How to convert NEF to TGA
- Add your .NEF file - drop it in the box above or click to browse.
- Convert it to .TGA in a few seconds.
- Download your new .TGA file.
What to expect
- Pixels are stored uncompressed or with lossless RLE, so there are no compression artifacts, but files can be large.
- Raw latitude is lost when the NEF is developed to fixed pixels.
- TGA supports an alpha channel, but a camera photo has no transparency data to fill it.
Frequently asked questions
Does TGA keep the image quality of a NEF?
TGA stores pixels uncompressed or with lossless RLE, so the rendered image is kept without compression artifacts. It does not retain the raw editing latitude, since the
NEF is demosaiced and developed during conversion.Why convert a NEF to TGA?
NEF is Nikon's proprietary raw format, while TGA (Truevision Targa) is widely used in game and video pipelines, partly because it carries a clean alpha channel. Conversion renders the raw data into a format those pipelines accept.Where does a TGA file open?
Free tools such as GIMP, IrfanView and Paint.NET open TGA. It is an established raster format, though not natively shown by web browsers.
What is lost going from NEF to TGA?
The raw sensor data and non-destructive editing latitude are baked into fixed pixels. A camera NEF has no transparency to carry into TGA's alpha channel, and raw-specific metadata is not preserved.
