CR2 to PSD Converter
FileFlip converts CR2 to PSD entirely inside your browser, using ImageMagick compiled to WebAssembly. The file is never uploaded to a server: it is read off your disk, converted on your own machine, and saved back by the browser. That means no file-size limit, no queue and no account.
How do I convert a CR2 file to PSD?#
- Drop your CR2 file onto the converter at the top of this page, or click it to pick one from your computer. You can add as many as you like.
- Leave the target set to PSD and the conversion starts on its own. FileFlip downloads 14.1 MB of WebAssembly the first time and nothing after that, then runs ImageMagick on your own machine.
- Save the PSD file. Your browser writes it straight to your downloads folder, because there was never a server holding it.
Does converting CR2 to PSD lose quality?#
No. Converting CR2 to PSD writes the data out again without discarding any of it, so nothing that was in the CR2 file is lost on the way. What changes is the size of the file, not what is inside it.
Is it safe to convert CR2 files online?#
Yes, because nothing is uploaded. FileFlip converts CR2 files inside the browser tab you already have open, using WebAssembly builds of the same engines a desktop converter would install. Your file is read from your own disk into the page's memory, and no request carrying it is ever made.
You do not have to take that on trust. Open your browser's network panel, run a conversion, and you will see the engine come down and your file go nowhere. There is no upload, no server-side copy, no retention window, and no account tied to what you converted.
How FileFlip works lists every engine, its version and its download size, and shows how to check for yourself that nothing leaves your machine.
What CR2 to PSD actually does to the file#
Converting CR2 to PSD runs on ImageMagick, downloads 14.1 MB of WebAssembly the first time and nothing after that, writes the data out again without discarding any of it.
| Engine | ImageMagick |
|---|---|
| Conversion path | One step: CR2 → PSD |
| Downloaded to your browser | 14.1 MB, once, then cached by your browser |
| Quality | Lossless |
| You get back | One file |
| Where it runs | In a background worker, so the page stays responsive |
Worth knowing before you start:
- camera raw is demosaiced with ImageMagick's defaults, which will not match the camera's own rendering
- some cameras write lossily compressed raw, so the source is not always a complete sensor record
What is a CR2 file?#
A CR2 file holds raw sensor data in Canon Raw 2, a TIFF-based container that stores the sensor readout as lossless JPEG alongside embedded previews, used across Canon EOS cameras from 2004 until CR3 took over in 2018.
CR2 is what a Canon EOS body from the 2004 generation of the EOS-1D Mark II and EOS 20D through to 2018 writes when raw capture is switched on, so the format follows from the camera rather than being chosen.
Convert CR2 to JPEG when a photo needs to be sent, uploaded or printed, or to DNG when consolidating an archive into a format with a published specification.
What is a PSD file?#
A PSD file is Adobe Photoshop's native document format, keeping an image as a stack of independently editable layers, masks, adjustment layers and text objects instead of merging them into a single picture.
Keep a design as PSD while it's still being edited, so layers, masks and adjustment layers stay available for later changes.
Convert PSD to JPEG or PNG once a design is finished and needs to be viewed on the web or by someone without Photoshop, since flattening is what makes it viewable everywhere.
CR2 to PSD questions people ask#
What software opens CR2 files?
Canon's own Digital Photo Professional opens CR2 files and is free to download for owners of the camera, and so do Adobe Camera Raw, Lightroom Classic and Photoshop, Capture One, and the open-source processors darktable, RawTherapee and digiKam. CR2 has been around since 2004, so support is about as broad as raw formats get.
Does converting CR2 to DNG lose quality?
No, converting a CR2 file to DNG moves the same sensor values into a different container rather than re-rendering the image. What can be left behind is Canon-specific metadata such as Picture Style settings that only Canon's software acts on, and Canon's Digital Photo Professional works from Canon raw files rather than DNG.
Why does my newer Canon camera not write CR2 anymore?
Canon replaced CR2 with CR3 in 2018, starting with the EOS M50, and every EOS R body since writes CR3. CR3 uses an entirely different container, so a program that reads CR2 does not automatically read CR3.
Why does Canon use CR2 instead of DNG?
Canon keeps its own raw format, as most camera makers do, so it can record camera-specific data and add features without waiting for a shared specification to catch up. Canon EOS cameras cannot be set to write DNG in-camera, so converting CR2 to DNG is always a separate step afterwards.