XV to SUN Converter

XV to SUN online — seamless format conversion

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Format Flexibility

Beyond SUN, Convertio supports dozens of other output formats for your XV files. Explore the full format list.

Simple Workflow

Designed for simplicity. Select your XV file, choose SUN output, and the converter handles everything else.

Fully Browser-Based

No software to install, no plugins required. Open Convertio in any browser and convert XV to SUN immediately.

How to convert XV 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

XV is an alternate file extension for the VIFF (Visualization Image File Format) developed by Khoral Research as part of the Khoros scientific image processing environment, which originated at the University of New Mexico around 1990. The .xv extension and the .viff extension refer to the same underlying format — a container with a 1024-byte header encoding image dimensions, data type (from single-bit to double-precision float and complex numbers), color space, band count, and optional spatial location metadata, followed by color map data and pixel values. The XV extension became common on systems where Khoros was installed alongside other X Window System tools, and in some research communities .xv was preferred over .viff as a shorter alternative. Khoros itself was a pioneering visual programming system where scientists assembled image processing pipelines by wiring together processing nodes in a graphical canvas — an approach that predated and influenced similar environments in MATLAB, LabVIEW, and commercial remote sensing packages. One advantage of the VIFF/XV format is its ability to store data at scientific precision levels — floating-point and complex number pixel values preserve measurement accuracy that would be lost in photographic formats limited to 8-bit or 16-bit integers, making it valuable for spectral analysis, computational physics output, and satellite imagery. The multi-band architecture provides another strength, allowing a single file to hold dozens of spectral channels from multispectral or hyperspectral sensors without splitting data across multiple files. XV files are supported by ImageMagick and can be converted to modern image formats for visualization or publication.
Developer: Khoral Research
Initial release: 1990
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 XV to SUN?

Transform specialized XV data into SUN so colleagues and clients can view it without niche software.

How do I open SUN files?

You can open SUN with GIMP, XnView, Sun workstations. No specialized software is needed on most modern systems.

Do I need to install anything?

Nothing to install. The converter operates entirely online in your browser — no plugins, extensions, or software.

Is XV to SUN conversion accurate?

Convertio preserves the visual content from your XV data during conversion — the SUN output faithfully represents the source.

Can I use this converter on any operating system?

The tool is browser-based and works on Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, and mobile platforms — no OS-specific software needed.

What platforms support this conversion?

No platform restrictions — if your device has a browser, you can convert XV to SUN on Convertio.