An NEF file can be converted to a number of formats using either a free file converter or by opening the NEF file in an image viewer/editor and saving it to a different format. For example, if you're using Photoshop to view/edit an NEF file, you can save the open file back to your computer in formats like JPG, RAW, PXR, PNG, TIF/TIFF, GIF. The best high-end camera costing more than $2000 should have plenty of resolution, exceptional build quality, good 4K video capture and top-notch autofocus for advanced and professional users. In this buying guide we’ve rounded up all the current interchangeable lens cameras costing over $2000 and recommended the best. 'Best' depends on what you're looking for in post-processing software, but a few of the more popular open source packages you could look at using would be: The GIMP with dcraw. The GIMP is the open-source alternative to Photoshop, and has a very deep and sophisticated feature set, with quite a bit more control than you could find in Picasa.

What is Arw file?

ARW stands for Sony Alpha Raw - Sony Digital Camera Raw Image format. ARW file extension is used by three DSC series of Sony cameras, but the format mostly is associated with 'alpha' DSLR series.

ARW format is based on widely accepted TIFF format and TIFF specifications, which means that contains raw, uncompressed image data as captured by camera's sensors, and can be adjusted before exporting to common used image formats as JPG, PNG, GIF and others.

Different models of Sony cameras may store RAW images using the same .arw extension, but their format can be different. That is because sensors that capture image data on different camera models are different and so the image data format can be different.

ARW file format is RAW format which means that contains minimally processed data from camera sensors, and as that is not viewable for most of image viewers. That also means that is not supported by internet browsers and as RAW format can't be viewed directly on the browser.

So, if you want your ARW image to share on social media websites or upload on your website or blog, you will need to convert to some other more popular and supported image format as JPG, PNG, GIF or other format.

How to open Arw files?

There are few viewers and converters for ARW images, but not all are free and provide good and quality converting.

ARW Viewer is completely FREE software that support ARW image format and can open, view, resize and convert ARW images to other image format as JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP or TIFF.

This viewer have a very simple user interface which makes it easy to use without advanced options that can confuse you and make converting difficult.

Beside opening and view ARW images, ARW Viewer supports resizing, rotating and converting ARW images. It's simplicity lets you open, resize and convert ARW image in just few steps.

Click on Open File icon on toolbar to locate and open ARW image. You can Rotate Image Left/Rotate Image Right by clicking on toolbar icons for rotating, or just put desired dimensions and click on Convert icon to resize ARW image. After you are done, click Save File icon to save image to JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP or TIFF.

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Also when you open ARW image there is an option to Zoom image or to fit on the display which will view full image depending of your dislay size.

Clean and FREE

ARW Viewer is a free software and does not contain any form of malware, including but not limited to: spyware, viruses, trojans and backdoors.

Stable and Fast

ARW Viewer have a very simple and easy to use user interface, and uses only libraries that need for processing. This provides fast and stable work of the application.

User-friendly Interface

ARW Viewer is very simple and easy to use. You just need to open ARW files, rotate or resize and click Save File. In the Save File dialog you will be able to select from given formats to which one you want to convert and save opened ARW image.

System Requirements

Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2003; Windows Server 2008; Windows XP; Windows Vista; Windows 7.

Microsoft .NET Framework 4 (included in Windows 7 and Windows 8).

ARW Viewer Supports: Windows RT; Windows 8; Windows 8.1.

Related Downloads

Another popular RAW image viewers are:

Adobe Digital Negative, for DNG image file formats - DNG Viewer

Canon RAW image viewers, for CR2 and CRW image file formats - CR2 Viewer and CRW Viewer

Nikon RAW image viewer - NEF Viewer

Fuji RAW image viewer - RAF Viewer

ARW Viewer is a combination of all these RAW viewers mentioned above and beside ARW also supports other RAW image formats as CR2, CRW, NEF, RAF and DNG.

How to install IrfanView PlugIns?

1. Download all PlugIns, see below
2. Click on the PlugIn file (irfanview_plugins_XYZ_setup.exe)
3. PlugIns will be installed into IrfanView 'PlugIns' directory

Note: Install 32-bit PlugIns to IrfanView-32 and 64-bit PlugIns to IrfanView-64 folder. DO NOT mix the PlugIns and IrfanView bit versions.

