ARW rode the mirrorless wave
ARW (Alpha Raw) is the format Sony inherited from Minolta's camera division and carried into the mirrorless era it largely created. The a6000 series put ARW files on hobbyists' SD cards by the million, the a7 line made 42 and 61 megapixel full-frame files routine, and RX compacts write the same format from a pocket. That popularity has a flip side: enormous numbers of ARW files end up with people whose laptops and phones cannot open them, because ARW is a proprietary container that needs a dedicated decoder. The files are also heavy, commonly 24 to 50 MB depending on resolution and compression, which makes upload-based converters painfully slow. Converting locally to JPG fixes viewing and size in one pass. Other brands are covered from the RAW to JPG page, and iPhone shots pair naturally with HEIC to JPG.
Tested against real Sony files, decoded by LibRaw
This converter is built on LibRaw, the open-source decoding engine behind darktable, RawTherapee and many photo applications, compiled to WebAssembly so it executes entirely on your device. We test it with real ARW samples from Sony bodies rather than assuming spec-sheet compatibility, because Sony has shipped several generations of compression inside the same .arw extension. The decode performs full demosaicing and applies your camera's white balance, generating a developed image from the sensor data instead of pulling the low-resolution preview embedded in the file. The 1.4 MB decoder loads on demand, only when a RAW file is dropped. If your Sony workflow also involves smartphone or drone RAW, those files are usually DNG, and the DNG to JPG tool handles them the same private way.
Common questions
What does developing an ARW file mean?+−
Your Alpha's sensor records one filtered color value per photosite, and the ARW stores that mosaic untouched along with your shooting settings. Developing means demosaicing the mosaic into full-color pixels and applying the recorded white balance. This tool runs that complete pipeline through LibRaw in your browser, producing a rendered photograph from the sensor data, comparable to the JPEG your Sony would have written itself.
Which Sony cameras does this work with?+−
The ARW files we test with come from real Sony bodies, and classic ARW from the a6000 series, the a7 line through recent generations, the a9, and RX compacts converts reliably. As with every brand, the very newest bodies can introduce compressed variants that decode support has not caught up with yet; if a file cannot be read, the tool tells you directly rather than outputting a corrupted image.
Why does my ARW look different from the camera's JPEG?+−
Sony's in-camera JPEGs apply Creative Looks, lens corrections and noise reduction that a neutral RAW development does not replicate. LibRaw uses your as-shot white balance and a standard tone curve, so exposure and color are faithful, but a punchy in-camera style will look more restrained. For sharing, delivery and previews the difference is minor; for a stylized final image, edit the ARW in your RAW editor first.
Is it safe to convert client photos here?+−
Yes, because the files never leave your computer. The LibRaw decoder is downloaded to your browser, about 1.4 MB, and runs locally; you can even load this page, disconnect from the internet, and convert offline. That removes the two usual objections to online converters, upload privacy and upload time, which matter with ARW files that commonly weigh 24 to 50 MB each.