Parallel Media Encoder Parallel Media Encoder
New · Canon RAW workflow support

Transcode Canon Cinema RAW Light to ProRes on Mac

Drop in your .CRM files and get back edit-ready ProRes — with your Canon color, exposure, and metadata intact. Built on Canon's own RAW engine, so it looks just the way you shot it.

Download Free See the color pipeline

Requires macOS 14.5 or later. Apple Silicon required.

EOS C500 Mark II · C300 Mark III · EOS R5 C · .CRM · Canon Log 2 / 3
Canon Sources
Cinema RAW Light HQ
Maximum latitude · finishing grade
.CRM
Cinema RAW Light ST
The everyday quality / size balance
.CRM
Cinema RAW Light LT
Smallest files · long takes, high volume
.CRM
Decode
Debayer
Color
Encode
Output Codecs
Apple ProRes
Proxy · LT · 422 · HQ · 4444 · 4444 XQ
Pro
H.265 / HEVC
Main10 · Main10 4:2:2 · HDR pass-through
Pro
DNxHR / DNxHD
LB · SQ · HQ · HQX · 444
Pro

Every Canon field, read straight from the clip

Drop a .CRM on PME and the Camera RAW panel populates from the file itself: camera model, capture resolution, bit depth, RAW type, recorded gamma and gamut, ISO, and white balance. No probing, no guessing.

Decode controls: As Shot or Custom, with the output gamma, color space, color temperature, tint, and exposure all adjustable.
As Shot matches the camera: leave it on the recorded look and your footage comes out exactly the way you shot it — no guesswork.
Or dial in a delivery look: switch to Rec.709 or an HDR space and PME bakes it in on encode — straight to a viewable ProRes, no grading app required.
Parallel Media Encoder Camera RAW panel showing a Canon Cinema RAW Light (.CRM) clip with recorded gamma, gamut, white balance, and color controls

Built for the Cinema EOS line

Cinema RAW Light .CRM files from the C500 Mark II, C300 Mark III, C70, EOS R5 C, C200, and C700 FF, all developed through Canon's official Cinema RAW Development SDK.

Camera Container Codec Resolution Supported
Canon EOS C500 Mark II CRM Cinema RAW Light Up to 5.9K full-frame
Canon EOS C300 Mark III CRM Cinema RAW Light Up to 4K Super 35 (DGO)
Canon EOS C70 CRM Cinema RAW Light Up to 4K Super 35 (DGO)
Canon EOS R5 C CRM Cinema RAW Light Up to 8K full-frame
Canon EOS C200 / C200B CRM Cinema RAW Light Up to 4K (Cinema RAW Light)
Canon EOS C700 FF CRM Cinema RAW Light Up to 5.9K full-frame

Newer bodies that record Cinema RAW Light to .CRM — including the EOS R5 and R5 Mark II — are handled the same way. Resolution, frame rate, ISO, and lens metadata are preserved end to end.

Cinema RAW Light HQ, ST, and LT: what's the difference?

Three quality levels of the same .CRM format, each a different trade between disk footprint and grading latitude. PME decodes all three identically.

Cinema RAW Light HQ

The highest-quality level, retaining the most highlight and shadow data. The largest .CRM files, with the most room to push a grade.

Best for: feature finishing, VFX hand-off, anything regraded.

Cinema RAW Light ST

Standard quality — Canon's everyday balance between image latitude and storage. The default choice for most Cinema EOS productions.

Best for: commercials, docs, episodic, most paid work.

Cinema RAW Light LT

The lightest level, with the smallest files. Keeps RAW flexibility while fitting long takes and high shoot volume onto a card.

Best for: long-form, multicam, high-throughput dailies.

Full Canon color pipeline, every delivery space

Read the gamma and gamut straight from the clip, or pick your own. Canon Log through HDR, four gamuts, with exposure and white balance you can dial in before encode.

Output Gamma
Rec.709

Standard HD broadcast / web delivery

Canon Log

Original Canon log curve for grading

Canon Log 2

Maximum dynamic range, the grading default

Canon Log 3

Log 2 latitude with an easier on-set grade

Wide DR

Canon's extended-range monitoring gamma

PQ (HDR)

BT.2100 PQ for HDR10 mastering

HLG (HDR)

Hybrid Log-Gamma for broadcast HDR

As Shot

Match the gamma the camera recorded

Color Space
Rec.709

Standard HD / web gamut

Cinema Gamut

Canon's widest gamut, full grading latitude

BT.2020

UHD / HDR wide gamut

DCI-P3

Digital cinema and HDR display mastering

White balance & tint

As Shot, or override color temperature (2000–15000 K) and tint.

Exposure & decode level

Adjust ISO/exposure, and decode at full, half, or quarter for fast proxies.

Leave everything on As Shot and PME matches exactly what the camera recorded — your footage comes out looking the way you shot it.

Canon color science

Developed by Canon's official Cinema RAW Development SDK

PME's .CRM pipeline isn't a reverse-engineered decoder. It develops every frame through Canon's own Cinema RAW Development SDK, accelerated on the Apple Silicon Metal GPU — the same color science Canon ships to post tools.

SDK

Canon Cinema RAW Development

.CRM frames are developed through Canon's official SDK, the same pipeline behind Canon's own RAW workflow tooling.

Acceleration

Metal GPU debayer

Develop runs on the Apple Silicon Metal GPU for high-throughput decode, with full, half, and quarter levels for fast proxies.

