RAW Converter Ultimate — The complete guide to batch RAW conversion.

Version 4.0 — Develop and convert your camera's RAW files with confidence.

1. Overview

RAW Converter Ultimate turns your camera's RAW files into polished, ready-to-share images — in seconds. It reads the most popular camera RAW formats (CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, DNG, RAF, ORF, RW2, PEF) plus common formats like JPEG, PNG, TIFF, HEIC, BMP, GIF, and JPEG-2000, and exports to JPEG, PNG, TIFF, HEIC, JPEG-2000, or BMP.

Everything runs locally on your Mac — no cloud upload, no accounts, no tracking.

The free plan includes up to 5 conversions per day with no subscription required. Upgrade to Pro for unlimited conversions.

Tip: Think of RAW Converter Ultimate as a batch processor with a developer's toolkit — add a whole shoot, tune one file, and apply those settings to the rest.

2. Quick Start

Add files — Drag & drop RAW files anywhere in the window, or use Import Files… and Import from Photos….
Choose an output folder — Pick where the converted files will be saved.
Tune (optional) — Adjust white balance, highlights, and brightness with a live preview.
Click Convert — Watch progress as your batch converts.
Find your files — The converted images appear in your chosen output folder.

That's it — your first batch in five steps.

3. Adding Files

You can bring files into RAW Converter Ultimate in several ways:

Drag & drop — Drag files from Finder anywhere onto the window. The drop zone highlights while you drag.
Import Files… — Open a file picker and select RAW or image files from your file system.
Import from Photos… — Import photos straight from the Photos app using the system picker.

Unsupported files are ignored, and a note shows how many were skipped. Each supported file appears in the file list.

Note: RAW Converter Ultimate opens each source file read-only. Your original files are never modified or overwritten.

4. The File List

Every added file appears in the left-hand list with its thumbnail, format, size, and resolution, so you can see at a glance what's queued up.

Select a file to edit its settings in the right-hand panel.
Status — Each file shows whether it is queued, converting, succeeded, or failed.
Remove files you don't need before starting the batch.

5. RAW Development

For RAW files, the right-hand panel includes a RAW Settings section:

White Balance — Camera uses the white balance recorded by your camera; Auto lets the app estimate it.
Highlight Mode — Recovers blown-out highlights. Choose Clip, Recover, Blend, or Rebuild.
Brightness — A slider from 0.50 to 1.50 to fine-tune overall exposure.

Changes update the preview live, so you can tune until it looks right before converting.

Tip: Start with White Balance set to Camera for the most natural look, then switch to Auto when a shot's colors are off.

6. Output Settings

The output panel controls the format and quality of the converted files:

Setting	Options
Format	JPEG, PNG, TIFF, HEIC, JPEG-2000, BMP
Quality	Slider (shown for JPEG, JPEG-2000, HEIC)
Compression	None, LZW, ZIP (Deflate) — shown for TIFF
Bit Depth	8 or 16-bit — shown for TIFF and PNG with RAW input
Color Space	sRGB or Adobe RGB (1998) — shown for TIFF and PNG with RAW input

Note: True 16-bit depth and the color-space choice are only available for TIFF and PNG output from RAW input files.

7. Rotation & Scaling

The Transform section applies to all file types:

Rotation — Auto, 90°, 180°, or 270°.
Scale Mode — Original Size, Percentage, Fit to Width, Fit to Height, Fit to Long Edge, Fit to Short Edge, Fit Within presets (3840×2160, 1920×1080, 1280×720, 1600×1200, 1024×768, 800×600), or Fit Within (Custom).

Percentage scaling can enlarge, but output is capped at 16384 px on the longest edge. The Fit modes are downscale-only and always preserve the aspect ratio.

8. Batch Conversion

Add as many files as you like and convert them all at once:

Add all the files you want to convert.
Set a common output format and output folder.
Click Convert (enabled whenever there are pending files).
Watch the progress sheet as each file converts.

Open the Show Log… item from the app menu for detailed per-file results.

Note: On the free plan, only successful conversions count toward your daily quota of 5.

9. Presets & Apply to All

For consistency across a whole batch:

Apply to All — Set up a single file the way you like it, then copy its settings to the rest of the batch in one click.
Presets — Save your favorite configurations as named presets and reuse them on future shoots.

Tip: Build a preset for your most common export (for example, 16-bit TIFF, sRGB, Fit Within 1920×1080) and one-click every future shoot.

10. Free vs Pro & Managing Subscription

	Free	Pro
Conversions	5 per day	Unlimited
Features	All features	All features
Price	$0	$9.99/yr or $24.99 lifetime

To upgrade, open Subscription… from the app menu. Choose the yearly subscription or the one-time lifetime purchase. To restore a purchase on a new Mac, open the same screen — purchases sync through the Mac App Store with your Apple ID.

11. Troubleshooting

Conversion fails: Check that the output folder is accessible and writable, and that you have enough disk space. Open Show Log… for details.

Files were ignored: Only supported formats are accepted (camera RAW plus JPEG, PNG, TIFF, HEIC, BMP, GIF, JPEG-2000). Unsupported files are skipped with a note.

The Convert button is disabled: The button only appears active when there are pending files to convert. Add files first.

I hit my daily limit: The free plan allows 5 conversions per day. Upgrade to Pro for unlimited conversions.

Can't import from Photos: Make sure the app has permission to access your photo library, and that the Photos app is running and unlocked.