Picture Batch RW2 to JPG
RW2 to JPG
RW2 is what Panasonic Lumix bodies write, and what the Leica models built alongside them write too. It looks like a TIFF file and deliberately is not one — Panasonic replaced the number every TIFF file carries in its header with a different one, so software that trusts the header opens it and finds nothing it recognises. Identification here is done properly, and the sensor data is decoded rather than sidestepped.
Drop RW2 images here
RW2 files — or any of PNG, JPEG, WebP, AVIF, BMP, ICO, TIFF, GIF or camera raw (CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, DNG, RAF, ORF). Everything runs on this device.
Your images never leave this device. They are decoded and re-encoded by your own browser, and the security policy on every page blocks this site from sending them anywhere.
Lossy, no transparency, opens absolutely everywhere, small for photographs.
The standard range for photographs. Hard to distinguish from the original.
Images keep their original dimensions.
JPEG cannot store transparency. Nothing in the queue currently has transparent pixels, so this has no effect yet.
Exif is carried across where both formats can hold it. Nothing currently in the queue has any.
Every pixel gets its two missing colours interpolated from its neighbours, at the full sensor resolution. The slower and more detailed option.
The value your camera recorded when the shutter fired — what you saw on the back of the camera.
Camera, lens, exposure and capture time are written into the JPEG when those fields are present. The file details show whether GPS data exists, but coordinates are deliberately not written, and colour comes out as sRGB.
What happens to your image
Expect a much smaller file than a lossless source, at the cost of some detail.
| Property | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Transparency | Preserved: RW2 images have no transparency to lose. |
| Image quality | Partly preserved: JPEG is lossy: the image is re-compressed and detail is discarded to make the file smaller. The quality control decides how much. |
| Colour | Partly preserved: Converted to sRGB. Decoding an image colour-manages it into the browser's own space, so the output is sRGB and is left untagged, which every viewer reads as sRGB. A wide-gamut source is reported before conversion. |
| Exif metadata | Preserved: Carried across if you leave metadata switched on, or removed completely if you switch it off. Camera, date and any location tag travel together. |
| Orientation | Preserved: Applied to the pixels, and the tag is reset to upright afterwards so nothing rotates the image a second time. |
A container that is nearly TIFF, which is worse than not being TIFF at all
Every TIFF file starts with a byte-order mark and then the number 42. A RW2 starts with the byte-order mark and then 85. Everything after that is laid out like a TIFF directory, with Panasonic's own tags describing the sensor.
The consequence is a specific and confusing failure: software that checks the byte-order mark and not the number will read the directory, find an embedded preview, and convert that instead of the photograph. It looks like it worked. Identification here checks the actual signature, which is why a RW2 is recognised as sensor data and decoded as such.
Small sensors, and what the camera was hiding
Panasonic's range runs from Micro Four Thirds down to the one-inch and smaller sensors in the compact Lumix bodies, and the smaller the sensor the more work the camera does before it shows you anything. In-camera noise reduction, sharpening, and — on the compacts especially — heavy lens correction.
A converted RW2 has none of that applied, so it is a fair representation of what the sensor recorded and a less flattering one than the camera's JPEG. On the wide end of a compact zoom, the uncorrected distortion can be dramatic, because those lenses were designed on the assumption it would be corrected.
This is worth knowing before concluding the conversion went wrong. It went right; the camera was being generous.
Leica files too
Several Leica models are Panasonic bodies with a different badge and firmware, and they write the same format — sometimes with a .RWL extension. Those are recognised and decoded here, along with Panasonic's older files that used a plain .RAW extension.
Leica's own M-series and Q-series bodies write DNG instead, which has a page of its own and is the easiest raw format of all to support because it is documented.
If something goes wrong
Wide-angle shots look distorted.
Uncorrected lens distortion. Panasonic compacts rely on software correction more than almost anything else.
What to do: A raw editor with the lens profile will correct it. This page decodes the sensor data and does not alter the geometry.
The image is a slightly different shape than expected.
The raw file holds the full sensor area, including the part your camera cropped away for the aspect ratio you selected.
What to do: Nothing to fix — the queue shows the exact dimensions before conversion. Crop afterwards if you want the camera's framing.
A .RAW file from an older Lumix is not recognised as RW2.
Panasonic used the .RAW extension before .RW2, and the two are structurally similar but not identical.
What to do: Both are read. Identification comes from the file contents, and the message names what was found if a particular file cannot be decoded.
Questions
Does this work with Leica RWL files?
Yes. RWL is the same format with a different extension, written by the Leica models Panasonic builds. Files are identified from their contents, so the extension does not decide anything.
Why is the JPEG less sharp than the camera's?
Your camera sharpens when it makes a JPEG, and a converter does not. Sharpening is an interpretation, and applying it silently to somebody's raw file would be the wrong default; adding it afterwards in any image editor takes a moment.
Can I convert to WebP or PNG instead?
Yes. PNG is lossless from the decoder onwards and is the right choice before further editing. WebP is smaller than JPEG at the same visual quality and is supported by every current browser.