TechFleece

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How To Batch Convert RAW Files To JPEG In Photoshop

By 60 Comments

In this tutorial we will look at the quick and easy way to Batch Convert multiple RAW files to JPG. (or TIFF and PSD) This can save you an enormous amount of time if, like me, you shoot everything in RAW. Note, that I will be using Photoshop CS5 for this tutorial, but the process will be similar in previous versions as well.

First open up Photoshop and then the Image Processor via File>Scripts>Image Processor.

Image Processor photoshop

1] Locate & select the RAW files that you wish to batch convert.

batch convert settings photoshop

2] Choose where you wish to save the outputted JPG’s. It’s easier to save them in the same location though for convenience. Photoshop will automatically create a separate folder containing these JPG’s.

3] Choose the format that you want to save the RAW files to. In my case it’s JPG’s, but you are given the option to save to TIFF or PSD as well.

4] In the final step, you are also given the option to run an Action on all of the RAW files whilst saving them to the specified format. This can be another big time saver. The other option is to include the ICC Profile (International Colour Consortium) This will be checked by default. I will always keep this checked.

Once you are happy, simply hit RUN, and the conversions will begin. You won’t get a message to tell you that the converting has completed.

Images converted

As you can see from the finished result, Photoshop has created a separate folder for my newly converted JPG’s, as I elected to save them in the same location. I have just created a video tutorial that some readers may find easier to follow. It’s my first ever one, so I hope it’s OK.

Hope that has been of help. Any questions, then please feel free to ask in the comments below. I you would like to know more about the differences between RAW and JPG, then have a look at my older article here.

[Update] If you want to know how to create an Action that you would also like to run along side the saving of RAW to JPG’s then I have written a tutorial here for the users who requested it.

  • Thanks just what I needed!!!

  • raquel

    mine says “windows does not have a constuctor error 327” when i try to do this process to convert RAW to JPEGs. Ugh. Any ideas?

  • Hi raquel,

    I haven’t come across the error personally, but I had a look around for it and the solution seems to be to reset your preferences at Photoshop startup. To do this:

    Windows: Hold down Shift+Ctrl+Alt
    Mac: Shift+Command+Option

    Source: http://forums.adobe.com/message/3275546#3275546

    If you are still getting an issue, let me know and I’ll try to help.

  • Larry.

    Spot on Mate! A big thank you from me.

  • Anonymous

    hi i am getting there is no source files that could be opened by photoshop

  • em

    My photoshop won’t let me do this. It says Script Alert; Cann’t process the following files. Which is all of them! lol Help Please someone

    • Rophan

      Go to Help – Updates. and update the ‘camera raw’ plug-in. I had the same problem.

  • Gina

    The files are RAW files are actually NEF so it won’t highlight them for me to select them. They are un-selectable if that makes sense. Now what ? 😉

    • thegift73

      Hi Gina,

      Sorry for the late reply.

      What version of Photoshop are you running? Can you check that you have the latest version of Camera RAW applicable to your version of Photoshop.(E.G Camera RAW v7.1 will only work on CS6, but not previous versions) I know when I had an issue with CS3 not being able to read NEF files a couple of years ago, I had to install v4.5 (since updated)

  • Margaret

    THANKYOU!!!!!!
    Margaret

  • Anonymous

    Thanks so much! Worked like a charm on the CR2 files.

  • Anonymous

    Thank you great post!

  • Mape

    Thanks a lot … that’s what I’ve been looking for

  • Cherrish

    Thank you !

  • Acacia

    A VERY BIG THANK YOU! You really helped me saved a lot of precious time. I’ve got like 500 images to convert!

  • Conor

    This may be beyond the scope of this article, but how would I go about creating an “action” to run whilst saving these files? I would like to “auto” correct all of the levels before saving as jpg. Any suggestions?

    • I would like to know this as well. When you open an image in raw it doesnt allow you to select any Actions, so im wonder how I can programme something.

      • Hi Alistair Mackay Sorry, only just seen your reply. Give me half an hour or so and I’ll write a quick tutorial for you and Conor At work at the moment so will be using CS3 as an example and JPG’s as source files. It will still work with RAW’s though.

        Yes, if you tick the box saying, ‘Open First Image to Apply Settings’ and then make the Auto Level edit to that image, it will then proceed to apply that effect to the rest.

  • Mark W

    Many thanks! Quick and easy.

  • Thanks for the help, good post.

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  • HI I have CS2 & havent worked with it much but I am trying to batch process from raw to JPEG & I keep coming up with this ERROR: No such Element:1271, Help!!! Also I have been trying to use canon digital photo professional to edit in CS2 BUT it keeps opening as a TIFF file & won’t let me save it as a JPEG (which is generally what most need to print any off or upload to the web), can u offer any help? Thanks

  • edoluz

    MANY THANKS!!!!

  • GB

    Awesome tutorial! worked like a breeze on my 1000 raw files. Thank you very much!

  • Me

    Thank you for your time to do this. God Bless!!!

  • Christina

    Thank you thank you a million times. It’s so wonderful there are people out there willing to take time out of their day to help others. So appreciative!!

