CRW to HEVC Converter

Convert CRW to HEVC Online

This tool develops a CRW — Canon's oldest raw photograph, a single undeveloped still from an early-2000s camera — and encodes it as H.265/HEVC video that holds that one frame on screen. Be clear about what you are asking for: a still photograph has no motion and no sound, so the result is a silent, static clip, and a single frame gains almost nothing from HEVC's compression efficiency. If you want a viewable picture, CRW to JPG is the answer. If you want a clip that plays on ordinary devices, CRW to MP4 is far more compatible. Pick HEVC when a specific H.265 pipeline expects the .hevc extension.

How to Convert CRW to HEVC

1. Upload Your CRW File: Drag your .crw onto the page or click "Add Files". Upload several at once if you want them in one clip; raw files are large relative to the encode, so the wait is the transfer rather than the conversion.
2. Set Merge strategy and Image Duration: Merge strategy starts on Merge images, which plays every uploaded still back to back in one file; Video per image writes a separate clip for each. Image Duration decides how long each still is held and defaults to 5 seconds per frame, with the dropdown running from a single frame at 1/60 s up to 10 seconds.
3. Check Background Color, Quality Preset and Video resolution: Background Color defaults to White and fills the letterbox bars when the photo's shape does not match the video frame — set it to Black or any of the other named colours to suit your project. Quality Preset starts on Very High (Recommended); Video resolution starts on Keep original, and Video Codec is already on H.265.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert and save the .hevc. Files upload over an encrypted connection, are processed on our servers, and are deleted automatically after a few hours. No sign-up, no watermark.

CRW at a Glance

What the .hevc File Actually Is

An .hevc extension is a codec name, not a container name, so the important detail is what we wrap the video in. Our encoder writes a Matroska container — the same structure as an .mkv file — carrying an H.265 video track and nothing else. It is not a raw elementary stream, so timing, duration and seeking all behave normally. It also means player compatibility follows Matroska's rules, not MP4's.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I convert CRW to HEVC, or to JPG or MP4 instead?

For nearly every purpose, JPG or MP4. A CRW is a still photograph and HEVC is a video codec, so this pairing has to invent motion that does not exist, and a static frame gets little benefit from H.265's efficiency. To view, print or share the picture, use CRW to JPG. To get a clip that phones, browsers, TVs and editors all accept, use CRW to MP4. HEVC earns its place only when something downstream specifically wants H.265 in an .hevc file.

Why won't my .hevc file open in QuickTime or a browser?

Nothing is wrong with the file — two separate compatibility gaps stack against it. First, the container is Matroska, and QuickTime, Windows Photos and every mainstream browser refuse Matroska regardless of what is inside it. Second, native HEVC decoding is still uneven even in friendlier containers. VLC and mpv open the file directly; renaming it to .mkv fixes software that decides by extension alone. If you need something that just plays, CRW to MP4 is the right target.

Why is the clip silent, and why does nothing move?

Both are expected. A CRW is one photograph: there is no audio stream to encode, so the Audio Codec control is hidden entirely on this page and no audio track is written. And a single image has no motion, so the output is a freeze-frame — your developed photo held on screen for the Image Duration you chose, with no pan, zoom or transition. To get something that changes over time, upload several CRW files and leave Merge strategy on Merge images; each still is then shown in turn for its set duration.

Will I lose image quality going from raw CRW to HEVC?

Yes, and it is inherent rather than a tool limitation. A CRW holds undeveloped sensor data that has to be demosaiced before it can be shown at all, and that step bakes in white balance, exposure and tone — the latitude that is the entire point of shooting raw. The encoded frame is then 8-bit YUV 4:2:0, so three quarters of the colour resolution is discarded too. Keep the original .crw; for early-digital captures it is often the only full-quality copy in existence.

What controls the file size, and where did the bitrate options go?

Quality controls, not size controls. On an image source the bitrate and target-size compression modes are deliberately hidden — a static frame makes bitrate targeting meaningless — leaving Quality Preset (the default, on Very High), Constant Quality and Constraint Quality. Constant Quality exposes a CRF slider from 16 to 51 that starts at 23, where lower means better quality and a bigger file. Constraint Quality adds a maximum-bitrate ceiling on top of the CRF. If you want a smaller file, the more effective lever is usually Video resolution, or a shorter Image Duration.

How large is the frame in the video, and can I set it?

By default the frame matches your photo: Video resolution starts on Keep original. There is one ceiling worth knowing — every uploaded still is re-encoded to a clean image capped at 4096 pixels on its long edge before encoding, which no CRW-era camera approaches, so an early Canon still passes through at full size. To match an existing project instead, choose a Fixed Resolution such as 1920 x 1080; the 3:2 shape of a Canon still does not fill a 16:9 frame, so the sides are padded with your Background Color.

What is CRW, and how is it different from CR2 and CR3?

CRW is Canon's first raw generation, stored in the CIFF container whose specification Canon released on 12 February 1997. CR2, which replaced it, is built on TIFF; CR3, introduced in 2018, uses an ISO base-media container with Canon's crx codec. The three are unrelated structurally, which is why software that happily opens a CR2 may still reject a CRW. CRW came from bodies like the EOS D30, D60, 10D and 300D, and the PowerShot Pro1, G1–G6 and S30–S70 compacts.

Can I put several CRW photos into one HEVC file?

Yes — that is the default behaviour. Upload them all in the order you want, leave Merge strategy on Merge images, and each still is held for the Image Duration before cutting to the next. The result is a hard-cut sequence, not a cross-faded slideshow, and it is still silent. Choose Video per image instead if you want one output file per photo.

What happens to my CRW files after conversion?

They are uploaded over an encrypted connection, developed and encoded on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours — no sign-up, no watermark, never shared or made public. In practice, upload time is the constraint rather than any processing limit, though CRW files from these early bodies are only a few megabytes each and move quickly even in batches.