X3F to MXF Converter

How to Convert X3F to MXF Online

1. Upload Your X3F Files: Drag and drop your Sigma Foveon .x3f files, or click "+ Add Files" to select from your computer. Batch upload is supported — useful when wrapping a full stills shoot for broadcast ingest.
2. Pick Merge Strategy and Duration: Choose Merge images to bake every X3F into a single MXF clip, or Video per image to emit one MXF per still. Set Duration (1 frame, 2-10 frames, 1/60s up to 10s per image) to control how long each frame is held on screen. Pick a Background Color if your frame's aspect ratio doesn't match the target canvas (default Black, matching standard broadcast pillarbox).
3. Set Quality and Resolution (Optional): Under Quality Preset, pick Very High (Recommended) for an edit-grade master or Constant Quality / Constraint Quality to dial in a fixed perceptual quality. Set Video resolution with Keep original (preserves Foveon's native dimensions), Fixed Resolutions (Width × Height, with aspect-ratio lock), or Preset Resolutions (720p, 1080p, 1440p, 2160p, 4320p). 1920×1080 is the default broadcast deliverable; 3840×2160 is the UHD broadcast / streaming spec.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert. 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.

Why Convert X3F to MXF?

X3F is Sigma's RAW format from cameras with the Foveon X3 sensor — SD9 through SD1 Merrill, the dp and sd Quattro lines, and the DP Merrill compacts. Each photosite stacks three vertically arranged photodiodes capturing R, G, and B at the same location, which is why Foveon files often look sharper than Bayer RAW at the same pixel count. MXF (Material Exchange Format) is the SMPTE ST 377-1 container that every serious broadcast NLE — Avid Media Composer, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro — treats as a first-class citizen. Wrapping stills as MXF gets your Foveon frames into a broadcast pipeline without a round trip through a video camera.

• Broadcast ingest of stills packages — Promo and news cutaways often need photographer-shot stills delivered as MXF for the station's MAM/ingest. Wrap a batch of X3Fs into an OP1a-style single-clip MXF and hand it to the traffic system.
• Avid Media Composer projects — DNxHD/DNxHR media in MXF is Avid's native format. Converting X3F directly to MXF skips the JPG/TIFF intermediate that Media Composer would otherwise transcode anyway during AMA link.
• Documentary stills sequences — Burns-style still pans typically live in the timeline as DPX or TIFF sequences, but MXF clips are easier to relink, version, and ship to colorists without breaking offline edits.
• Archive playout from MAMs — Asset-management systems like Avid Interplay, Sony Ci, and Cantemo Portal expect MXF for first-class metadata, timecode, and proxy generation. Stills in MXF index the same way as video.
• Cross-NLE delivery for a Quattro stills shoot — A photographer hands you 45 MB X3Fs from a Sigma dp Quattro and the editor is on Resolve, the colorist on Baselight, the online suite on Avid. MXF travels cleanly between all three.
• Camera-original preservation in a video pipeline — Wrap the X3F frames as MXF for storage in the same LTO archive as the rest of the show's video essence; one container format, one restore workflow.

X3F vs MXF — Format Comparison

MXF Codec / Quality Preset Quick Guide

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the MXF that comes out actually meet a broadcast delivery spec?

The MXF you get is a clean, NLE-friendly wrapper that imports into Avid Media Composer, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and Final Cut Pro. It is not a station-specific delivery spec like an "AS-11 DPP UK HD" or "AS-03 ATSC" profile — those require codec/audio/loudness/captioning constraints set by the network. Treat this output as edit/master MXF that you'd then conform to a station's AS-11 or AS-03 profile in your delivery tool of choice.

What codec does the MXF use inside?

The converter wraps a broadcast-friendly H.264-family video essence inside MXF, which Avid, Premiere, Resolve, and Final Cut all decode natively. If your downstream pipeline requires a specific codec (DNxHD, DNxHR, ProRes 422, AVC-Intra 100, XDCAM HD422 50, JPEG 2000), transcode the resulting MXF in your NLE or in a tool like Adobe Media Encoder to the exact target before delivery.

Will the Foveon color and detail survive the conversion?

X3F stores three full RGB samples per photosite, which is why Foveon images look unusually crisp. Going through any video codec is a one-way perceptual compression step — the Foveon "look" is preserved in the framed pixels, but the per-channel RAW headroom is gone. For look-critical work, debayer/develop the X3F in Sigma Photo Pro or Adobe Camera Raw first, export TIFF, then wrap to MXF; that gives you control over the demosaic and color grade before video encoding locks it in.

Should I pick "Merge images" or "Video per image"?

Pick Merge images when you want one MXF clip with each still held for the duration you set — the right choice for a still sequence, a Ken Burns reel, or a broadcast graphics package. Pick Video per image when each X3F should become its own MXF clip (useful when ingesting individual stills as separate timeline assets into Avid bins).

What duration should each X3F frame hold for?

Two to five seconds per still is typical for documentary cutaways. Four to six seconds works for slower-paced gallery sequences. The converter exposes presets from 1 frame (single-frame stills, useful for animation tests) through 1/60s, 1/30s, 1/24s up to 10 seconds. Pick 1/24s if you want each X3F to be exactly one film-cadence frame.

What resolution should I output for HD or UHD broadcast?

For HD broadcast, 1920×1080 is the universal 1080p deliverable. For UHD, 3840×2160 (2160p) is the broadcast/streaming spec — most stations and OTT platforms still flag true 4096-wide DCI 4K as a cinema spec rather than broadcast. Use Keep original only when the editor explicitly wants the Foveon native dimensions (e.g., 5424×3616 for Quattro), since most station ingest systems will reject non-broadcast sizes.

Why MXF instead of MP4 or MOV for stills?

MXF carries full SMPTE timecode, multiple audio tracks, and rich descriptive metadata that broadcast MAM/ingest systems index against. MP4 and MOV are fine for web and consumer delivery, but professional Avid- and XDCAM-based facilities standardize on MXF specifically because it survives MAM round-trips without losing metadata. If your target is YouTube or a client review link, MP4 is a better choice; if it's Avid, traffic, or a station archive, MXF wins.

Can I work with other Sigma RAW files or just X3F?

X3F is the Foveon-specific RAW from Sigma cameras (SD9 through SD1 Merrill, the Quattro line, the DP Merrills). For DSLR-style RAWs from other manufacturers, use the parallel pages: CR2 to MXF for Canon, ARW to MXF for Sony, or DNG to MXF for DNG masters (including X3Fs you've previously converted with Adobe DNG Converter).

Do I have to go through MXF, or can I deliver as JPG or TIFF first?

You don't have to wrap to MXF — many broadcast workflows ingest stills as JPG or TIFF and let the NLE handle still-to-video timing. Use X3F to JPG for web/preview output or X3F to TIFF for an uncompressed mastering step. Convert directly to MXF when your downstream system specifically expects a video essence in a broadcast wrapper.