NRW to ICON Converter
FileFlip converts NRW to ICON 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 an NRW file to ICON?#
- Drop your NRW 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 ICON 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 ICON file. Your browser writes it straight to your downloads folder, because there was never a server holding it.
Does converting NRW to ICON lose quality?#
No. Converting NRW to ICON writes the data out again without discarding any of it, so nothing that was in the NRW file is lost on the way. What changes is the size of the file, not what is inside it.
Is it safe to convert NRW files online?#
Yes, because nothing is uploaded. FileFlip converts NRW 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 NRW to ICON actually does to the file#
Converting NRW to ICON 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: NRW → ICON |
| 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 an NRW file?#
An NRW file holds the raw sensor readout from one of the Nikon Coolpix compact and bridge cameras that shoot raw, using the same TIFF-based structure as Nikon's NEF but with its own white balance block and a JPEG-compressed image sitting in the file's first directory.
NRW is what a raw-capable Coolpix writes when it is taken out of JPEG-only mode, so there is no choice of raw container to make in the camera menu.
Convert NRW to JPEG once the edit is done, because web uploads, print services and most image viewers do not read Nikon's Coolpix raw format at all.
What is an ICON file?#
ICON is ImageMagick's alternate name for the ICO format, the container Windows uses for small multi-resolution images shown as application, file and shortcut icons, so a file written as ICON is the same Windows icon container as one written as ICO.
Use ICON, or the equivalent ICO, for Windows application icons, favicons and shortcut images, where the file needs to offer several sizes in one container.
Convert to PNG when a single-resolution image is needed for general use, since most software outside Windows icon contexts doesn't expect an ICO/ICON container.
NRW to ICON questions people ask#
Which Nikon cameras produce NRW files?
NRW comes from the Coolpix compact and bridge cameras that shoot raw, starting with the Coolpix P6000 in 2008 and continuing through models including the P7000, P7100, B700, P1000 and A1000. Nikon's DSLRs and Z-series mirrorless cameras write NEF instead.
What is the difference between NRW and NEF?
NRW and NEF are both Nikon raw formats built on the same TIFF-based structure, and the split is by camera line: NRW for raw-capable Coolpix models, NEF for the DSLRs and Z-series bodies. Inside the file, an NRW marks its white balance data with its own signature and per-camera layout, leaves out the linearization table that NEF carries, and stores a JPEG-compressed image in the first directory, which is exactly how ExifTool decides which of the two it is looking at.
What software opens NRW files?
NRW files open in Nikon's own free NX Studio, in Adobe Camera Raw, Lightroom Classic and Photoshop from Camera Raw 5.2 onward, and in the open-source processors RawTherapee and darktable. Apple's raw support covers NRW too, so Photos and Preview show these files on macOS.
Does converting NRW to DNG lose anything?
Converting an NRW to DNG keeps the sensor data as it was, since the conversion changes the container rather than re-rendering the picture. The cost is that Nikon's NX Studio reads NEF and NRW but not DNG, so the converted file can no longer be processed with Nikon's own rendering, and Adobe's DNG Converter has to list your Coolpix model before it will convert the file at all.