ERF to MTS Converter

Convert ERF to MTS Online

ERF is Epson's RAW File format — the "digital negative" written by the Epson R-D1, the world's first digital rangefinder camera (2004), and its R-D1s successor. MTS is the opposite kind of file: an AVCHD camcorder video clip. This converter renders your raw still and writes it as a single, static MTS clip you can drop onto an AVCHD editing timeline. It is a genuinely niche conversion, so set expectations first — the output is a silent, motionless video of one photo, and most people who land here actually want a still image instead. If that is you, ERF to JPG is the right tool.

ERF Format at a Glance

MTS Format at a Glance

How to Convert ERF to MTS

1. Upload Your ERF File: Drag and drop your Epson .erf files onto the page or click "+ Add Files" to browse — straight off an R-D1 or R-D1s. Queue several frames if you want a clip from each.
2. Set the Duration: Open Advanced Options and use "Duration" to choose how long the photo is held on screen — it defaults to 5 seconds per frame. This is the single most important setting, because a still has no inherent length; you are deciding how many seconds of video one photo becomes.
3. Choose Merge or Per-image and a Resolution: Pick "Merge images" to chain several photos into one slideshow-style MTS, or "Video per image" for a separate clip each. Leave "Video resolution" on a 1080p preset for a clean fit — the R-D1's ~6-megapixel frame is larger than 1080p, so a modest downscale is normal, and "Background Color" sets the letterbox fill if the aspect ratio differs.
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert" and download your MTS. No sign-up, no watermark.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is my ERF to MTS video silent and not moving?

Because the source is a single photo, not footage. An ERF holds one still frame with no motion and no sound, so the MTS this tool builds is a static clip: the same image held for the duration you set, with no audio track. That is expected, not a fault. AVCHD itself can carry Dolby AC-3 or PCM audio when it comes off a camcorder, but there is nothing to record from a still, so the clip is genuinely silent. If you want movement or sound, you would add those in a video editor after dropping this clip onto the timeline.

Should I really convert ERF to MTS, or do I want a photo instead?

Most people who reach this page actually want a still image, not a one-photo video. MTS only makes sense if you are assembling an AVCHD project — for example, intercutting old R-D1 photos with clips from a Sony or Panasonic camcorder and you want every asset in the same container on the timeline. For literally any other purpose — viewing, printing, sharing, posting — convert ERF to JPG for a universal image, or ERF to TIF for a lossless print or archive master. Wrapping a photo in a camcorder video format makes it harder to use, not easier, unless you specifically need the AVCHD timeline.

Is ERF an uncompressed raw format?

Yes. darktable's RawSpeed decodes ERF with its uncompressed decompressor — 12-bit sensor samples, bit-packed MSB-first, with a control byte interleaved roughly every ten pixels and no entropy coding. libopenraw documents the CFA data as bit-packed under TIFF compression tag 32769, but that custom tag marks Epson's packing, not real compression. It matters here because to put the photo into any video frame the decoder first has to understand Epson's specific packing, demosaic the mosaic, and render it to RGB — which is why some generic tools that treat an .erf as a plain TIFF return a corrupt or empty frame.

Will I lose the raw editing latitude when I convert ERF to MTS?

Yes, completely — so keep the original .erf as your master. The raw mosaic in an ERF is what lets you recover blown highlights, lift shadows, and reset white balance long after the shot. To render any video frame, the converter must demosaic that data and bake in a white balance, exposure, and tone curve, and MTS then stores ordinary H.264 video, not a negative. Because the R-D1 line was discontinued and your .erf may be the only copy, render a copy to MTS and archive the original. If you want control over the look, develop the ERF in a raw editor first, then convert the result.

What resolution should I expect from a 6-megapixel ERF in an MTS clip?

Comfortably 1080p, with a modest downscale. The R-D1 is about a 6-megapixel camera, which is more pixels than a 1920×1080 video frame needs, so fitting it to a 1080p MTS scales the photo down cleanly — detail is preserved at that size. Going the other way does not help: pushing the frame to 4K cannot add resolution the 2004 sensor never captured, it only upscales. A 1080p preset under "Video resolution" is the sensible default, and "Background Color" fills any letterbox bars if the photo's aspect ratio does not match 16:9.

What is the difference between an MTS and an M2TS file?

The video is the same; the packaging is not. Both are MPEG-2 transport streams carrying H.264, and camcorder media use the .mts spelling while computers and Blu-ray/AVCHD discs use .m2ts — but a converter frames them differently depending on which extension it writes. The .mts here is a plain transport stream of 188-byte packets that begins with the 0x47 sync byte; ERF to M2TS writes BDAV 192-byte packets, each prefixing a 4-byte timestamp header, which makes the file slightly larger. Renaming one to the other does not convert it, so pick the extension your editor or authoring tool actually asks for.

Do any cameras besides the Epson R-D1 produce ERF files?

No. The .erf (Epson RAW File) extension is exclusive to Epson's R-D1 rangefinder line; no other manufacturer uses it. That is partly why generic converters that assume a common RAW layout sometimes fail on ERF — the decoder has to understand Epson's specific TIFF/EP packing before it can demosaic the frame and render it into a video image.

If another tool reports your file as unreadable, that missing Epson-specific handling is the usual cause rather than a damaged file.

How are my files handled during conversion?

Your ERF is uploaded over an encrypted connection, rendered and encoded into MTS on our servers, and deleted automatically a few hours after conversion — no sign-up, no watermark, and your photos are never shared or made public. The main practical limit on a big upload is its size and the time it takes to send. In our testing, a single R-D1 frame held for a few seconds at 1080p produced a small MTS file, since one near-static image compresses very efficiently in H.264. For irreplaceable originals, keep the .erf archived alongside the MTS.