PEF to HEVC Converter

Convert PEF to HEVC

A PEF is Pentax's proprietary camera RAW — a single, unprocessed still off the sensor — and this tool re-encodes that one still as an H.265 (HEVC) video frame held on screen for a length you choose. It does not animate the picture or invent motion. One thing to understand before you start: .hevc is a codec name, not a normal container, so this converter muxes the H.265 video into a Matroska container and gives the file a .hevc extension. The clip is silent — a RAW photo has no audio to carry — and because of the non-standard extension, phones, TVs, and QuickTime may not recognize it by name even though VLC and mpv open it fine (you can also just rename it to .mkv). Choose this only when a downstream tool, encoder pipeline, or NLE specifically demands a file named .hevc. If you want a viewable photo instead, use PEF to JPG; if you want the still as a clip that plays everywhere, PEF to MP4 wraps the same H.265-class video in a universal container.

What the .hevc File Actually Is

People mean three different things by "an HEVC file." A raw encoder emits a bare video-only bytestream under that name; this converter instead produces a Matroska-wrapped file so it behaves like a real video; and most players expect H.265 inside a standard .mp4 or .mkv. All three are silent here, because the source is a single image.

PEF and HEVC at a Glance

PEF is a TIFF-based RAW still format; HEVC is a video codec from 2013. This conversion doesn't repackage the photo — it re-encodes it as a video frame, so the two sit on opposite sides of the still-vs-motion divide.

How to Convert PEF to HEVC

1. Upload Your PEF File: Drag and drop your .pef onto the page or click "+ Add Files." RAW files are large, so the main wait is the upload, not the conversion; you can queue several at once.
2. Set Image Duration and Merge Mode: Open Advanced Options and use Image Duration (the "Duration" dropdown, default 5 seconds per frame) to choose how long the still is held. With multiple files, pick Merge images to render one continuous clip or Video per image for a separate .hevc file per photo.
3. Pick Quality Preset and Resolution: Leave Quality Preset on "Very High (Recommended)" under File Compression, or adjust it. Use Video resolution to keep the original size or scale to a fixed preset, and set Background Color (default White) to fill any letterbox bars when the photo's aspect ratio differs from the frame. The video codec stays fixed on H.265 for a .hevc file.
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert" to encode the H.265 stream and download your .hevc file. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours — no sign-up, no watermark.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does converting one PEF to HEVC give me any motion or sound?

No to both. A PEF is one still photograph with no motion and no audio, so a single-file conversion produces a freeze-frame — the rendered image held for the Image Duration you set, with no panning, animation, or soundtrack. HEVC can carry an audio track when it is muxed into a container, but a still has nothing to supply one, so the converter encodes image sources silent. To build a sequence that changes over time, upload several PEF files and choose Merge images; even then there are no transitions, just each photo shown in turn.

Why won't my phone or TV open the .hevc file?

Most consumer players and devices decide what a file is from its extension, and they don't expect .hevc. The bytes inside are a standard Matroska stream with H.265 video, so VLC and mpv play it fine and you can even rename the file to .mkv. For a file that opens everywhere without renaming, convert PEF to MP4 or PEF to MKV with H.265 instead — same codec, same size savings, a normal extension.

Should I convert PEF to a .hevc file or to MP4/MKV with H.265?

For almost everyone, MP4 or MKV. You get the same H.265 codec and the same compression, plus a normal extension that plays on modern phones, TVs, and browsers. Choose the .hevc output only when a specific downstream tool or encoder pipeline asks for a file with that exact name. Use PEF to MP4 for the most compatible result, or PEF to JPG if what you actually want is a viewable, shareable photo rather than a video at all.

Will I lose image quality going from a RAW PEF to HEVC?

Yes, substantially, and that is inherent to the conversion rather than a tool flaw. A PEF holds 12- or 14-bit unprocessed sensor data that must be demosaiced and tone-mapped to become viewable; that render bakes in white balance, exposure, and color — the editing latitude that is the whole reason to shoot RAW. A roughly 12-36 MP Pentax frame is then scaled to a video frame, discarding most of the resolution, and the default H.265 encode is 8-bit and lossy. Keep the original PEF as your master and treat the HEVC file as a one-off delivery output.

I shoot DNG on my Pentax, not PEF — can I still do this?

Yes, but on a different page. Most Pentax (Ricoh Imaging) bodies let you choose Adobe's open, royalty-free DNG in-camera instead of PEF; the raw sensor data is essentially identical, but PEF is Pentax-native and stores edits in an XMP sidecar, while DNG embeds metadata in the file and is broadly supported by third-party tools. This page reads PEF directly; if your files are DNG, use DNG to HEVC for the identical workflow.

What exactly is HEVC, and is it the right target for a single photo?

HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding, also called H.265 and MPEG-H Part 2) is a video compression standard the ITU-T and ISO/IEC jointly approved in April 2013, designed to reach roughly H.264 quality at about 25-50% lower bitrate. It is a video codec, so it is an odd home for one still: you gain little from H.265's motion-compression strengths on a frozen frame. Pick it only when a specific H.265 toolchain explicitly wants a file named .hevc. For viewing or sharing the photo, PEF to JPG is the right answer; for a playable clip, PEF to MP4 wraps H.265 in a container that plays everywhere.

Can I combine several PEF files into one HEVC clip?

Yes. Upload multiple photos and choose Merge images to render them into a single continuous .hevc video, with each picture held for the Image Duration you set. Choose Video per image instead to get one separate .hevc file per photo. Because HEVC is the fixed codec for .hevc output, every file in the batch is encoded with H.265, and there are no transitions between frames — each photo simply appears in turn.

What duration and file size should I expect from the output?

You choose the hold time under Image Duration, from a fraction of a second up to 10 seconds per image; the default is 5 seconds. In our testing, a single 24-megapixel PEF held for 5 seconds at the "Very High" preset produced a short, silent Matroska-wrapped .hevc file of roughly 1-3 MB, since H.265 stores each identical repeated frame at almost no extra cost. It played in VLC and mpv immediately but was not recognized by name on a phone until we renamed it .mkv.

Is the conversion private, and is there a file size limit?

Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours — no sign-up, no watermark, never shared or made public. There is no fixed image-count cap; the practical limit on very large or numerous RAW files is your upload size and connection speed, not the encoder itself.