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  • biola

    between RAW and JPG format, which one is the best?

  • Venu

    Thank you…! Awesome Post…
    Thanks Again

  • baldy

    brill, thanks

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  • Mohamad Haris Ishak

    thanks!

  • Thank you! This helped me to save a lot of time. I appreciate taking the time to write this tutorial.

  • at

    Thanks! Fantastic!

  • PMC

    Does this work for CR2 types? I thought CR2 was a form of RAW but I might be wrong. i’m new to this and need a bulk converter. It gives me the same error as below: Can’t process the following finles (then lists all my files XD ). Huh…

  • Andrea Lie

    thanks – still a very helpful tip – saved me heaps of time today

  • Anonymous

    Thanks for your tutorial, it has saved me copious amounts of time and frustration! 🙂

  • J

    THANK YOU!! This saved me so much time. I knew there had to be a simple way to do this.

  • Good job. thanks

  • Anonymous

    Thank You so much for making this!!!!! …… I just knew there was a way!!! Cudos 🙂
    I will look for your other posts too !!!!

  • Bec22

    This has saved me doing each image individually! Thank you 🙂

  • Ingvild Oset

    Thank you so much for this. Works perfectly with CS6 as well! And here I’ve been feeling stupid because “maybe shooting my vacation photos in RAW wasn’t such a good idea after all…” Now it’s no problem!

  • Donald Pavlica

    I wish I had searched for this YEARS ago. Great job, easily understood and very much appreciated. Might you also know how to reverse the aging process too? That also would be greatly appreciated

  • TranscendentFilms Spain

    The biggest problem with this method is that the whole reason we shoot RAW is to select the best adjustment for the images in post such as exposure, saturation, tint, etc. These are then saved as a profile for that image. Naturally, I want that profile to apply to all images converted thus.

    There is a little check box in step 1 that says, “Open first image to apply settings” – Thus, I do just that, I adjust or apply the settings I want (and wish to apply to all in the batch). Unfortunately, Photoshop does not do this. It converts just the *first* image and applys the corrections to that one – All others are simply converted with no adjustments.

    As a result, this method is useless to me.

    • BobbyA

      For what it is worth,in CS5 using bridge I am able to open the images in camera raw, make adjustments to an image, then select done. When the script is run it is the adjusted versions of the raw(nef) that is being converted to .jpg. PS is opening the .nef, applying the xml, then converting and writing out each new .jpg image. Hope that helps.

  • Peter D’Aprix

    Thank you, thank you, thank you! Even though this is now 2015, I have only just bought a new MacBookPro and upgraded all my software. Previously I was using the Bridge CS6 with SnowLeopard (Mac OS) and was able to do these batch conversions directly from Bridge. I found that Photoshop > Image Processor option gone in the new Yosemite versions of Bridge. Just you pointing out where to find the Image Processor allowed me to complete my job on time. Works the same way but is located directly in Photoshop now.

  • thank you so much 🙂

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  • Cam

    This wasn’t a feature I knew Photoshop had, so I’m glad I found this post. Converting CR2 files to JPEG saved me a lot of space! Thank you

  • Adlene Xie Izzarina

    Hey mine can’t work either. It says there is no source files that could be opened by photoshop. what can i do know? Help please. I’ve been trying to work this out for years! :-/

  • Apeksha Patel

    Thank YOu so much for sharing this… it helped a lot…

  • Vicki Tidball

    OH MY DEAR GOD THANK YOU

  • Julija

    I have the same problem (My photoshop won’t let me do this. It says Script Alert; Cann’t process the following files. Which is all of them!) But when I go to Help – Updates is not active and I can’t do anything. Please help.

  • Joey

    Thanks mate, this is very helpful!

  • Great!!! You are life saver….

  • Paul B.

    Please I want to know if converting the RAW format to JPEG will decrease the picture quality of the converted files?

    • Hi Paul,

      The conversion from RAW to JPG will get rid of quite a bit of data (information) from the original RAW image, but it shouldn’t be very noticeable.

      However, I would always make sure to do any edits to the image that you wish to do first, before saving the RAW file to JPG. The reason for this, is that there is so much more data/information to play with in the RAW file when editing, so for example if you over/underexposed an image too much, then editing the RAW image may very well save that image from being wasted, compared to trying to edit the JPG version of it, which has far less (depending on how compressed (i.e the quality) data to play with. Hope that made sense?

      Here is an article I wrote back in 2012, that may also help to explain the technicals a bit more for you.

      http://www.techfleece.com/2012/01/12/what-is-the-difference-between-raw-vs-jpg/

      Of course, if you are just converting them all to JPG as you want the client to see the unedited images first so that they can choose which ones they would like edited, then you can just batch convert them all whilst retaining the RAW images that you can edit at a later point.

      I always keep my old RAW files, as I never know when someone (or myself) may get in touch and want one of their old images edited in another way.

      The best way to test this out, is to have a play with the same image, but one version is in the original RAW state, and the other is an unedited conversion to JPG. Then see how much more control you have over the RAW file in editing than you do compared to editing the jpg version of it.

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