Convert 3FR to APNG Online

Convert 3FR to APNG

A .3fr is Hasselblad's camera raw file — unrendered medium-format sensor data, 16 bits per channel, meant to be developed in Phocus, Lightroom, or Capture One. APNG (Animated PNG) is the opposite kind of file: a finished, lossless, 24-bit image with 8-bit alpha that plays in almost every browser. This converter renders the raw and writes it as APNG, so one upload gives you a single-frame animated PNG and a set of uploads gives you a sequence — a bracket, a studio turntable, or a timelapse — stacked into one looping file.

3FR Format at a Glance

APNG Format at a Glance

How to Convert 3FR to APNG

1. Upload Your 3FR Files: Drag and drop your Hasselblad captures onto the page or click "Add Files". To build an animation, add several — they play in the order they appear in the upload list.
2. Set FRAMERATE: Choose how fast the frames advance; the control starts at "10 FPS (Recommended)". Leave Combine? on "Single animation" to stack every upload into one APNG, or switch to "Individual files" to get one APNG per raw.
3. Cap the Output Size (Optional): Image resolution defaults to "Keep original", which writes every medium-format pixel into the APNG. Use "Preset Resolutions", "By Percentage", or explicit width and height to bring a 39-to-100+ megapixel frame down to something a web page can carry.
4. Convert and Download: Click convert and save the APNG. Files upload over an encrypted connection, are processed on our servers, and are deleted automatically after a few hours — no sign-up, no watermark.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I control the order my 3FR frames play in?

Frames play in the order the files sit in the upload list, top to bottom. Camera-written raw filenames usually carry a sequence number (for example B0001234.3FR, B0001235.3FR), so a set shot in one run generally already sorts in capture order — upload the whole set together and it assembles that way. If you merged cards or shot out of order, rename the files so they sort correctly before uploading. FRAMERATE then decides how long each frame stays on screen.

Will I lose image quality converting 3FR to APNG?

You lose raw latitude, not sharpness. A 3FR holds 16-bit-per-channel sensor data with white balance, exposure and tone still adjustable; producing any viewable image means demosaicing it and baking those decisions in, and the result is 8 bits per channel. That step is identical whether you export a JPEG from Phocus or an APNG here. Inside that rendered image, APNG is lossless — the pixels written are the pixels the renderer produced, and the only way to lose more detail is to downscale under Image resolution. Keep the 3FR as the master.

Why convert a Hasselblad raw to APNG instead of GIF?

Colour and transparency. GIF holds 256 colours per frame with a single on/off transparency bit, which is exactly the wrong shape for medium-format work — skin tones and sky gradients band immediately. APNG carries the full 24-bit render plus 8-bit alpha, so gradients stay smooth and soft edges stay soft. The trade is reach: GIF plays everywhere, APNG in about 96% of browsers, and where it is unsupported you get the first frame as a still rather than a broken image. If a target refuses APNG, make a 3FR to GIF copy as the fallback.

Can I convert a single 3FR, or do I need several?

Either works. One upload produces a lossless, web-ready still — with nothing to animate, the assembler writes an ordinary static PNG rather than adding animation chunks, so the file opens as a normal picture in any viewer. Several uploads are stitched into one animation in upload order, with no fixed frame cap; the practical ceiling is upload size and time, since Hasselblad raws are large files to send. If you only want a plain still with no animation chunks at all, 3FR to PNG is the more direct target.

Why is my APNG from a Hasselblad frame so big, and what should I change first?

Because APNG is lossless and the source frame is enormous. Our render path demosaics the raw to 8-bit RGB and writes each frame with PNG's DEFLATE compression, which does not discard detail — so a 100 MP capture left on "Keep original" produces a very large file by web standards. Resolution is the lever that matters here: pick a "Preset Resolutions" value or a percentage, since no display shows 100 megapixels, and the byte count falls roughly with the pixel count. If it is still too heavy after that, the format is the problem rather than the settings — 3FR to WebP gives you a lossy option that APNG structurally cannot.

Does the APNG keep Hasselblad's colour rendering?

Not exactly. A 3FR carries a Natural Color Solution profile matched to the individual camera, and Phocus applies it as part of its own render. This converter develops the raw with its own defaults and writes the result as sRGB-style 8-bit data, so colour can differ from what you see in Phocus — usually subtly, occasionally noticeably on saturated or mixed lighting. If exact colour matters, develop the file in Phocus, export it, and convert that export instead of the raw.

Which apps besides browsers actually animate an APNG?

Browsers are the reliable case. Most desktop image editors, including Photoshop, treat an APNG as a plain PNG and show only the first frame, which is by design — the animation chunks are ancillary and legacy decoders ignore them. Media players and dedicated APNG tools handle the animation, as do messaging clients that adopted the format for stickers. If the destination is a video pipeline or a social platform, 3FR to MP4 will be accepted far more widely than an animated PNG.

What happens to my 3FR files after conversion?

They travel over an encrypted connection, are rendered and encoded on our servers, and are deleted automatically a few hours later — no sign-up, no watermark, never shared or made public. Because a single Hasselblad capture can pass 150 MB, the slowest part of the job is normally the upload rather than the conversion; a wired connection or a smaller batch helps more than any setting on the page.