The new converter box API allows to process RAW format from Canon digital cameras CR2.

The output can be an uncompressed color tiff or one of the standard converter box output: JPEG, JPEG2000, bitonal tiff with G4 compression. Decoding of a CR2 file uses advanced debayering algorithm with 3 levels of quality.

It is possible to adjust custom color correction, white balance and gamma correction while decoding the pixels from raw format. The additional information from the CR2 header can also be stored. The Canon camera delivers JPEG or CR2 format images.

The CR2 is a Canon specific lossless compressed image and JPEG is standard lossy compressed image.

Using CR2 format for compression or processing in application level, instead of lossy JPEG, causes better image quality of outgoing image.