CR2 to WTV Converter

Convert CR2 to WTV: Read This First

This turns a Canon CR2 RAW photo into a WTV file — a single still image wrapped as a short, silent video. Be honest with yourself before you start, because this is a double dead-end: CR2 is a camera RAW that almost nothing displays directly, and WTV is Microsoft's Windows Recorded TV Show container, built only for Windows Media Center, which Microsoft removed from Windows 10 (announced May 2015) and whose program guide was shut down on January 14, 2020. Putting a photo into a discontinued DVR format is an unusual thing to want.

For almost everyone, the right move is one of these instead:

• Just want to see or share the photo? Convert CR2 to JPG — a normal image that opens everywhere. This is what 95% of people who land here actually need.
• Want the photo as a video clip (for a slideshow, a TV, a phone)? Convert CR2 to MP4 — same still-as-video idea, but in a format that plays on current hardware.
• You arrived from the wrong direction and actually have a WTV to open? You want WTV to MP4 — that is the way the traffic almost always flows: people escaping WTV, not entering it.

WTV only makes sense if you are deliberately feeding an un-migrated Windows 7 or 8.1 Media Center HTPC and want a photo to live in its Recorded TV library. If that is genuinely you, read on.

How to Convert CR2 to WTV

1. Upload Your CR2 File: Drag and drop or click "+ Add Files" to select the .CR2 files straight off your camera card. Batch upload works — every file is rendered with the same settings.
2. Set the Image Duration: Because a photo has no length, you choose how long the still is shown. The Image Duration control defaults to 5 seconds per frame; raise or lower it to set how long the resulting WTV plays.
3. Pick a Quality Preset and Background (Optional): Expand Advanced Options. Leave the "Very High (Recommended)" Quality Preset for near-source fidelity, set a Background Color (default Black) for any letterboxing around the photo, and use Video resolution to keep original size or fit a preset like 1080p.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert. No sign-up, no watermark. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically a few hours after conversion.

Walk-through: A Photo Has No Codec Choice and No Sound

This conversion does two jobs at once: it renders the RAW (demosaics the 14-bit sensor data into normal RGB pixels, the same step Lightroom does on import) and then encodes that single frame, held for your chosen duration, into the WTV container.

A few consequences flow from that, and they surprise people:

• There is no Video Codec dropdown. Every codec selection on the site (H.264, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and the other 20-plus options) excludes WTV from its allowlist, so when the output is WTV no codec menu appears at all. The encoder is fixed server-side to a Media-Center-compatible combination (MPEG-2-class video). This is deliberate: a WTV with the wrong codec simply would not play in Media Center, so the choice is made for you. You steer fidelity with the Quality Preset and File Compression settings instead.
• The output is silent. A CR2 carries no audio, so there is nothing to put on the audio track — the WTV is a moving picture of a still photo with no sound. That is expected, not a failed conversion.
• It is a still, not a video. Every frame is identical. If you set 5 seconds at 30 fps, the file holds the same image for 150 frames. Set the length with Image Duration, not by hunting for a Trim control.

If you want to set the displayed size, here is how the resolution choices behave:

• Keep original preserves the CR2's full pixel dimensions — a roughly 20-megapixel-class Canon RAW is far larger than a 1080p TV frame, so the file is bigger than it needs to be for playback.
• A preset like 1080p or 720p downscales the photo to a standard video frame. Downscaling a high-resolution RAW to 1080p looks clean; the detail loss is the same as exporting a JPG at that size.
• Upscaling adds size, not detail — never set a resolution larger than the photo's native dimensions.

Common Errors and How to Fix Them

• "The WTV won't play on my Windows 10 or 11 PC" — Expected. Windows Media Center is gone from Windows 10 and 11, so there is no built-in WTV decoder. Open it in VLC, Kodi, or MPC-HC, or — far better — convert your CR2 to JPG or MP4 so you never hit this wall.
• "The video has no sound" — Correct, and there is no fix because there is nothing to fix. A photo has no audio; a still-image WTV is silent by definition.
• "The colors or exposure look off versus my editing app" — The converter applies a neutral default RAW render. Canon's own Digital Photo Professional, Lightroom, or Camera Raw apply your camera's picture style and your edits; a server-side render cannot read those. For color-critical work, edit the CR2 first, export a JPG or TIFF, and convert that.
• "The file is huge" — At Keep original, you are encoding a 20-megapixel-class frame. Set Video resolution to a 1080p or 720p preset, which is all a TV can display anyway.
• "My camera wrote CR3, not CR2" — Newer Canon bodies (those using the DIGIC 8 processor and later) record CR3, a different container. This page is for CR2; use the matching CR3 tool if your files end in .CR3.

When This Doesn't Work

If WTV is not truly what you need — and for nearly everyone in 2026 it is not — stop and pick a different target. Converting a photo into a discontinued DVR format is a rare request; the overwhelming traffic around WTV flows the other way, as people try to escape it. If you only wanted to view or share the picture, CR2 to JPG is the answer. If you wanted a video clip that plays on a phone or smart TV, CR2 to MP4 is the answer. And if you came here by mistake holding an actual WTV recording, you want WTV to MP4. WTV output exists for the un-migrated Media Center HTPC and almost nothing else.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why would I ever convert a CR2 photo to WTV?

One narrow reason: you run an un-migrated Windows Media Center HTPC on Windows 7 or 8.1 and want a photo to sit in the Recorded TV library beside your tuner captures. Media Center indexes WTV natively and gives it the 10-foot UI. For every other purpose — viewing, printing, editing, sharing, or playing on any current device — CR2 to JPG or CR2 to MP4 is the correct choice. WTV exists for the Media Center workflow and essentially nothing else.

Will the WTV play on Windows 10 or Windows 11?

Not natively. Microsoft removed Windows Media Center when Windows 10 shipped (announced May 2015), and the program-guide service was shut down on January 14, 2020, so there is no built-in WTV playback on Windows 10 or 11. The file will still open in VLC, Kodi, or MPC-HC if they have MPEG-2 decoders, but if forward compatibility matters at all, convert your CR2 to MP4 instead.

Why is there no Video Codec option for WTV output?

Because the WTV container only accepts a narrow set of codecs (MPEG-2-class video), the encoder is fixed server-side to a Media-Center-compatible combination. On this site every one of the 25-plus codec selections excludes WTV from its list, so no codec dropdown is shown for WTV at all. Exposing one would only let you pick something that fails to play in Media Center. You still control fidelity through the Quality Preset and File Compression settings.

Will the WTV have any sound?

No. A CR2 is a still photograph and carries no audio, so the resulting WTV is a silent moving picture of one image held for the duration you set. There is no audio track to add and nothing missing — a still-image video is silent by design.

Does converting from CR2 lose image quality?

Some, and it is unavoidable. A CR2 stores up to 14 bits per channel of unprocessed sensor data in a TIFF-based structure; the converter demosaics that into standard 8-bit video and then encodes it with the fixed WTV codec. You lose RAW editing latitude and a generation of compression. In our testing, a single render at the Very High preset keeps the still sharp at normal TV viewing distance, but if you may want to edit later, keep the original CR2 and treat the WTV as a disposable playback copy.

How are my files handled, and how long do you keep them?

Files are uploaded over an encrypted (TLS) connection and processed on our servers — never in public view. There is no sign-up, no watermark, and your files are never shared or sold. Uploads and their converted outputs are deleted automatically a few hours after conversion, so download your WTV before that window passes if you want to keep it.