Repair corrupt RAW photos (NEF, CR2 etc.) or extract JPEG from JPG files
Note: technically RAW files are not repaired. All JPEG-Repair does is scan the corrupt RAW photo for embedded JPEG data > validate that data > save the data to a JPEG file. JPEG-Repair can extract embedded JPEGs from damaged JPEG files too.
There are several tools available to extract embedded JPEGs from RAW photos. The difference between those and JPEG-Repair is that the latter can also do this if RAW photos are corrupted.
To repair RAW photos use the tool Extract JPEG.
Steps to extract JPEGs from corrupted RAW photos:
- Select a tool > Pick Extract JPEG
- Click folder icon
- Browse to the folder containing the corrupted RAW file(s) and select those you want to extract embedded JPEGs from. Set a minimum resolution!
- Click Repair.
- JPEG repair will automatically save repaired files. It also shows previews in the main screen. If there were any errors JPEG-Repair shows an error log window.
Select a minimum resolution, first one below full frame size of the camera (check camera specs). In general 3 MP already skips lower resolution embedded previews
For RAW files select a minimum resolution, probably > 1.9 (MP) to skip lower resolution thumbnails and medium sized previews. Many RAW photo formats contain a full size JPEG. If this setting is set to a too low value, JPEG-Repair may simply extract the medium sized preview. If too high it will skip every JPEG it comes across. So, if the documentation of you camera specifies 3872 x 2592 embedded JPEGs, pick 6.0 (3008 x 2000) from the drop down list.
- JPEG-Repair will get to work and save files using the following format: OriginalName-1.JPG. For each file it is able to repair it will show a preview and certain details such as resolution.
- If there were any errors during the repair, JPEG-Repair shows an error log window.
Error log after RAW file repair. Invalid markers tells the embedded JPEGs are corrupt themselves too.