The current PlugIns version is: 4.58

Note: A normal IrfanView version includes the following (most important) PlugIns: Effects, Paint, Icons, Slideshow-EXE, RegionCapture, JPG-Transform, Video, Metadata, Tools.

Check the 64-bit page for 64-bit PlugIns.

1. You can download ALL (32-bit) PlugIns as one large EXE (recommended):FossHub - download IrfanView plugins Installer
   Alternative download site:iview458_plugins_setup.exe (18.8 MB, installer)
   (SHA-256 checksum: 5a3f821ab790dca5a944bbb439cd334994256f8241c916472fcbf3c2ff592ede)


2. You can download ALL (32-bit) PlugIns as one large ZIP (for experienced users!):FossHub - download IrfanView plugins ZIP
   Alternative download site:iview458_plugins.zip (17.0 MB)
   (SHA-256 checksum: af67bb885578e91ce30f905cf68639d1c3a930ea980c78ebe4ef287094db5721)

Special PlugIn: 'IrfanView Shell Extension':

This PlugIn shows a Context menu for some IrfanView operations in Windows Explorer or other file managers.
You can select several files and: Play slideshow, Load files in Thumbnails window, Start JPG Lossless Rotation, Convert images to another format, Save filenames as TXT, Create multipage TIF or PDF, Create panorama image. (current version: 1.06)

Download: https://www.irfanview.net/plugins/irfanview_shell_extension_plugin.exe (Installer)
(SHA-256 checksum: b9828e236b26626b46fe20ad31208140fc572819ba86c2cba75cbd2c7724ebef)

or

https://www.irfanview.net/plugins/irfanview_shell_extension.zip (ZIP, for experienced users!)
(SHA-256 checksum: 2112f85a917b2eca90eaa047a8c3b22e0157f13e83971aee679d955b2ff1047d)

You can download the (32-bit) PlugIns as 4 separate ZIP files (for experienced users!):

1. iv_mmedia.zip. Contains these PlugIns: IV_Player, Med, Mp3, Burning, Nero, Quicktime, Real Audio, SoundPlayer.
2. iv_formats.zip. Contains these PlugIns: Awd, B3d, BabaCAD4Image, CamRAW, Crw, CADImage, Dicom, DjVu, Dpx, Ecw, Exr, Flash, Flif, Formats, Fpx, Hdp, Ics, ImPDF, ImPDN, JPEG2000, Jpeg_LS, Jpm, Mng, MrSID, PDF, PhotoCD, PNGOUT, Postscript, RIOT, Sff, Svg, Wbz, WebP, Wsq, Xcf.
3. iv_effects.zip. Contains these PlugIns: Filter Sandbox, Film Simulation, Filter Factory, Filters Unlimited.
4. iv_misc.zip. Contains these PlugIns: Email, FaceDetect, Ftp, Lcms.

PlugIns updated after the version 4.58:

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• Metadata Plugin (4.59) - ZIP (32 bit) or ZIP (64 bit) - Small improvements
  

Available PlugIns and current versions:

