Can heic.now read CR2 files from very new Canon bodies?

CR2 is Canon's Raw image format used by every Canon DSLR from 2004 to roughly 2018 — the 5D Mark II/III/IV, 6D, 7D, 70D/80D/90D, the Rebel line, and most pro EOS bodies of that era. CR2 files contain the unprocessed sensor data plus a JPEG preview, embedded EXIF, and lens-correction metadata. Converting to HEIC runs the full demosaic and tone-curve pipeline and encodes the result with HEVC — producing a finished image at roughly half the size of an equivalent JPG export.

The strongest use case is personal archiving in the Apple ecosystem. A decade of Canon shoots converted to HEIC takes half the iCloud or disk space of JPG at the same visual quality, and HEIC's 10-bit capability preserves more of the sensor's tonal range than 8-bit JPEG can. Apple Photos, Preview, and macOS Quick Look all treat the output as a first-class citizen.

For client delivery, be careful: photo printers, photo books, online labs, and most upload forms accept JPG only — a HEIC won't upload anywhere outside Apple-aware software, and Windows recipients need a paid codec. Convert to HEIC for your own library; deliver in JPG when the audience is mixed.

Reasons to convert CR2 to HEIC usually come down to compatibility, file-size, or specific feature requirements. Common situations:

• An app or platform only accepts HEIC uploads.
• You need a feature unique to HEIC (e.g. transparency, vector scaling, animation, multi-page pages, etc.) that CR2 doesn't provide.
• You're optimising file size — modern formats often produce smaller files than the older format you started with.
• You need a single archival format across a project so files behave consistently in the same viewer.

1. Open the CR2 → HEIC tool on heic.now.
2. Drag your CR2 file onto the drop zone, or click Select files. You can drop a whole folder of files at once.
3. The output is fixed to HEIC. If the format supports extra options (page size, transparency background, quality, EXIF stripping), tweak them in the right-hand panel.
4. Click Convert. The job runs on our server and finishes in a few seconds for typical photos.
5. Download the result. Files stay in storage for 24 hours and are then permanently deleted.

The entire flow is free for the first 10 jobs per day with no signup required. A free account doubles that quota; a premium plan removes the limit entirely.

• Use the camera's 'as-shot' white balance unless your CR2 was clearly shot under mixed lighting — the in-camera setting reflects the photographer's intent.
• Quality 85–90 in HEIC visually matches Canon's Q95 in-camera JPGs at roughly half the bytes — going higher mostly wastes space.
• For a library you'll browse on Apple devices, batch-convert at full resolution — HEIC's efficiency means even 30 MP files stay manageable.
• Always keep the CR2 originals. If you need a recrop or colour tweak in a year, you can't recover detail from the HEIC — only the CR2 gives you that latitude.
• If you need a TIFF for retouching, convert CR2 to TIFF separately — HEIC bakes the lossy compression in permanently.