RAF to HEVC Converter

Convert RAF to HEVC: What This Tutorial Covers

This walks you from a Fujifilm .raf still to an H.265/HEVC-coded video clip — a single held shot from one raw, or a slideshow from several. It also covers the part that catches almost everyone out: the file we hand back has a .hevc extension, which is a codec name rather than a container name, so it will not open by double-click until you do one small thing to it. That fix is one step, and this page shows it.

How to Convert RAF to HEVC

1. Upload Your RAF Files: Drag the .raf files onto the page or click "+ Add Files". Only .raf inputs are accepted. When several files are merged, upload order becomes the order of shots.
2. Set the Merge Strategy and Image Duration: Merge strategy ships on "Merge images", producing one clip from every file; switch to "Video per image" for one output each. Image Duration ships at 5 seconds per still and can be set anywhere from 1/60 second to 10 seconds.
3. Pick Quality and Resolution (Optional): Under File Compression, Quality Preset is selected and ships on "Very High (Recommended)". Under Video resolution, "Keep original" is selected; Preset Resolutions set the height with the width following the source aspect, or use Width x Height for an exact frame.
4. Convert, Download, Then Rename: Click Convert and save the file. Change the extension from .hevc to .mkv and it plays. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours. No sign-up, no watermark.

Walk-through: Making the File Actually Play

The bytes written for a .hevc target are a Matroska stream — structurally the same thing an .mkv file contains, with the HEVC video track inside it. Matroska is an open, EBML-based container that can carry many tracks, and it is where an HEVC bitstream naturally lives. The mismatch is only in the name: operating systems and players decide what to do with a file by looking at its extension, and no player registers a handler for .hevc.

So, in order of preference:

• Rename the download. myphoto.hevc becomes myphoto.mkv. Nothing inside the file changes, and VLC, mpv, Plex, Kodi and most modern TVs open it immediately. On Windows, turn on file-extension display in File Explorer first or the rename will silently produce myphoto.mkv.hevc.
• Skip the rename entirely. Use RAF to MKV and pick H.265 from the codec list. You get the same encode with a filename that works out of the box. This is the better route for most people.
• Pick an MP4 instead if the file has to work in Apple's ecosystem or on the widest possible range of phones. RAF to MP4 writes a real MP4 container.

One more thing you will notice in Advanced Options: the codec list on this page shows both "H.265" and "HEVC". They are two names for the same codec and both drive the same encoder with the same settings, so it makes no difference which you select.

What the Encoder Is Doing Behind the Scenes

Still images get a deliberately different treatment from video sources. Nothing here is adjustable except where noted:

Which Target Should You Actually Pick?

Common Errors and How to Fix Them

• "Double-clicking the file does nothing / Windows asks what to open it with" — expected. The extension is a codec name. Rename to .mkv.
• "The clip is only a few seconds long" — Image Duration defaults to 5 seconds per still. Raise it, or add more raw files to build a longer slideshow.
• "My 40-megapixel frame came out at 4096 pixels wide" — the pre-encode normalise step clamps the long edge to 4096 px. Fujifilm lists the X-T5 at 7728×5152, so a full-resolution 3:2 frame arrives at 4096×2730.
• "There is no audio" — there was never any audio to carry. Add a soundtrack in an editor afterwards.
• "There are white bars down the sides" — you picked a target frame shape that does not match the photograph's aspect ratio, and the Background Color option defaults to white. Set it to black, or choose a resolution with the same aspect ratio as the source.
• "I can't find a target file size field" — bitrate and file-size modes are hidden for image sources because a still has no source bitrate to scale from. Use Quality Preset, or Constraint Quality if you need a hard bitrate ceiling.

When This Doesn't Work

If the raw file is truncated — an interrupted card copy or a card pulled mid-write — the decode fails outright rather than producing a partial frame; re-copy from the card. A very new camera body can also outrun raw support, which lands in LibRaw's camera list some time after a sensor generation ships; export a JPEG or TIFF from Fujifilm's software in that case and convert that instead. And if what you actually wanted was a still image rather than a video, this is the wrong page entirely — HEVC-coded stills belong in a HEIC file, so use RAF to HEIC.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a .hevc file the same thing as an .mkv file?

For our output, yes — the bytes are a Matroska stream either way, and renaming is a pure metadata change with nothing re-encoded. The distinction that matters elsewhere is that "HEVC" can also mean a raw elementary stream with no container at all; that is not what this page produces.

Why does the codec dropdown list both H.265 and HEVC?

They are the same codec under two names — HEVC is the standard's name and H.265 is the ITU designation — and both entries drive the same x265 encoder with identical settings. Picking one over the other changes nothing about the output.

Will the output keep my RAF's 14-bit colour?

No. The raw decoder develops Fujifilm raw at 8 bits per channel by default, and the encoder then writes yuv420p, which is 8-bit with the two colour channels stored at half resolution. HEVC as a codec supports 10-bit and 4:4:4 profiles, but neither is reachable from this page. Treat the clip as delivery output and keep the .raf masters.

How do I make the video longer than five seconds?

Raise Image Duration, which goes up to 10 seconds per still, or upload more raw files with Merge strategy left on "Merge images" — each file adds its own shot at the chosen duration. Twelve photographs at 5 seconds each gives a one-minute slideshow.

Why is the frame rate only 1 fps? Won't that stutter?

It will not, because there is no motion to stutter. A held photograph is the same picture in every frame, so encoding one frame per second and letting the player hold it produces an identical viewing experience at a fraction of the size. Playback speed is unaffected; only the number of stored frames changes.

Can I add music or narration to the slideshow here?

No — a photograph carries no audio, so the audio controls are hidden rather than offering a codec that would produce an empty track. Convert the slideshow first, then add a soundtrack in a video editor.

HEVC or AV1 for a photo slideshow?

AV1 usually produces a smaller file at the same visual quality and has no licensing encumbrance, but it encodes more slowly and needs a newer decoder. HEVC has much wider hardware decode support, particularly on Apple devices, smart TVs and set-top boxes. For a handful of near-identical frames both are small, so choose by what has to play it. RAF to AV1 is the AV1 equivalent and carries the same rename caveat.

How are my raw files handled during conversion?

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. The RAF converter hub lists every other target Fujifilm raw can be converted to here.