CR2 Photos Not Opening, How Do I Fix and Open CR2? Your Guide Is Here

CR2 is a raw image format of Canon camera photos. When you take a picture with a Canon camera, it will produce a raw image in CR2 format. So what exactly CR2 photo is and how to open a CR2 photo on a computer, camera, or photoshop? And what to do if the CR2 photos are not opening? 

Follow this page, all your questions will be answered here. 

1. What Is the CR2 File?

CR2, known as Canon RAW Version 2, is an image file generated by Canon's digital camera. CR2 file is a high-quality, uncompressed, and large file, based on the TIFF file specification. As a RAW image file format, CR2 files are used in Canon Digital Cameras. 

Besides a RAW image format, CR2 files are also widely used by a 3D modeling program called Poser. The Poser 2R2 files contain information about human details like joints and bones, and where and how much they bend.

2. Error: CR2 Photos Not Opening, Why Is That? 

According to some Canon users, they encountered an error that the CR2 photos are not opening on their devices. Here are some specific symptoms:

• Raw images - CR2 cannot be opened on the computer
• Cannot open CR2 in photoshop and the camera
• Cannot open raw CR2 pictures
• CR2 raw files not opening

So why are the CR2 photos not opening? Here is a list of all possible reasons：

• Programs such as Adobe photoshop, lightroom, photoshop elements, or image editing programs are not updated with the RAW image file.
• CR2 is not opened with its image editing, viewing, converting software - Digital Photo Professional and Canon EOS File Viewer Utility.
• Image editing or viewing programs on your computer doesn't support CR2 files.
• CR2 photos are corrupted.

So how to fix CR2 photos not opening issue? Go to the next part and follow the fixes one by one for help. 

3. How Do I Fix CR2 Photos Not Opening Error?

It doesn't matter if you don't know why is CR2 not opening on your computer, camera, or PhotoShop. Follow the below fixes one by one, you'll get rid of this issue and open CR2 photos successfully:

Fix 1. Open CR2 with Correct Programs

Sometimes, the reason why you are unable to open the CR2 raw images is that you are not using the correct application to open a CR2 photo file.

There is what to do:

Step 1. Use a CR2 supported image viewer or editor:

• Digital Photo Professional and Canon EOS File Viewer Utility
• Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, Photoshop Elements, IPhoto or Aperture, etc.

Note that you need to go to Adobe's site to download the latest camera RAW update, a plugin, so to open the CR2 or CR3, etc., raw image files.

Step 2. Export the CR2 Raw images to a computer.

Step 3. Run the photo or image viewer or editing utility to open CR2 files.

Fix 2. Convert CR2 to JPG, JPEG

Note that if you didn't install an Adobe Photoshop or the Canon image viewer, or if the image viewers/editors in Fix 1 doesn't open the CR2 files, try this fix - Convert CR2 to JPG.

Here are the steps of how to do so:

Step 1. Create a copied version of the target CR2 photos.

Step 2. Move the copied CR2 image to another location, such as Desktop.

Step 3. Convert CR2 to JPG:

To do so, you have two options:

• Option 1. Right-click to rename the CR2 image > Change its file extension to .jpg > Save the changes.
• Option 2. Use a CR2 to JPG converter, such as Zamzar, or a file converter > Convert CR2 to JPG.

Step 4. Open the converted JPG file using the current image or photos viewer or editor on your computer. 

If the above two methods worked, stop here. If not, a high reason is that the CR2 photo itself is corrupted. You can follow the next fix to repair the corrupted CR2 photos and make them openable.

Fix 3. Repair Corrupted CR2 Photos

To repair corrupted CR2 photos, you'll need to turn to a professional image repair tool for help. Simply changing the image file extension or converting photos into another format doesn't work at all.

Here, EaseUS Fixo Photo Repair with its photo repair feature is capable of help. It recovers and repairs your image files with original quality. See what can you do with it:

Let's start repair your CR2 photos which are not opening now:

Step 1. Launch Fixo on your computer. You can choose "Photo Repair" to repair photos that cannot be opened, partially missing, etc. Click "Add Photos" to select corrupted photos.

Step 2. You can repair multiple photos at once by clicking the "Repair All" button. If you want to repair one photo, move your pointer to the target photo and choose "Repair".

Step 3. You can click on the eye icon to preview the photos and click "Save" to save a selected photo. Choose "Save All" to save all the repaired images. Click "View Repaired" to locate the repaired folder.

Note that if your photos were not opening on your camera SD card, save the repaired CR2 photos to another safe location. So it is to the ones on your computer.

CR2 Photos Not Opening Error Is Fixable, Follow to Make It Openable Now

On this page, we explained what is CR2 photos, what may cause your CR2 photos not opening, and 3 reliable fixes to repair CR2 images to a good state. 

It doesn't matter if you know the causes of CR2 images not opening errors. But you must know how to deal with the issue. Here is the right way to resolve this issue when your photos or images are not opening:

1. 1st. Use a compatible image or photo viewer, editor to open the image.
2. 2nd. Create a copy of the source image, convert the copied image to a normal image format, such as .jpg, .png, etc.
3. 3rd. When both two methods don't work, turn to a reliable picture or photo image repair tool for help.

Either online or desktop image repair application will do. As recommended, the EaseUS Fixo repair tool with its Image Repair feature can help.

Last, as long as your CR2 photos are important, creating a regular backup or save a copy of these files to an external hard drive can both key your files secure and image playable with high quality.