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• AltaLux - (version 1.08): allows IrfanView to use AltaLux image effect
• AWD - (version 2.0.0.0): allows IrfanView to read Artweaver files
• B3D - (version 4.56): allows IrfanView to read BodyPaint 3D files
• BabaCAD4Image - (version 1.3.2): allows IrfanView to to read DXF and DWG CAD files
• BURNING - (version 4.51): allows IrfanView to burn slideshow to a CD/DVD/BD (Windows XP SP3 or later required)
• BURNINGOLD - (version 4.36): allows IrfanView (32-bit) to burn slideshow to a CD (Windows XP or later required, Nero option can burn Data DVD and VCD)
• CADImage - (version 14.0.0.1): allows IrfanView to read DXF/DWG/HPGL/CGM/SVG files (Shareware, third party plugin)
  Newest 32-bit versions under: https://www.cadsofttools.com/download/irfanviewplugins.zip , newest 64-bit versions: https://www.cadsofttools.com/download/irfanviewplugins_x64.zip
• CamRAW - (version 4.58): allows IrfanView to to read Digital Camera RAW files
  (formats: DNG, EEF, NEF, ORF, RAF, MRW, DCR, SRF/ARW, PEF, X3F)
• CRW - (version 4.58): allows IrfanView (32-bit) to read Canon CRW/CR2 files (high resolution image version)
  Note: this PlugIn requires additional Canon DLLs. You can download these DLLs with the Canon ZoomBrowser program: https://www.canon.com/ or try here: https://www.irfanview.info/plugins/canon_crw.zip (check 'Readme.txt' for instructions and install!)
• DICOM - (version 4.57): allows IrfanView to read Dicom formats (DCM, ACR, IMA)
• DJVU - (version 4.56): allows IrfanView to read DJVU format
• DPX - (version 4.56): allows IrfanView to read DPX/CIN (Digital Picture Exchange/Cineon) format
• ECW - (version 4.56): allows IrfanView to read/write ECW files (Enhanced Compressed Wavelet)
• EFFECTS - (version 4.58): contains image effects and allows IrfanView to load Adobe Photoshop 8BF filters
  Note: some nice (fixed menu) Adobe 8BF Plugins/effects can be downloaded/installed from: https://www.irfanview.net/plugins/irfanview_adobe_8bf_plugins.exe (Installer) or https://www.irfanview.net/plugins/irfanview_adobe_8bf_plugins.zip
  Note: some older/special 8BFs may require additional system DLLs: Msvcrt10.dll and/or Plugin.dll. You can download these DLLs here: https://www.irfanview.info/plugins/8bf_tools.zip (check 'Readme.txt' for instructions and install!)
• EMAIL - (version 4.58): allows IrfanView to send images as emails
• EXR - (version 4.56): allows IrfanView to read EXR files
• FACEDETECT - (version 2.00): allows IrfanView to use the Face Detection feature from Thumbnails window
  If you have a modern graphic card which can be used for additional calculations, you can try the GPU version of the plugin: https://www.irfanview.info/plugins/facedetect_gpu.zip
• FILM_SIMULATION - (version 1.0.0.0): allows IrfanView to apply some Film Simulation effects
  Note: this PlugIn needs additional CLUT files, download/install from: https://www.irfanview.net/plugins/irfanview_film_sim_plugin.zip
• FILTER_FACTORY - (version 4.53): allows IrfanView to use Filter Factory 8BF files (Photoshop PlugIns)
• FLASH - (version 2.2.0.1): allows IrfanView to read Flash/Shockwave/FLV format
• FLIF - (version 4.56): allows IrfanView to read FLIF (Free Lossless Image) format
• FORMATS - (version 4.59.10): allows IrfanView to read some rare image formats
  (formats: PCX, PSP, G3, RAS, IFF/LBM, BioRAD, Mosaic, XBM, XPM, GEM-IMG, SGI, RLE, WBMP, TTF, FITS, PIC, HDR, MAG, WAD, WAL, CAM, SFW, YUV, PVR, SIF and old/retro formats from Amiga, Atari, C64, ZX Spectrum etc.)
• FPX - (version 4.56): allows IrfanView (32-bit) to read FlashPix files
• FTP - (version 4.50): allows IrfanView to transfer files from Thumbnails window using FTP
• FILTERS_UNLIMITED - (version 3.20): allows IrfanView (32-bit) to use Filters Unlimited files (Photoshop PlugIns and filters)
• HDP - (version 4.56): allows IrfanView to read Jpeg-XR/HDP/WDP (Microsoft HD Photo) files
• ICONS - (version 4.30): additional icons for IrfanView file associations
• ICS - (version 4.56): allows IrfanView (32-bit) to read ICS files (Image Cytometry Standard)
• IMPDF - (version 0.90): allows IrfanView (32-bit) to write PDF files (Portable Document Format)
• IMPDN - (version 1.16): allows IrfanView to read PDN files (Paint.NET File Format)