True to source

As Shot by default

PME reads the clip's recorded gamma and gamut, so the default output looks exactly the way you shot it.

Anamorphic desqueeze built in

Shooting anamorphic on Cinema EOS? PME desqueezes Cinema RAW Light at 1.33× or 2.0× during transcode, so your ProRes comes out at the right aspect ratio for edit and review — no extra round-trip.

Every ProRes flavor, picked for the job

Apple ProRes Proxy through 4444 XQ. Choose the bitrate and chroma that match what you're delivering.

Flavor Sampling Use case
ProRes Proxy 10-bit 4:2:2 Fast offline edit, dailies-to-edit pipelines
ProRes 422 LT 10-bit 4:2:2 Lower-bitrate broadcast deliverables
ProRes 422 10-bit 4:2:2 Standard online and master copies
ProRes 422 HQ 10-bit 4:2:2 The natural sibling for Canon dailies and review
ProRes 4444 12-bit 4:4:4 VFX hand-off, finishing, alpha-channel deliverables
ProRes 4444 XQ 12-bit 4:4:4 Highest-bandwidth ProRes, for archival and master grades

Canon footage is also encodable to H.264, H.265 (including Main10 4:2:2), and DNxHR/DNxHD if your delivery spec calls for them. See all encoding options.

All your shot details, carried through

Everything your Canon wrote into the clip — camera, resolution, recorded color, ISO, white balance, lens, and shot info — is read straight from the .CRM and passed into your output. Your dailies pipeline, edit, and DIT logs stay intact.

Camera modelResolutionBit depthRAW type (HQ/ST/LT)Frame rateRecorded gammaRecorded gamutISOColor tempTintLens modelFocal lengthApertureShutter angleShooting dateTimecode
Parallel Media Encoder metadata viewer showing full Canon Cinema RAW Light (.CRM) clip details — camera, resolution, color, ISO, white balance, and lens

Free to preview. $39 to encode.

Try every Canon RAW feature on real footage before you pay. The encode path is the only thing behind the Pro line.

Free
$0
forever
  • Import Cinema RAW Light .CRM (HQ/ST/LT)
  • Preview and scrub in full quality
  • Read full Canon metadata
Pro · one-time
$39
unlocks the Canon RAW encode path
  • Encode to any ProRes / H.265 / DNxHR
  • Every output gamma & gamut, exposure, white balance
  • Anamorphic desqueeze, watch folders, CLI, REST API
Buy Pro · $39 one-time

Canon Cinema RAW Light FAQ

What is Canon Cinema RAW Light (.CRM)?
Cinema RAW Light is Canon's internal RAW recording format, written to .CRM files. It captures the full sensor data of Canon Cinema EOS cameras at a fraction of the size of the original (external-only) Cinema RAW, so it can be recorded straight to a CFexpress or SD card in-camera. PME decodes .CRM through Canon's official Cinema RAW Development SDK and transcodes it to ProRes, H.265, or DNxHR.
Which Canon cameras does Parallel Media Encoder support?
PME handles .CRM files from the EOS C500 Mark II, C300 Mark III, C70, EOS R5 C, C200/C200B, and C700 FF. Newer bodies that record Cinema RAW Light to .CRM, including the EOS R5 and R5 Mark II, are handled the same way. Full sensor resolution, frame rate, ISO, white balance, and lens metadata are read straight from the clip.
What is the difference between Cinema RAW Light HQ, ST, and LT?
They are three quality levels of Cinema RAW Light, trading file size against latitude. RAW HQ keeps the most highlight and shadow data for finishing-grade work; RAW ST (standard) is the everyday balance of quality and storage; RAW LT (light) is the smallest, ideal for long takes and high-volume dailies. PME decodes all three the same way — drop the card in and transcode.
Does PME match Canon's color science?
Yes. PME develops .CRM through Canon's official Cinema RAW Development SDK, the same pipeline Canon ships to post tools, accelerated on the Apple Silicon Metal GPU. By default PME reads the clip's recorded gamma and gamut, so your footage comes out looking exactly the way you shot it — the color a colorist expects to receive.
Can I choose Canon Log 2 / Log 3 and the output color space?
Yes. You pick the output gamma — Canon Log, Canon Log 2, Canon Log 3, Wide DR, or HDR (PQ / HLG) — and the color space — Rec.709, Cinema Gamut, BT.2020, or DCI-P3. Leave it on "As Shot" to match what the camera recorded, or override for a specific deliverable. Color temperature, tint, and exposure are all adjustable before encode.
Does PME handle anamorphic Canon footage?
Yes. Cinema RAW Light shot with an anamorphic lens can be desqueezed during transcode at 1.33× or 2.0×, so your ProRes output is already at the correct aspect ratio for edit and review.
How much does Canon RAW support cost?
Free to import, preview, scrub, and read metadata. $39 one-time for PME Pro, which unlocks the .CRM encode path (any ProRes flavor, all output gammas and color spaces, exposure and white-balance control, anamorphic desqueeze, metadata writeout) along with the rest of the Pro feature set: DNxHR, custom presets, watch folders, CLI, and REST API.

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Free to preview Canon RAW footage. $39 to encode.

Download Parallel Media Encoder and drop a Cinema EOS card on it. See for yourself before you pay.

Download Free

Requires macOS 14.5 or later. Apple Silicon required.

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