RAW2TIFF(1) LibTIFF RAW2TIFF(1)
raw2tiff - create a TIFF file from a raw data file
raw2tiff [ options ] *input.raw output.tif
raw2tiff converts a raw byte sequence into TIFF. By default, the
TIFF image is created with data samples packed
(PlanarConfiguration=1), compressed with the PackBits algorithm
(Compression=32773), and with each strip no more than 8 kilobytes.
These characteristics can overridden, or explicitly specified with
the options described below.
-H number
Size of input image file header in bytes (0 by default). This
amount of data just will be skipped from the start of file
while reading.
-w number
Width of input image in pixels (can be guessed, see Guessing
the image geometry below).
option -b number
number of bands in input image (1 by default).
-d datatype
type of samples in input image, where datatype may be one of:
+----------+-------------------------+
|Data type | Description |
+----------+-------------------------+
|byte | 8-bit unsigned integer |
| | (default) |
+----------+-------------------------+
|short | 16-bit unsigned integer |
+----------+-------------------------+
|long | 32-bit unsigned integer |
+----------+-------------------------+
|sbyte | 8-bit signed integer |
+----------+-------------------------+
|sshort | 16-bit signed integer |
+----------+-------------------------+
|slong | 32-bit signed integer |
+----------+-------------------------+
|float | 32-bit IEEE floating |
| | point |
+----------+-------------------------+
|double | 64-bit IEEE floating |
| | point |
+----------+-------------------------+
-i config
type of sample interleaving in input image, where config may
be one of:
+--------------+------------------------+
|Configuration | Description |
+--------------+------------------------+
|pixel | pixel interleaved data |
| | (default) |
+--------------+------------------------+
|band | band interleaved data. |
+--------------+------------------------+
-p photo
photometric interpretation (color space) of the input image,
where photo may be one of:
+------------+---------------------------+
|Photometric | Description |
+------------+---------------------------+
|miniswhite | white color represented |
| | with 0 value |
+------------+---------------------------+
|minisblack | black color represented |
| | with 0 value (default) |
+------------+---------------------------+
|rgb | image has RGB color model |
+------------+---------------------------+
|cmyk | image has CMYK |
| | (separated) color model |
+------------+---------------------------+
|ycbcr | image has YCbCr color |
| | model |
+------------+---------------------------+
|cielab | image has CIE L*a*b color |
| | model |
+------------+---------------------------+
|icclab | image has ICC L*a*b color |
| | model |
+------------+---------------------------+
|itulab | image has ITU L*a*b color |
| | model |
+------------+---------------------------+
-s swap bytes fetched from the input file.
-L input data has LSB2MSB bit order (default).
-M input data has MSB2LSB bit order.
-c Specify a compression scheme to use when writing image data:
-c none for no compression, -c packbits for the PackBits
compression algorithm (the default), -c jpeg for the baseline
JPEG compression algorithm, -c zip for the Deflate compression
algorithm, -c lzw for Lempel-Ziv & Welch.
raw2tif can guess image width and height in case one or both of these
parameters are not specified. If you omit one of those parameters,
the complementary one will be calculated based on the file size
(taking into account header size, number of bands and data type). If
you omit both parameters, the statistical approach will be used.
Utility will compute correlation coefficient between two lines at the
image center using several appropriate line sizes and the highest
absolute value of the coefficient will indicate the right line size.
That is why you should be cautious with the very large images,
because guessing process may take a while (depending on your system
performance). Of course, the utility can't guess the header size,
number of bands and data type, so it should be specified manually. If
you don't know anything about your image, just try with the several
combinations of those options.
There is no magic, it is just a mathematical statistics, so it can be
wrong in some cases. But for most ordinary images guessing method
will work fine.
pal2rgb (1), tiffinfo (1), tiffcp (1), tiffmedian (1), libtiff
(3tiff)
LibTIFF contributors
1988-2025, LibTIFF contributors
4.7 March 7, 2026 RAW2TIFF(1)
NAME
raw2tiff - create a TIFF file from a raw data file
SYNOPSIS
raw2tiff [ options ] *input.raw output.tif
DESCRIPTION
raw2tiff converts a raw byte sequence into TIFF. By default, the
TIFF image is created with data samples packed
(PlanarConfiguration=1), compressed with the PackBits algorithm
(Compression=32773), and with each strip no more than 8 kilobytes.
