CR2 to M2TS Converter

CR2 to M2TS — Which AVCHD Spelling Do You Actually Need?

CR2 is Canon's second-generation RAW photo — the unprocessed 14-bit sensor data your DSLR wrote before any white balance or exposure was baked in — and M2TS is the AVCHD transport-stream file as it is spelled on a computer or inside a Blu-ray disc structure. This converter renders one Canon photo and packages it as that stream, for the narrow case of dropping a still into a Blu-ray-authoring project or an AVCHD-era timeline that expects the .m2ts extension. The honest catch up front: .m2ts and .mts carry the same encoded H.264 video, but they are not the same file. The .m2ts written here is BDAV-framed — 192-byte packets that each prefix a 4-byte timestamp header ahead of the sync byte — while CR2 to MTS writes plain 188-byte transport-stream packets with no such header. Same picture, different packaging, so pick the extension your software actually asks for rather than assuming either will do. If you only want a viewable picture or a clip that plays anywhere, skip ahead to the last FAQ.

M2TS vs MTS — Side-by-side

Both extensions carry the same H.264 video; what changes is how that video is packetized. .m2ts is the spelling most editors and Blu-ray authoring tools expect, and the one this page writes with BDAV framing. Because the framing genuinely differs, renaming a file from one extension to the other relabels it without re-packetizing it — convert to the spelling you need instead.

When to Pick M2TS

• Your Blu-ray authoring tool (the disc-structure side) imports stills as .m2ts clips into its timeline.
• Your editor or player names AVCHD clips .m2ts and refuses to recognize a .mts file.
• You are assembling material that already lives in a BDMV/STREAM/ layout and want the new still to match that extension.
• You specifically need the long-filename form because the software was written against computer/Blu-ray conventions rather than the camcorder's 8.3 naming.

When to Pick MTS (or AVCHD)

• You are matching files that came straight off a Sony or Panasonic camcorder, which writes .MTS — use CR2 to MTS so the extension matches the rest of the card.
• Your software exposes an AVCHD import path and asks for the .avchd/.mts spelling — use CR2 to AVCHD.
• The encoded video is the same either way, so the real question is which extension — and therefore which packet framing — your destination software is looking for.

What the CR2-to-M2TS Conversion Produces

The photo is rendered and packaged as a silent, single-frame AVCHD stream — the same H.264 video either extension carries, wrapped here in BDAV packets. Here is the before and after.

How to Convert CR2 to M2TS

1. Upload Your CR2 File: Drag and drop your .cr2 onto the page or click "+ Add Files" to browse. You can queue several Canon photos at once.
2. Set Merge strategy and Image Duration: Open Advanced Options. Use "Merge strategy" to choose "Merge images" (combine several photos into one M2TS) or "Video per image" (a separate file each), then set "Image Duration" to hold each still from 1/60s up to 10 seconds (5 seconds is the default).
3. Pick Quality Preset, Background Color, and Codec (Optional): Leave "Quality Preset" on "Very High (Recommended)"; set a "Background Color" (White by default) to fill any letterbox bars; under "Show All Options" the "Video Codec" defaults to H.264, the codec the AVCHD/M2TS stream actually uses.
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert" and download your M2TS. No sign-up, no watermark.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is M2TS just MTS under a different name?

No — the video matches, the packaging does not. Render the same CR2 to each and the encoded H.264 frame is the same, but the transport stream around it is framed differently: .m2ts comes out BDAV-framed in 192-byte packets, each carrying a 4-byte timestamp header ahead of the 0x47 sync byte, while .mts comes out as plain 188-byte packets with that sync byte at the very start of the file. Those extra headers also make the .m2ts slightly larger for identical content. Renaming one to the other changes the label but not the packet framing — players that probe the stream usually cope either way, but a tool that strictly expects one framing will not accept the other. This page writes the BDAV-framed .m2ts that Blu-ray-authoring and editing tools expect; use CR2 to MTS if your software asks for .mts.

Will the M2TS clip have any motion or sound?

No on both counts. The converter renders your single CR2 to one still frame and holds that motionless frame on screen for the duration you set — there is no pan, zoom, or transition. It is also silent: a photo carries no audio, so there is nothing to encode, even though the M2TS container itself can carry Dolby AC-3 or linear PCM. If you upload several photos and choose "Merge images," they play back to back, each shown for its set duration — a sequence of stills, not a cross-faded slideshow. Add narration or music on your editing timeline after import.

Do I lose the RAW editing latitude when I convert CR2 to M2TS?

Yes. A CR2 stores unprocessed 14-bit sensor data, which is why you can recover highlights and shift white balance long after the shot. To put the photo into a transport stream, the converter must develop it first — demosaicing the sensor data and baking in white balance, exposure, and tone — because a video stream has no concept of undeveloped RAW. Once that rendered frame is inside the M2TS, the latitude is gone, exactly as in a JPEG. Develop the RAW in a dedicated editor first if you want that control, and keep the original .cr2 as your master.

My Canon is 20 megapixels — what resolution does the M2TS end up?

Lower than the photo, in practice. A 20-megapixel Canon sensor captures far more pixels than an HD video frame holds, so AVCHD/M2TS targets 1080p-class dimensions — choosing a 1920×1080 preset under "Video resolution" downscales the rendered image to fit. AVCHD was built around HD recording, so 1920×1080 is the natural target and detail beyond it is discarded — normal for putting a high-resolution photo into video. If preserving every pixel matters, keep the still as an image with CR2 to JPG instead of wrapping it in a video stream.

Will this produce a finished Blu-ray disc I can burn?

No. This is a file converter — it outputs a single rendered .m2ts stream, not the full BDMV/STREAM/ directory tree with the playlist (.mpls) and clip-information (.clpi) files a Blu-ray player or authoring tool reads. Building that structure is a disc-authoring task, much as a lone .m2ts is not a finished disc and a single .vob is not a finished DVD. Import the rendered clip into your Blu-ray-authoring or editing project, let that software lay it into the disc layout, and author from there. If your tool's dedicated AVCHD/Blu-ray importer doesn't see the loose file, use its generic file import instead.

Can I merge several CR2 photos into one M2TS?

Yes. Open Advanced Options and set "Merge strategy" to "Merge images" — every uploaded CR2 is rendered and placed in one M2TS, each still held for the "Image Duration" you set and playing back to back as a sequence (no cross-fade). Choose "Video per image" instead for a separate M2TS per photo. Either way the stream is silent and re-encoded to H.264; there is no remux path that keeps a photo as-is.

How big is the M2TS, and how are my files handled?

In our testing, a single full-resolution Canon CR2 held for 5 seconds at the "Very High" preset produced an M2TS only a couple of megabytes in size, because a motionless H.264 frame compresses heavily. Your file is uploaded over an encrypted connection, rendered and packaged into the M2TS on our servers, and deleted automatically a few hours after conversion — no sign-up, no watermark, never shared or made public.

Should I really convert CR2 to M2TS, or to JPG or MP4 instead?

For almost everyone, M2TS is the wrong target. If you only want a viewable, shareable picture, CR2 to JPG gives you a far smaller file that opens everywhere, and you keep the original .cr2 as your editable master. If you need a video clip for a modern editor, web upload, or phone playback, CR2 to MP4 carries the same H.264 in a container that plays natively almost anywhere, while M2TS does not. Reach for M2TS only when a specific Blu-ray-authoring or AVCHD-era workflow requires that exact container and extension.