ARW is Sony's in-camera RAW
ARW is the raw sensor data a Sony camera writes at the moment of capture. It's produced by the camera's own hardware and firmware — software can read it, but nothing can manufacture a genuine ARW from a finished DNG.
Looking to convert DNG to ARW? Here's the honest answer — and what works instead.
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DNG is Adobe’s open, universal raw format. It stores unprocessed sensor data in a standardised container any modern editor can open — ideal for archiving photos.
DNG opens in Lightroom, Photoshop, Camera Raw and most pro photo editors.
ARW is Sony’s raw photo format, storing unprocessed sensor data from Alpha cameras for full editing latitude.
ARW opens in Lightroom, Photoshop, Capture One and Sony Imaging Edge.
No. ARW stores the raw signal a Sony sensor recorded at capture. A DNG is a finished image with that data already baked in and discarded — there's nothing for a converter to reconstruct.
RAW formats like ARW give maximum editing latitude — but only when they come straight from the camera. Converting a DNG to ARW would just wrap a finished image in a RAW container, with none of the benefits.
DNG is an open RAW container. You can convert a camera's own RAW (including ARW) into DNG, but you still can't turn a regular DNG into ARW or any real RAW.
DNG converts cleanly to PNG, JPG, TIFF and WEBP — free, no sign-up, no watermark.