PFM to SUN Converter

Change PFM format to SUN with our free tool

Drop files here. 1 GB maximum file size or Sign Up
to
Facebook Amazon Microsoft Tesla Nestle Walmart L'Oreal

Cloud-Powered

PFM to SUN conversion runs on Convertio's infrastructure, not your machine. Your device stays fast while the server handles the heavy lifting.

Nothing to Install

The converter lives in your browser — just navigate, upload PFM, select SUN, and grab the result. No desktop app needed.

Quick Turnaround

Get your SUN output within seconds of uploading PFM data. Cloud processing keeps conversions fast even for larger inputs.

How to convert PFM to SUN

1

Select files from Computer, Google Drive, Dropbox, URL or by dragging it on the page.

2

Choose sun or any other format you need as a result (more than 200 formats supported)

3

Let the file convert and you can download your sun file right afterwards

About formats

PFM (Portable Float Map) is a floating-point raster image format devised by Paul Debevec around 2001, designed to store high-dynamic-range image data with the simplicity of the Netpbm family of formats. PFM extends the PBM/PGM/PPM philosophy — minimal header, raw data, no compression — to 32-bit IEEE floating-point samples, providing direct access to HDR pixel values without the encoding overhead of formats like OpenEXR or the limited range of Radiance HDR's RGBE encoding. The file structure is deliberately minimal: a two-character magic number ('Pf' for grayscale, 'PF' for color), width and height on the next line, a scale/endianness indicator (negative for little-endian, positive for big-endian, with magnitude indicating scale factor), and then the raw 32-bit float data for each pixel. PFM files store one float per pixel for grayscale or three floats (RGB) per pixel for color, with no compression, alpha channel, or metadata support. The format emerged from the HDR imaging research community where Debevec's work on image-based lighting and light stage capture required a simple, unambiguous way to store linear floating-point radiance values that could be easily exchanged between research tools. One advantage is absolute simplicity for HDR data: PFM can be read and written in a few lines of code in any language that supports IEEE floats, with no library dependencies — ideal for research prototyping and quick data exchange between custom tools. The format's widespread adoption in the computer vision and computational photography research community is another practical strength — optical flow benchmarks (Middlebury), depth estimation datasets, and radiance field captures commonly use PFM. The format is supported by ImageMagick, OpenCV, HDR Shop, and Luminance HDR.
Developer: Paul Debevec
Initial release: 2001
SUN is a raster image format associated with Sun Microsystems workstations, encompassing both the Sun Raster format (.ras) and the Sun Icon format used for window system icons and cursors on SunOS and Solaris systems. Sun Raster files, identifiable by their 0x59a66a95 magic number, store bitmap images in 1-bit monochrome, 8-bit indexed color, 24-bit BGR, or 32-bit XBGR modes, with optional run-length encoding compression and a 32-byte header. The Sun Icon subset is a simpler text-based format used for small monochrome bitmaps — window icons, cursor images, and toolbar graphics — stored as C-language data arrays that could be directly compiled into X Window and SunView applications. These icon files begin with a comment block specifying width, height, and optionally hot spot coordinates (for cursor images), followed by hexadecimal pixel values in a format readable by both the C compiler and the iconedit tool. Sun workstations running SunOS and later Solaris were foundational platforms for Unix computing, networking, and the early internet, and the SUN image formats were integral to their graphical environments. One advantage is the format's dual text/binary nature: Sun Icons are valid C source code that can be #included directly into applications, a practical approach to resource embedding that predates modern asset management systems. The Sun Raster variant's simplicity provides another strength — the 32-byte header and straightforward encoding make it one of the easiest binary image formats to parse. SUN format files are supported by ImageMagick, GIMP, XnView, and Unix image viewing tools.
Developer: Sun Microsystems
Initial release: 1982

Frequently Asked Questions

Why convert PFM to SUN?

PFM is built for HDR and research pipelines — SUN conversion brings the image into a standard format any viewer or editor can handle.

What programs open SUN files?

SUN files can be opened in XnView, ImageMagick, Sun/Solaris workstation tools, and legacy Unix viewers.

Does the converter handle batch PFM uploads?

Absolutely. You can upload multiple PFM sources simultaneously and convert all of them to SUN in one go — no need to repeat the process.

Will my image quality survive the conversion?

Your original PFM pixel data is converted accurately to SUN. The output quality matches what the SUN format supports — no unnecessary degradation.

Is the conversion process fast?

Yes — PFM to SUN conversion on Convertio usually completes in seconds. Cloud-based processing handles the work without taxing your device.