What a DNG file is
DNG (Digital Negative) is Adobe's openly documented RAW format. Pentax, Leica, Ricoh, Hasselblad and DJI record it directly, Android phones save their RAW photos in it, and Adobe's DNG Converter turns other RAW files into it.
Cameras that record DNG include the Pentax K-3 II and K-1, Leica M and Q, Ricoh GR III, DJI drones, Google Pixel and other Android phones, iPhone RAW from third-party camera apps.
The JPEG inside a DNG
A DNG file also carries the JPEG the camera made: anything from 852 × 640 (an iPhone SE DNG) to full size (6016 × 4000 on a Pentax K-3 II). Apple ProRAW, and any DNG that is already demosaiced (a “linear” DNG, such as an HDR or panorama merge), is not supported yet: the converter says so instead of guessing.
Converting DNG to JPG here
- Drop one or many DNG files on the converter, or choose them.
- Keep “Develop the RAW” for the full sensor, or choose “Use the camera's JPEG” for its exact look.
- Choose JPG (and its quality) or a 16-bit TIFF, the size, and the brightness if the camera's was not what you wanted.
- Press Convert. Each file can be downloaded as soon as it is ready, or all of them as one ZIP.
What it does not do
- No lens corrections: distortion and vignetting that the camera removes from its own JPEG stay in the developed picture (most visible on Micro Four Thirds).
- No sharpening and no noise reduction: the developed picture is what the sensor recorded, which at 100 % looks softer and grainier than a camera JPEG.
- No picture styles or film simulations: the developed colour is neutral. The camera's own JPEG keeps them.
- Apple ProRAW and other already-demosaiced (linear) DNGs are refused by name, not guessed at.
- Memory: a 24-megapixel file needs about 0.5 GB while it is developed, a 60-megapixel one about 1.3 GB. Files are converted one at a time so a batch does not add up.
Other formats: CR2 to JPG · CR3 to JPG · NEF to JPG · ARW to JPG · RAF to JPG · ORF to JPG · RW2 to JPG · PEF to JPG · every RAW