How to view a .EXR file online
No app, no account, no upload.
Open your .EXR
Drag a .EXR file from Blender, Nuke, Houdini, a 360° camera or an HDRI library onto the viewer, or choose it from your device. It's decoded right here.
View and set the exposure
We pick a sensible exposure automatically. Slide it to reveal the sun's disc or the darkest corner, and compare tone curves or the false-color view.
Save a PNG or JPG
Export the tone-mapped image for sharing, thumbnails or a quick client preview.
What is a .EXR file?
Everything worth knowing about OpenEXR Image.
An EXR file is a high-dynamic-range image created by Industrial Light & Magic and now an open standard used across film and VFX. To open one free, use Blender, GIMP, or Krita. To share it as a normal image, export to PNG or JPG; you must apply tone-mapping first, since raw EXR values exceed what 8-bit formats can hold.
Programs that open .EXR files
- Windows
- Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, Blender, Affinity Photo, Krita, openexr-viewer
- macOS
- Blender, Preview, Affinity Photo
- Linux
- Blender, darktable, OpenImageIO (oiiotool / iv)
- Web
- Online EXR viewers (ImageToStl / Jumpshare)
| Full name | OpenEXR Image |
|---|---|
| Developer | Industrial Light & Magic (now maintained by the Academy Software Foundation) |
| First released | 2003 (released as open source by ILM; later an ASWF project) |
| Category | Images |
| MIME type | image/x-exr |
| Signature | 76 2F 31 01 (magic number 0x76 0x2f 0x31 0x01 (decimal 20000630)) |
Related viewers
More free tools for images and graphics.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my .EXR file look dark or washed out elsewhere?
Most image viewers show HDR files without any exposure control, so they look too dark or clipped. Here you can set the exposure and tone curve yourself, or press Auto to center the average brightness on mid-gray.
What do the pixel values mean?
Hover the image to read the linear light values (1.0 = diffuse white) and how many stops brighter or darker than mid-gray each pixel is. Values above 1.0 are highlights a normal JPG can't hold.
What is false color?
A diagnostic view that paints each pixel by brightness in stops: blue for deep shadows, green around mid-gray, red and white for highlights. It's how cinematographers and lighting artists check exposure.
Is my .EXR file uploaded?
No. EXR, HDR and PFM files are decoded for you. The decoder is downloaded from a public CDN.
Can I save the HDR as HDR?
The export is the tone-mapped 8-bit image (PNG, JPG or WEBP) at your chosen exposure. Converting between HDR formats is coming soon.
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