RAW to TGA Converter
Convert RAW to TGA 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 32-bit TGA with alpha. 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 TGA
- 1
Add your RAW files: drop them here, choose them, or paste from the clipboard.
- 2
There is nothing to tune: the TGA 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 .tga files one at a time or together as a ZIP.
Why use Aback Images for raw to tga
Where the TGA goes next
TGA opens in Unreal Engine, Unity, Blender, Photoshop, GIMP and Substance tools.
TGA next to RAW
The TGA 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 TGA 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 TGA
What changes from RAW to TGA
Encoding: the RAW uses uncompressed, lossless JPEG or vendor-specific coding of the sensor data, depending on the maker; TGA uses uncompressed or run-length encoded (RLE), and the download is a run-length encoded 32-bit TGA with alpha.
Bit depth: 12 to 16 bits per channel in the RAW; TGA allows 8, 15, 16, 24 or 32 bits per pixel, and the TGA written here has 32 bits per pixel. 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; TGA supports RGB, greyscale or a colour map, written here as 8-bit sRGB.
Metadata: the RAW can carry EXIF and vendor maker notes, almost always with an embedded JPEG preview; TGA can carry an image ID field and an optional extension area with author and date, 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 TGA
TGA is a simple raster format still widely used for game textures and 3D rendering pipelines because it stores alpha channels reliably and loads fast.
A TGA has an 18-byte header (ID length, colour map type, image type 2 for true colour or 10 for RLE, origin, size, bits per pixel and a descriptor byte whose bits give the alpha depth and whether rows run top-down), then the pixels; version 2 files end with a 'TRUEVISION-XFILE' footer.
When converting RAW to TGA makes sense
TGA is the better choice for game textures and 3D software, while RAW suits editing in Lightroom, Capture One or darktable.
TGA strengths: Reliable alpha channel; Fast and simple to load; Common in game engines. Drawbacks to weigh: Large files; Not viewable in browsers.
Limitations
- A headerless .raw pixel dump has no preview and no size information, so it cannot be converted here.
- The run-length encoding used here is lossless, and game engines read compressed and uncompressed TGA alike.
- TGA files do not open in browsers, so keep a PNG for previews.
More conversions
Related tools
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Frequently asked questions
Does converting RAW to TGA lose quality?
TGA 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 TGA files?
Unreal Engine, Unity, Blender, Photoshop, GIMP and Substance 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.