What a RW2 file is
RW2 is the RAW format of Panasonic Lumix cameras, Micro Four Thirds and full-frame L-mount alike. The sensor data is compressed with Panasonic's own scheme, and the file carries an embedded JPEG.
Cameras that record RW2 include the GH5, GH6, GH7, G9, G9 II, G85/G80, GX85/GX80, GX9, LX100 II, S1, S1R, S5, S5 II, S9, FZ1000 II, TZ200.
The JPEG inside a RW2
A RW2 file also carries the JPEG the camera made: 1920 × 1440 on a GX80, under half the sensor's width. As with ORF, the camera's JPEG has lens corrections applied and the developed picture does not, so its framing is slightly wider.
Converting RW2 to JPG here
- Drop one or many RW2 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 · PEF to JPG · DNG to JPG · every RAW