery. The GIF is saved to the Download folder, where any file manager can find it.

Best settings for RAW to GIF

There are no settings: camera white balance, sRGB colour and the full sensor resolution, up to 16,384 pixels a side.

For exposure, colour and lens corrections, develop the RAW in Lightroom, darktable or RawTherapee instead; this converter gives a quick, faithful result without edits.

RAW vs GIF: the differences

About RAW and GIF files

What is a RAW file?

Before RW2, Panasonic Lumix cameras and the Leica compacts made with them saved raw photos with the plain .RAW extension. Other cameras and scanners use .raw for unrelated formats of their own; this converter reads the Panasonic and Leica kind, and raw files of other brands, such as CR2, NEF or ARW, can be dropped on the same page.

What is a GIF file?

GIF stores each frame with a palette of at most 256 colours, so photos turn grainy and animations get large fast. Transparency is on or off per pixel, with no soft edges.

RAW to GIF not working? Common problems

• "Files up to 25 MB can be converted." Server conversions have a size limit, and raw files from high-resolution cameras can pass it. Switch the camera to its compressed raw setting, or develop very large files in a desktop raw editor.
• "This file is not really in RAW format." The converter checks every file before it runs anything, so a file of another format renamed to .raw is refused. Choose the page for its real format.
• "The photo could not be read." The decoder on our server, LibRaw 0.20, knows cameras released up to about 2020. Raw files from newer models, and Canon CR3 and Sigma X3F files, may not open.
• The colours look flat. The photo is developed neutrally, without the contrast and styles a camera adds to its own JPGs. Adjust it in a photo editor.

Convert RAW to GIF from the command line

LibRaw and ImageMagick do the same on your own computer:

dcraw_emu -w -o 1 -q 3 -T input.raw
magick input.raw.tiff output.gif

Converting on your own computer keeps the file entirely local, which is worth it for very large or very sensitive documents. For everything else, the converter on this page does it without installing anything.