X3F to M2TS Converter

How to Convert X3F to M2TS Online

1. Upload Your X3F Files: Drag and drop or click "+ Add Files" to load one or more Sigma Foveon RAW frames (DP/dp Merrill, dp Quattro, sd Quattro H, fp series). Batch upload is supported — drop an entire shoot in a single pass so the converter can stitch every frame into one slideshow stream.
2. Pick Merge Strategy and Image Duration: Choose Merge images to produce a single M2TS slideshow (one frame held per beat, fading to the next), or Video per image for one short M2TS clip per RAW. Set Image Duration anywhere from 1/60 second up to 10 seconds per frame (presets include 1/24, 1/10, 1/2, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10) — 5 seconds is the slideshow default; 1/24 turns a burst into 24fps motion.
3. Set Resolution, Quality, and Background (Optional): Pick a Video Resolution Preset (1080p, 1440p, 2160p — Blu-ray spec tops out at 1920x1080 / 1920x1080i for legacy players, UHD discs accept 3840x2160). Choose a Quality Preset (Lowest / Low / Medium / High / Very High / Highest) for constant-quality encoding, or switch to Constraint Quality to cap the bitrate. Set Background Color (black is the Blu-ray default; pick any of 24 named colours if your RAWs don't fill the 16:9 frame after letter-boxing).
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert." The browser session demosaics the Foveon X3F data, scales each frame to the chosen resolution, encodes a Blu-ray-spec MPEG-2 Transport Stream, and hands back an .m2ts file ready to drop into BDMV\STREAM\ for authoring with tsMuxeR or multiAVCHD. No sign-up, no watermark, no email gate.

Why Convert X3F to M2TS?

X3F is Sigma's proprietary RAW container for the Foveon X3 sensor — a stacked-photodiode design that records full R/G/B at every pixel instead of interpolating across a Bayer mosaic, which is why X3F skin tones and fine detail famously hold up on the SD9, SD10, DP/dp Merrill, dp Quattro, sd Quattro H, and fp / fp L. The catch is playback: outside Sigma Photo Pro (and a small handful of third-party tools such as X3Fuse), almost nothing on a TV, set-top box, or Blu-ray deck can open an X3F directly. M2TS is the Blu-ray Disc Audio-Video (BDAV) MPEG-2 Transport Stream wrapper — every commercial Blu-ray stores its movies as numbered 00001.m2ts, 00002.m2ts,... under BDMV\STREAM\, encoded as H.262/MPEG-2, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, or SMPTE VC-1, with audio in Dolby Digital, DTS, or linear PCM (Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD MA optional). Rendering an X3F slideshow into M2TS bridges Foveon's colour fidelity into a container any Blu-ray player, PS5, Xbox Series X, or VLC can play back without a RAW decoder.

• Author a Blu-ray photo disc from a Foveon shoot — tsMuxeR, multiAVCHD, and DVDStyler all consume M2TS as their primary clip format. Convert your selects to M2TS at 1920x1080, then drop the file straight into the STREAM folder of a BDMV or BDAV project and burn to BD-R.
• Living-room playback on a Blu-ray deck or game console — PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and standalone Blu-ray players read M2TS from USB sticks and BDMV folders directly. JPG slideshows usually need a separate disc structure (AVCHD photo mode); M2TS plays as plain video.
• Send a portfolio cut to a client who only takes broadcast deliverables — broadcasters and post houses standardise on transport streams (TS / M2TS) because the format was designed for error-tolerant streaming over noisy channels, unlike MP4's program-stream cousin which is unforgiving of dropped packets.
• Long-form slideshow with chapter compatibility — M2TS carries PCR timestamps and PES headers, so a 90-minute Foveon retrospective can be split into chapters by an authoring tool without re-encoding.
• Preserve aspect ratio across mixed orientations — pad portrait Sigma DP Merrill frames with a chosen background colour to fit a 16:9 1080p canvas instead of cropping.
• Archive a shoot in a single playable file — instead of 200 separate X3F RAWs that nothing else opens, ship one M2TS that plays anywhere a Blu-ray spec is honoured.

Need a different output instead? Convert X3F frames to standard images with X3F to JPG or X3F to TIFF, build an X3F to AVCHD clip for older camcorder workflows, or render X3F to MP4 for web/social sharing. Already have an MP4 you want re-wrapped for Blu-ray? Use MP4 to M2TS.

M2TS vs MP4 vs AVCHD — Which Container for Your Slideshow

X3F to M2TS Quality Preset Cheat Sheet

Constant-quality (CRF-style) presets in this converter map roughly to the bands below. All sizes assume H.264 at 1920x1080, 24 fps, 5 seconds per frame.

