Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your GRAY file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.
Convert GRAY to another file type
To convert GRAY grayscale images to another format, you need ImageMagick or other Raster Image software.
Convert a file to GRAY
To convert other file formats to the "Raw Image File" file type, you need software like ImageMagick or a similar tool.
About GRAY files
The .GRAY file format contains raw, uncompressed grayscale image data. It is a generic, headerless format used in scientific imaging, medical scans, and custom developer pipelines. Because it stores pure pixel values without compression, the files can be quite large. Software like Adobe Photoshop or ImageMagick can open and process these files. The biggest disadvantage of a .GRAY file is its lack of metadata. Standard image files like .JPG or .PNG include a header that tells the software the image's width, height, and color depth. A .GRAY file has no header. If you do not know the exact dimensions and bit depth (e.g., 8-bit or 16-bit), the image will look like scrambled noise. It is not supported by web browsers or standard operating system image viewers, making it frustrating for general users. Converting a .GRAY file to a standard format is highly recommended for sharing and viewing. The best conversion target is .PNG, which supports lossless compression and grayscale color profiles without degrading the original data. If you need a smaller file for the web, convert it to .JPG, though this introduces lossy compression artifacts. For professional archiving, .TIFF is an excellent choice. Standard online converters often fail to process .GRAY files because they cannot automatically detect the missing dimensions and treat it as an unknown binary file. Just drag and drop your file onto convert.guru to identify the format, view it, and convert it when possible. If our analysis detects the underlying byte structure, viewing or conversion may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your GRAY file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted JPG, ADVANCED-POTION-MAKING, JPG_128X160, THU, RAD, REM and RGB files.
FAQ
If you want to convert GRAY file to RAD, REM, RGB, JPG, PDF, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, TIF, WEBP or ICO, you can use ImageMagick or similar software from the "Raw Grayscale Image Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert RAW, PNG, AI, NEF, PSB, DNG, SVG, GIF, EPS, JPG, ARW or PDF files to GRAY, try ImageMagick or another comparable tool in the "Raw Grayscale Image Storage" category.
The GRAY Converter Story
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our GRAY converter.