ARW vs PNG
A detailed comparison of Sony RAW ARW and PNG Image — file size, quality, compatibility, and which format to choose for your workflow.
Technical Specifications
| Specification | .ARW | .PNG |
|---|---|---|
| MIME type | image/x-sony-arw | image/png |
| Extension | .arw | — |
| Container | TIFF/EP with Sony MakerNote tags | — |
| Bit depth | 14-bit (flagship); 12-bit (entry) | — |
| Compression | Uncompressed, Lossless, Lossy | Lossless — DEFLATE (zlib) |
| Color depth | — | 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 bits per channel |
| Max dimensions | — | 2^31 − 1 pixels per side (2.1 billion) |
| Transparency | — | Full 8-bit alpha channel |
| Standard | — | ISO/IEC 15948:2004 |
Strengths Comparison
.ARW Strengths
- Full 14-bit sensor data on flagship bodies.
- Rich Sony metadata (Creative Style, DRO, Focus Magnifier).
- Supported by every major raw processor.
- Lossless compression available on modern bodies.
.PNG Strengths
- Lossless compression — every save preserves the original pixels perfectly.
- Full 8-bit alpha channel for smooth transparency.
- Excellent for text, UI screenshots, logos, and line art.
- Royalty-free and an ISO standard (ISO/IEC 15948).
- Supports 16-bit color depth for high-fidelity work.
Limitations
.ARW — Limitations
- Proprietary — new Sony body launch = Lightroom update required.
- Lossy compression was the only option on many older bodies (visible banding in highlights).
- File sizes are huge on 50+ MP bodies.
- Some ARW variants use 16-bit layout that breaks older third-party tools.
.PNG — Limitations
- Much larger than JPEG for photographs (no perceptual compression).
- No native animation in most software (APNG support is inconsistent).
- No CMYK support — web and screen only, not print.
- Metadata capabilities are less rich than JPEG's EXIF.
Frequently Asked Questions
ARW (Sony RAW ARW) is an image format used to store raster graphics — a two-dimensional grid of pixels describing a picture. It is part of the raster & vector images family and designed around a specific trade-off between file size, visual fidelity, and feature support (transparency, colour depth, compression type). Photographers, web designers, and content creators choose ARW when its particular strengths match the publishing target.
PNG (Portable Network Graphics) is a lossless raster image format created in 1996 as a patent-free alternative to GIF. It supports transparency, making it ideal for logos, icons, and web graphics.
Most desktop photo viewers (Windows Photos, macOS Preview, GIMP, Photoshop, Affinity Photo) open ARW natively. On mobile, iOS Photos and Google Photos display ARW in the gallery when supported by the OS. If the format is rare or new, convert to JPG or PNG first — both are universally readable — using our ARW to JPG or ARW to PNG converter.
PNG files open natively in all modern operating systems, web browsers, and image editors including Photoshop, GIMP, Paint.NET, and Canva.
Upload the ARW to KaijuConverter and pick a target format (JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, TIFF, BMP, SVG, PDF). The conversion runs in the browser via ImageMagick and returns a download in seconds. No account or installation required; both input and output delete automatically within two hours.
It depends on the task. JPG is the smallest file size for photographs; PNG is lossless with transparency; ARW has its own niche that may favour colour depth, animation, or encoding efficiency over one or both of those. For the final web publish, test all three and measure file size plus visible quality on real content.
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