RAW to PCX Converter
Convert RAW to PCX in your browser. The camera's embedded JPEG preview is what gets converted, not the sensor data; it matches what the camera showed on its screen. No raw development happens here. You get a run-length encoded PCX: 8-bit indexed when the image has 256 colours or fewer, otherwise 24-bit RGB. Nothing is uploaded.
- Processed locally
- No upload, no wait
- No sign-up
- No watermark
Drop images here
or choose files · paste with Ctrl/⌘ V
RAW expected · other image formats also work
How to use RAW to PCX
- 1
Add your RAW files: drop them here, choose them, or paste from the clipboard.
- 2
There is nothing to tune: the PCX is written losslessly. Resizing and rotating are under More options if you need them.
- 3
Click Convert. Each file is decoded and encoded in a background thread on this device.
- 4
Download the .pcx files one at a time or together as a ZIP.
Why use Aback Images for raw to pcx
Where the PCX goes next
PCX opens in GIMP, IrfanView, XnView, ImageMagick, Paint Shop Pro and DOSBox-era tools.
PCX next to RAW
The PCX holds the camera preview's pixels with lossless compression: usually smaller than a 20 to 80 MB raw file, though far larger than a JPEG of the same photo.
No new artefacts
The preview inside the RAW is a camera JPEG; the PCX stores its decoded pixels losslessly, so this step adds no compression damage of its own.
Processed on your device
Your images are decoded, edited and encoded inside this browser tab by Web Workers. Nothing is uploaded to a server.
RAW vs PCX
What changes from RAW to PCX
Encoding: the RAW uses uncompressed, lossless JPEG or vendor-specific coding of the sensor data, depending on the maker; PCX uses byte-wise run-length encoding, and the download is a run-length encoded PCX: 8-bit indexed when the image has 256 colours or fewer, otherwise 24-bit RGB.
Bit depth: 12 to 16 bits per channel in the RAW; PCX allows 1, 2, 4 or 8 bits per pixel with a palette, or 24-bit as three 8-bit planes, and the PCX written here has 8-bit indexed or 24-bit RGB. The sensor's 12 to 16 bits are not used: the camera's 8-bit preview is converted.
Colour: camera-native RGB from a colour filter mosaic in the RAW; PCX supports a 16 or 256-colour palette, or 24-bit RGB, written here as 8-bit sRGB.
Metadata: the RAW can carry EXIF and vendor maker notes, almost always with an embedded JPEG preview; PCX can carry only a 128-byte header with the resolution, but nothing is copied across.
About RAW
Camera RAW files (CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, DNG, ORF, RW2, RAF and others) hold the unprocessed sensor data from a camera along with an embedded full-size JPEG preview rendered by the camera.
.RAW is an extension rather than one format. Panasonic and Leica compacts wrote TIFF-like .RAW files before Panasonic moved to RW2, and scanners and scientific cameras use .raw for headerless dumps with no width, height or layout recorded, which nothing can read without being told those values.
RAW files usually come from older Panasonic and Leica compacts that saved .RAW, and scanners or scientific cameras that use the extension for pixel dumps.
About PCX
PCX is the image format of ZSoft's PC Paintbrush, the standard for DOS paint programs, scanners and games before GIF and BMP took over. It compresses with a simple run-length scheme.
A PCX file has a 128-byte header (the byte 0x0A, version, encoding, bits per pixel, image window, DPI, a 16-colour palette and the number of colour planes), then RLE-compressed scanlines; 256-colour files end with the byte 0x0C and a 768-byte palette.
When converting RAW to PCX makes sense
PCX is the better choice for DOS-era software, retro games and old fax or scanner tools, while RAW suits editing in Lightroom, Capture One or darktable.
PCX strengths: Read by most legacy and modern viewers; Simple, lossless run-length compression. Drawbacks to weigh: Poor compression for photographs; No transparency; Obsolete outside retro software.
Limitations
- A headerless .raw pixel dump has no preview and no size information, so it cannot be converted here.
- PCX's run-length compression suits flat-colour art; photographs barely shrink.
- Transparency is flattened onto the background colour, since PCX has no alpha channel.
More conversions
Related tools
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Resize to exact pixels, a percentage or a longest side, with Lanczos3 and Magic Kernel resampling. Batch ready.
Strip EXIF, GPS, XMP, IPTC and comments losslessly. Pixels are never re-encoded for JPG, PNG and WebP.
Convert between 34 image formats in bulk: HEIC, WebP, AVIF, JPEG XL, PNG, JPG, GIF, TIFF, SVG, ICO, PSD, RAW and more.
Frequently asked questions
Does converting RAW to PCX lose quality?
PCX is written losslessly, so the pixels are stored exactly as decoded. Those pixels come from the camera's JPEG preview, so its compression stays, but nothing new is lost. The sensor's 12 to 16 bits are not used: the camera's 8-bit preview is converted.
Does this process the RAW sensor data?
No. Camera RAW files carry a JPEG rendered by the camera when the picture was taken, and that is what gets converted, so the result matches what you saw on the camera screen. For full development (white balance, highlight recovery, lens corrections) use a RAW editor.
Which apps open PCX files?
GIMP, IrfanView, XnView, ImageMagick, Paint Shop Pro and DOSBox-era tools. It does not open in web browsers.
Are my images uploaded anywhere?
No. Processing happens inside your browser with WebAssembly and Web Workers. The site only downloads the app code and codecs; your files never leave your device. You can confirm this with the live upload counter on the tool, or in your browser's network panel.
Can I process many files at once?
Yes. Drop a whole selection or folder. Files are processed in parallel on several worker threads, each result can be downloaded on its own, and everything can be saved as one ZIP.
Is it free? Is there a file limit or watermark?
It is free with no account, no watermark and no daily limit. The only limit is your device's memory: very large images (over roughly 100 megapixels) may be refused to keep the tab from crashing.