• IRFANVIEW_SANDBOX - (version 1.3.0.14): allows IrfanView to use JewelScript Effects/Filters
• IV_PLAYER - (version 4.54): allows IrfanView to play video/sound/audio-cd files using Windows Media Player
• JPEG2000 - (version 4.56): allows IrfanView to read/write JPEG 2000 files
• JPEG_LS - (version 4.56): allows IrfanView to read/write JPEG-LS files
• JPEGQS - (version 2020-05-17): allows IrfanView to read JPG files using QuantSmooth method
• JPG_TRANSFORM - (version 4.57): allows IrfanView to support lossless JPG operations (rotation/crop/cleaning, EXIF date editing, EXIF thumb update)
• JPM - (version 4.56): allows IrfanView to read/write JPM files
• LCMS - (version 4.58): allows IrfanView to use color management
• MED - (version 3.31): allows IrfanView (32-bit) to play MED/OctaMED audio files
• METADATA - (version 4.58): allows IrfanView to handle EXIF/IPTC/Comment information from compatible files
• MNG - (version 4.57): allows IrfanView to read/play MNG/JNG files
• MP3 - (version 4.52): allows IrfanView to play MP3/MP2/MP1 files
• MRC - (version 3.70): allows IrfanView (32-bit) to read MRC files
• MR-SID - (version 4.56): allows IrfanView to read LizardTech's SID files
  Note: this PlugIn needs additional DLLs (for IrfanView 32-bit only), download/install from: https://www.irfanview.net/plugins/irfanview_mrsid_plugin.exe (Installer) or https://www.irfanview.net/plugins/irfanview_mrsid_plugin.zip
• NERO - (version 4.20): allows IrfanView (32-bit) to burn slideshow to data or Video CD, using Nero Burning ROM software
• OCR_KADMOS - (version 4.4y): adds OCR features to IrfanView PlugIn download: https://www.irfanview.info/plugins/kadmos/
  Note: the OCR PlugIn works only with IrfanView 32-bit.
• OPTIPNG - (version 4.58): this PlugIn allows optimized PNG saving
• PAINT - (version 0.4.13.56): allows IrfanView to to paint lines, circles, arrows, straighten image etc.
• PDF - (version 4.58): allows IrfanView to read/save PDF files (Portable Document Format)
• PHOTO-CD - (version 3.00): allows IrfanView to read Kodak PCD files (high resolutions)
• POSTSCRIPT - (version 4.57): allows IrfanView to read EPS/PS/PDF files (using Ghostscript, take the 32-bit (!) EXE installer, like 'gs926w32.exe') or Ghostscript 64-bit for IrfanView 64-bit (like 'gs926w64.exe').
• QUICKTIME - (version 4.56): allows IrfanView to play/read Apple Quicktime files
• REAL-AUDIO - (version 3.37): allows IrfanView (32-bit) to play Real-Audio RA files
• REGIONCAPTURE - (version 2.4.3): allows IrfanView to capture a rectangle area of the screen
• RIOT - (version 0.3.3.0): allows IrfanView to save optimized JPG/GIF/PNG files (RIOT - Radical Image Optimization Tool)
  The basic PlugIn version will be installed with IrfanView PlugIns. An advanced (or newer) version can be downloaded here: https://luci.criosweb.ro/riot/download/
• SFF - (version 4.56): allows IrfanView to read SFF (Structured Fax) Files
• SLIDESHOW - (version 4.57): allows IrfanView to create presentations in EXE or SCR format (standalone executable/screen saver)
• SOUND_PLAYER - (version 4.39): allows IrfanView to play OGG files (Ogg Vorbis)
• STUB_LOADER - (version 1.2.5): allows loading of old (32 bit) PlugIns in IrfanView 64 bit (used also for scanning in IrfanView-64)
• SVG - (version 0.78): allows IrfanView to read SVG (Scalable Vector Graphic) files
• TOOLS - (version 4.58): contains some additional functions/features for IrfanView
  (and some special formats, like: HEIC, AVIF; with installed codecs/extensions)
• VIDEO - (version 4.57): allows IrfanView to play many video/sound formats
• WBZ - (version 1.01): allows IrfanView to read WebShots (WBZ/WBC/WB1) files
• WEBP - (version 4.57): allows IrfanView to read/write WEBP (Weppy Format) files
• WPG - (version 3.1.2): allows IrfanView to read WPG (version 1) files
• WSQ - (version 2019.10.15): allows IrfanView to read WSQ (Wavelet Scaler Quantization) files
• XCF - (version 0.1.4): allows IrfanView to read XCF files

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For developers: If you want to write your own plugins for IrfanView (support for new image formats or effects (please no private formats)), please send me an email for details.