These characteristics can overridden, or explicitly specified with
the options described below.
OPTIONS
-H number
Size of input image file header in bytes (0 by default). This
amount of data just will be skipped from the start of file
while reading.
-w number
Width of input image in pixels (can be guessed, see Guessing
the image geometry below).
option -b number
number of bands in input image (1 by default).
-d datatype
type of samples in input image, where datatype may be one of:
+----------+-------------------------+
|Data type | Description |
+----------+-------------------------+
|byte | 8-bit unsigned integer |
| | (default) |
+----------+-------------------------+
|short | 16-bit unsigned integer |
+----------+-------------------------+
|long | 32-bit unsigned integer |
+----------+-------------------------+
|sbyte | 8-bit signed integer |
+----------+-------------------------+
|sshort | 16-bit signed integer |
+----------+-------------------------+
|slong | 32-bit signed integer |
+----------+-------------------------+
|float | 32-bit IEEE floating |
| | point |
+----------+-------------------------+
|double | 64-bit IEEE floating |
| | point |
+----------+-------------------------+
-i config
type of sample interleaving in input image, where config may
be one of:
+--------------+------------------------+
|Configuration | Description |
+--------------+------------------------+
|pixel | pixel interleaved data |
| | (default) |
+--------------+------------------------+
|band | band interleaved data. |
+--------------+------------------------+
-p photo
photometric interpretation (color space) of the input image,
where photo may be one of:
+------------+---------------------------+
|Photometric | Description |
+------------+---------------------------+
|miniswhite | white color represented |
| | with 0 value |
+------------+---------------------------+
|minisblack | black color represented |
| | with 0 value (default) |
+------------+---------------------------+
|rgb | image has RGB color model |
+------------+---------------------------+
|cmyk | image has CMYK |
| | (separated) color model |
+------------+---------------------------+
|ycbcr | image has YCbCr color |
| | model |
+------------+---------------------------+
|cielab | image has CIE L*a*b color |
| | model |
+------------+---------------------------+
|icclab | image has ICC L*a*b color |
| | model |
+------------+---------------------------+
|itulab | image has ITU L*a*b color |
| | model |
+------------+---------------------------+
-s swap bytes fetched from the input file.
-L input data has LSB2MSB bit order (default).
-M input data has MSB2LSB bit order.
-c Specify a compression scheme to use when writing image data:
-c none for no compression, -c packbits for the PackBits
compression algorithm (the default), -c jpeg for the baseline
JPEG compression algorithm, -c zip for the Deflate compression
algorithm, -c lzw for Lempel-Ziv & Welch.
GUESSING THE IMAGE GEOMETRY
raw2tif can guess image width and height in case one or both of these
parameters are not specified. If you omit one of those parameters,
the complementary one will be calculated based on the file size
(taking into account header size, number of bands and data type). If
you omit both parameters, the statistical approach will be used.
Utility will compute correlation coefficient between two lines at the
image center using several appropriate line sizes and the highest
absolute value of the coefficient will indicate the right line size.
That is why you should be cautious with the very large images,
because guessing process may take a while (depending on your system
performance). Of course, the utility can't guess the header size,
number of bands and data type, so it should be specified manually. If
you don't know anything about your image, just try with the several
combinations of those options.
There is no magic, it is just a mathematical statistics, so it can be
wrong in some cases. But for most ordinary images guessing method
will work fine.
SEE ALSO
pal2rgb (1), tiffinfo (1), tiffcp (1), tiffmedian (1), libtiff
(3tiff)
AUTHOR
LibTIFF contributors
COPYRIGHT
1988-2025, LibTIFF contributors
4.7 March 7, 2026 RAW2TIFF(1)