What is HDR?

Radiance HDR is an image format that stores high dynamic range pixel data, commonly used for HDRI environment maps and lighting.

What is ARW?

Sony Alpha Raw (ARW) is Sony's proprietary raw image format containing unprocessed sensor data from Sony Alpha and Cyber-shot cameras.

When Should You Use HDR vs ARW?

HDR vs ARW: Key Differences

• •HDR uses lossless compression while ARW uses lossless compression — both take the same approach to file size management.
• •Since both HDR and ARW use lossless compression, the quality characteristics are comparable — differences in file size come down to how efficiently each format implements compression.
• •How transparency is handled: ARW supports transparency, so alpha information is preserved during conversion.
• •HDR files are typically 5-30MB for typical HDR maps while ARW files range 20-40MB per photo
• •HDR is optimized for hdri lighting, panoramic photography while ARW is designed for sony camera post-processing, professional editing — choose based on your specific workflow needs

Advantages of HDR

• ✓At its core, HDR relies on lossless encoding — a design choice that makes it perfect for HDRI lighting, panoramic photography.
• ✓You won't run into compatibility issues with HDR — it's a universal standard across platforms.
• ✓File size management with HDR: larger files guaranteed to match the original exactly.
• ✓Every major application in the HDRI lighting, panoramic photography space supports HDR natively.

Advantages of ARW

• ✓The lossless nature of ARW means file sizes stay reasonable while handling Sony camera post-processing, professional editing efficiently.
• ✓From mobile devices to enterprise servers, ARW is recognized and supported everywhere.
• ✓The trade-off for ARW's perfection is larger files — but for archival work, it is worth every megabyte.
• ✓ARW is a first-class citizen in all major software ecosystems, from creative suites to development environments.

Common Use Cases for HDR to ARW Conversion

• Print materials and publications
• Social media posts and ads
• Digital photography and editing
• Graphic design projects
• E-commerce product images
• Email marketing campaigns

Industry Applications

Best Practices for HDR to ARW Conversion

• →When converting HDR to ARW, check whether ARW supports transparency — if not, your transparent areas will be filled with a solid color
• →Use ARW for maximum quality archival and HDR for lossless workflows
• →Optimize images for web to reduce page load times — tools like our converter let you adjust quality settings before conversion
• →Maintain original aspect ratio to avoid distortion during conversion
• →Always keep a backup of your original files before converting
• →Choose the appropriate quality settings for your specific use case

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Troubleshooting HDR to ARW Conversion

• !ARW shows visible compression artifacts → lower the compression level or switch to a lossless variant
• !The converted ARW image looks washed out → the source HDR likely uses a wider color space than ARW supports
• !ARW file is much larger than expected → check if the conversion preserved an unnecessarily high resolution
• !Text in the converted ARW looks fuzzy → text-heavy images benefit from higher quality settings or a different output format

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