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ARW at a glance
ARW
Convert to ARW when preserving Sony camera originals or returning processed material to a Sony raw workflow.
It is useful for archival retention, high-latitude editing, and non-destructive photographic post-processing.
HDV at a glance
HDV
HDV tape capture and digitization, prosumer HD archive conversion, and migration of HDV camcorder footage to modern editing formats.
Format comparison
| Feature | ARW | HDV |
|---|---|---|
| File type | Image | Video |
| Extensions |
|
|
| MIME type |
|
|
| Compression / quality | raw | depends |
| File size characteristics | large | large |
| Compatibility | limited | moderate |
| Editability | high | limited |
| Created year | 2006 | 2003 |
| Inventor | Sony | JVC, Sony, Canon, Sharp (HDV consortium) |
| Status | proprietary | legacy |
| Transparency | ❌ | ❌ |
| Animation | ❌ | ❌ |
| Primary use cases |
|
|
| Common software |
|
|
| Archival suitability | strong | moderate |
| Metadata handling | rich | moderate |
| Delivery profile | limited | strong |
| Workflow fit | source | delivery |
| Layer support | ❌ | ❌ |
| Camera raw data | ✔️ | ❌ |
| HDR support | ❌ | ❌ |
| Streaming ready | ❌ | ❌ |
When to use each format
When to use ARW
- capture ingest
- editing
- web or print delivery
- Preserve capture-stage sensor information.
When to use HDV
- editing
- mastering
- streaming delivery
- Brought HD recording to the affordable DV tape ecosystem.
FAQs
Why convert ARW to HDV?
HDV tape capture and digitization, prosumer HD archive conversion, and migration of HDV camcorder footage to modern editing formats.
What changes when converting ARW to HDV?
This conversion changes how the format behaves in downstream tools and delivery environments.
Quality profile changes from raw in ARW to depends in HDV. Editability profile changes from high in ARW to limited in HDV. Compatibility profile changes from limited in ARW to moderate in HDV. Archival profile changes from strong in ARW to moderate in HDV. Metadata profile changes from rich in ARW to moderate in HDV. Delivery profile changes from limited in ARW to strong in HDV. Workflow profile changes from source in ARW to delivery in HDV.
Moving to HDV removes camera raw data.
What should I review after converting ARW to HDV?
Check the exported file for MPEG-2 long-GOP compression makes frame-accurate editing more complex than DV's intra-frame approach.; Tape-based workflow is now obsolete for most production scenarios.; Two incompatible resolution profiles (720p vs 1080i) created fragmentation..