ARW to BMP Converter

Sony Alpha Raw (ARW) is the proprietary RAW file format for Sony digital cameras. It is also known as Sony Digital Camera RAW file. ARW is an uncompressed, unprocessed image file, which contains all of the file’s information, as captured by the sensor in the camera that captured the image. Since the file is not compressed, no data is lost, which is the main benefit of ARW and all RAW file types.

How to open an ARW file?

Sony provides the Sony® RAW Driver as the default program for opening an ARW file. It will allow you to view an ARW file on a Microsoft Windows operating system (OS) as you would a JPEG. Adobe Photoshop is another program that is commonly used to open ARW.

On Linux/Unix, use the open-source program darktable to view ARW. Across platforms, use XnView MP. ARW is often converted to JPEG (ARW to JPG) after post-processing edits.

Developed by: Sony Corporation

Initial Release: 1990

Useful links:

https://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/www/disoft/int/idc/intro/raw.html

Bitmap (BMP) is a pixel-based file format that stores two-dimensional images, generally without any compression. BMP utilizes a dot matrix data structure called raster graphics, which establishes the color depth of the image. BMP is mostly used for digital publishing of photographs. However, due to the lack of compression, BMP files are usually large.

How to open a BMP file?

BMP can be device-dependent or independent. BMP opens readily in the Microsoft Paint application and is often associated with Microsoft operating systems. Despite the association with Microsoft, a device-independent BMP, or DIB, can open on almost any device, operating system, or application. 

In addition to opening BMP files, many applications can be used to create them, such as Adobe Illustrator. Should you need to convert the BMP into a vector-based image, then consider using CorelDRAW. Other applications that can open BMP files include Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Photos, Apple Preview, Apple Photos, and ColorStrokes.

Developed by: Microsoft Corporation

Initial Release: 20 November 1985

Useful links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMP_file_format

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/gdi/bitmaps