Why Convert PNG to EXR?
PNG files work great for web graphics and general use, but professional VFX and compositing workflows demand more. OpenEXR (EXR) was developed by Industrial Light & Magic specifically for digital visual effects, and it remains the industry standard for film, animation, and high-end post-production.
When you need to integrate PNG images into a professional pipeline-whether in Nuke, After Effects, Fusion, or DaVinci Resolve-converting to EXR prepares your assets for floating-point precision and HDR-capable workflows. In our testing, EXR files integrate seamlessly with multi-channel compositing setups where PNG files would create bottlenecks.
How to Convert PNG to EXR
- Upload your PNG file - Drag and drop or click to select your image
- Select EXR as output - Choose OpenEXR format for professional workflows
- Download your EXR - Your file is ready for compositing applications
The conversion happens in your browser. No software installation, no account creation-just upload and convert.
PNG vs EXR: Technical Comparison
Understanding the differences helps you decide when conversion makes sense:
| Feature | PNG | EXR |
|---|---|---|
| Bit Depth | 8-bit or 16-bit integer | 16-bit half-float or 32-bit float |
| Dynamic Range | Standard (SDR) | High Dynamic Range (HDR) |
| Color Precision | 256-65,536 values per channel | 1,024 values per stop over 30+ stops |
| Alpha Channel | Yes (8-bit or 16-bit) | Yes (floating-point precision) |
| Multi-Channel | RGBA only | Unlimited arbitrary channels |
| Industry Use | Web, general graphics | VFX, film, professional compositing |
In our testing, the floating-point precision of EXR provides significantly more flexibility in compositing operations. Operations like color grading, exposure adjustments, and blending produce cleaner results without the banding artifacts that can occur with integer-based formats.
Professional Use Cases
VFX Pipeline Integration
When working in Nuke, Fusion, or other node-based compositors, EXR is the expected format. Converting PNG source material to EXR ensures your assets match the pipeline's working color space. Nuke automatically promotes all images to 32-bit float internally, so having EXR inputs maintains consistency throughout your composite.
After Effects HDR Projects
If you're working in After Effects with a 32-bit project workspace, EXR files let you take full advantage of linear light compositing. When working in linear, you must be in floating point-and EXR delivers exactly that. The math for operations like Add and Screen works correctly with linear light values.
Game Development Asset Prep
Game engines increasingly support HDR textures and lighting. Converting PNG assets to EXR prepares them for HDR lighting workflows in Unreal Engine, Unity, or custom engines that support floating-point textures.
Photography HDR Workflows
High-end photography workflows sometimes require floating-point precision for extreme exposure adjustments. Converting 16-bit PNG exports from Photoshop to EXR gives you more headroom in downstream compositing applications.
What Happens During Conversion
When converting PNG to EXR, your pixel data transforms from integer-based storage to floating-point representation. Here's what that means practically:
- 8-bit PNG to EXR - Your 0-255 values map to 0.0-1.0 in floating-point, with room for values beyond that range in compositing
- 16-bit PNG to EXR - Your 0-65535 values gain floating-point precision and HDR capability
- Alpha channel - Preserved and converted to floating-point for smoother compositing operations
- Color space - Maintained as-is; apply color space conversions in your compositing application
Important: Converting PNG to EXR doesn't magically create HDR data from SDR source material. What you gain is the ability to perform floating-point operations and integrate into HDR pipelines. The original dynamic range of your PNG is preserved, not expanded.
Alternative Conversions
Depending on your specific needs, other formats might suit your workflow better:
- PNG to HDR - For Radiance HDR format if your pipeline requires .hdr files instead of .exr
- PNG to TIFF - For 16-bit workflows that don't require floating-point precision, TIFF with LZW compression offers excellent compatibility
- PNG to TGA - For game engines and older pipelines that expect Targa format
For most professional VFX work, EXR remains the best choice due to its universal adoption in high-end facilities.
Software Compatibility
EXR files work with virtually all professional compositing and VFX applications:
- Foundry Nuke - Native EXR support with full multi-channel capabilities
- Adobe After Effects - Full EXR support in 32-bit projects
- DaVinci Resolve - Import and export EXR for color grading
- Blender - EXR support for rendering and compositing
- Fusion - Native EXR integration
- Photoshop - EXR support via plugins or native in recent versions
In our testing, converted EXR files opened correctly in all major compositing applications without compatibility issues.
Batch Conversion
Working with multiple PNG files? Upload your entire batch and convert them all to EXR at once. This is particularly useful when preparing image sequences for compositing-converting a full shot's worth of frames takes just minutes rather than processing each file individually.