If you need a hard size cap (e.g. 25 GB on a single-layer BD-R), switch from a Quality Preset to Constraint Quality and let the encoder cap the bitrate; Blu-ray's maximum video bitrate is 40 Mbps (BD-Video) so anything above that won't play on a strict-spec deck.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will the M2TS file actually play on a standalone Blu-ray player or PS5?

Yes, with two caveats. If you drop the bare .m2ts onto a USB stick, modern players (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Sony UBP-X800M2, Panasonic UB820, VLC on any platform) will play it as a video file. If you want it to play as a Blu-ray disc with a menu, you have to build the BDMV folder structure (BDMV\STREAM\00001.m2ts plus BDMV\PLAYLIST\00000.mpls and BDMV\CLIPINF\00001.clpi) using a tool like tsMuxeR, multiAVCHD, or DVDFab — this converter produces the stream, not the full disc structure.

Why pick M2TS over MP4 for a photo slideshow?

Because the only place M2TS is the right answer is Blu-ray authoring or broadcast-style delivery. MP4 plays on everything (browsers, phones, smart TVs, social media), but Blu-ray players read M2TS natively and reject MP4 from disc. M2TS also uses a transport-stream design with PCR timestamps that survives bit errors better than MP4's program-stream layout — relevant for satellite/IPTV hand-off, irrelevant for a USB stick. If your destination is YouTube or a phone, use X3F to MP4 instead.

How long is each X3F frame visible in the output video?

It defaults to 5 seconds per frame. Pick from 1/60, 1/30, 1/24, 1/10, 1/5, 1/3, 1/2, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, or 10 seconds in the Image Duration dropdown. A 1/24-second duration plays each X3F as a single video frame at 24fps — useful for turning a Foveon burst sequence into stop-motion. 10 seconds is the longest dwell — good for portraits you want viewers to linger on.

Does the converter demosaic the Foveon X3F sensor data correctly?

Yes. X3F's Foveon sensor captures red, green, and blue at every pixel site without a Bayer colour filter array, so there's no demosaic step in the conventional sense — the converter does the per-pixel RGB resolve, applies the camera's white balance and tone curve from the X3F header, then encodes to H.264. Quality is comparable to opening the same RAW in Sigma Photo Pro and exporting JPG at 100, then frame-pumping into a Blu-ray encoder.

What's the largest single X3F file or batch I can upload?

The free tier accepts files up to 1 GB each. A single sd Quattro H frame is typically 50-65 MB; a dp Quattro frame 40-50 MB; an SD15 frame 14 MB. That means a batch of roughly 15-25 modern Foveon RAWs fits comfortably in one session; larger shoots can be processed in two passes and then concatenated by a Blu-ray authoring tool.

Will my Sigma sd Quattro H portrait-orientation RAW be cropped or letterboxed?

Letterboxed, with the Background Color you pick filling the empty area. The default is black, which matches Blu-ray cinematic convention; you can also choose white, gray, or any of 24 named colours if your slideshow has a brand palette. The frame itself is never cropped — the full Foveon image is fit inside the 16:9 canvas at the target resolution.

Can I include audio (background music) with the slideshow?

Not from this single converter — it produces a silent M2TS video stream. To add music for Blu-ray, mux an AC-3 (Dolby Digital) or LPCM track into the M2TS using tsMuxeR after this conversion finishes; AC-3 and LPCM are the two audio formats every Blu-ray player must decode. AVCHD camcorders use the same audio constraint.

How does this compare to authoring AVCHD instead of full BDMV M2TS?

AVCHD was designed for consumer camcorders writing to DVDs and SD cards; it locks you to H.264 video and AC-3 or LPCM audio, with the file extension uppercase .MTS rather than lowercase .m2ts. BDMV M2TS gives you H.262, H.264, and VC-1 video plus DTS and TrueHD audio, plays on every modern Blu-ray deck, and uses 25 / 50 / 100 GB BD-R media instead of 4.7 / 8.5 GB DVD. For a fresh photo disc, BDMV M2TS is the more flexible target; choose X3F to AVCHD only if you specifically need DVD media or compatibility with an older Sony/Panasonic camcorder workflow.

Are my X3F files uploaded to your servers?

files are processed on our servers and deleted automatically after a few hours and removed after the session ends. No account, no email, no watermark, no per-file gating. Sigma Foveon files often contain unpublished portrait or commercial work, so the no-server-storage policy matters — your RAWs never enter a permanent storage bucket.