CR2 file format
| Extension | .cr2 |
| Category | images |
| Programs | Adobe Photoshop Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Paint Shop Pro Picasa digiKam |
| Description | The CR2 format, exclusive to Canon cameras, preserves images in their original raw state. Unlike easily viewable formats like JPG or PNG, CR2 files require additional processing before viewing. A key feature of a CR2 file is its ability to store all the data captured by the camera sensor, which greatly aids image editing. Crucially, editing these files doesn't result in any quality loss, a common issue with JPEG files. |
| Technical details | To create a CR2 image, the image data must be processed through a raw converter within a wide color gamut internal color space. After this, the image can be converted to a more user-friendly format for saving, printing, sharing, or downloading. The CR2 format supports 12 or 14 bits of color and uses lossless compression. Many consider CR2 the successor to CRW, which is based on the TIFF file structure. |
| MIME type | image/cr2 |