SR2 to PBM Converter
FileFlip converts SR2 to PBM 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 SR2 file to PBM?#
- Drop your SR2 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 PBM 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 PBM file. Your browser writes it straight to your downloads folder, because there was never a server holding it.
Does converting SR2 to PBM lose quality?#
No. Converting SR2 to PBM writes the data out again without discarding any of it, so nothing that was in the SR2 file is lost on the way. What changes is the size of the file, not what is inside it.
Is it safe to convert SR2 files online?#
Yes, because nothing is uploaded. FileFlip converts SR2 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 SR2 to PBM actually does to the file#
Converting SR2 to PBM 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: SR2 → PBM |
| 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
- the target stores one bit per pixel, so the image is reduced to black and white
- some cameras write lossily compressed raw, so the source is not always a complete sensor record
What is an SR2 file?#
An SR2 file holds raw sensor data from Sony's 2005 Cyber-shot DSC-R1, using less encryption than Sony had applied to its earlier SRF format, before Sony replaced it with ARW the following year.
SR2 only turns up from a small set of Sony cameras from 2005, most notably the Cyber-shot DSC-R1; there's no active reason to choose it.
Convert SR2 files to DNG or JPEG, since current raw processors and Sony's own software support ARW and DNG far better than this short-lived intermediate format.
What is a PBM file?#
A PBM file stores a strictly black-and-white, one-bit-per-pixel raster image as plain ASCII characters or packed binary bits, in the Netpbm project's Portable Bitmap format.
Use PBM for a strictly black-and-white bitmap, such as a fax page or a stencil mask, that needs to move between tools without any image library.
Convert PBM to PNG once the image needs compression or has to sit alongside greyscale or colour images in the same pipeline.
SR2 to PBM questions people ask#
What's the difference between SR2 and SRF?
SR2 is the raw format Sony introduced after SRF, on cameras like the Cyber-shot DSC-R1, and it carries far less of the file-level encryption that made SRF hard for third-party software to decode correctly.
What's the difference between SR2 and ARW?
SR2 was the raw format Sony used briefly around 2005, on cameras like the Cyber-shot DSC-R1, before replacing it with ARW starting with the Alpha DSLR-A100 in 2006. Every Alpha DSLR, SLT and mirrorless camera Sony has released since has written ARW instead.
What Sony cameras produced SR2 files?
SR2 appeared on the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-R1, a bridge camera released in 2005. Sony replaced it with ARW the following year when it launched the Alpha DSLR-A100, its first Alpha-branded DSLR, and every Sony camera since has written ARW instead.
What does PBM stand for?
PBM stands for Portable Bitmap, the black-and-white member of the Netpbm family of image formats that Jef Poskanzer created to move images between Unix tools. It is the strictly one-bit sibling of the colour PPM and greyscale PGM formats.