PFM to TAR.BZ2 Converter
Processing entirely on your device — large files may take a moment.
Portable Float Map and Bzip2-compressed Tar exist for different jobs: PFM (Portable Float Map) stores pixels as raw 32-bit floats — the lossless hand-off format for HDR pipelines, radiance research and render passes, riding the same family spirit as PBM/PGM/PPM. Produce a TAR.BZ2 when a mirror, build script or legacy toolchain expects the classic .tar.bz2 release artifact.
This converter runs entirely in your browser using WebAssembly — your files never leave your device, nothing is uploaded, and there are no watermarks, sign-ups or queues. Drop in several files at once to convert them as a batch.
How PFM compares to TAR.BZ2
| PFM | TAR.BZ2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | None (raw floats) | Bzip2 (block-sorting) |
| Best for | HDR interchange, render passes | Legacy release artifacts |
How to convert PFM to TAR.BZ2
- 1
Select your files
Select your PFM file — it never leaves your device.
- 2
Convert instantly
The engine packs the file, byte for byte, into a TAR.BZ2 container — no re-encoding, no quality change.
- 3
Download results
Download the finished TAR.BZ2 archive.
About the PFM format
PFM (Portable Float Map) stores pixels as raw 32-bit floating-point values — no palette, no compression tricks, just the numbers. It belongs to the Netpbm family (PBM/PGM/PPM) and is the lingua franca for handing high-dynamic-range data between renderers, tone-mapping experiments and radiance research scripts.
Because the values are floats, a PFM can hold sunlight and candlelight in the same image without clipping. Viewers rarely open it directly: convert to PNG or JPG to get a tone-mapped preview of the same data.
+Strengths
- ✓Full floating-point precision
- ✓Dead-simple text/binary layout
- ✓Widely read by research tooling
!Limitations
- −Enormous files (16 bytes per pixel)
- −Almost no viewer support
About the TAR.BZ2 format
TAR.BZ2 pairs the tar container with bzip2 compression — the classic release artifact of the 2000s Unix world. Bzip2's block-sorting algorithm compresses text and source trees noticeably tighter than gzip, which is why distribution mirrors and source releases favoured it for years.
Today it has largely ceded the top spot to TAR.XZ (smaller) and tar.gz (faster), but countless build scripts, mirrors and legacy toolchains still expect the exact .tar.bz2 artifact — and producing it is a matter of running the tar through a bzip2 encoder.
+Strengths
- ✓Tighter than gzip on text and source trees
- ✓Classic, universally supported on Unix-like systems
- ✓Deterministic, well-understood artifact for releases
!Limitations
- −Slow compression compared to gzip/zstd
- −Larger than TAR.XZ for the same content
- −Single stream — no random file access
Why convert PFM to TAR.BZ2?
Converting makes sense where the strengths of TAR.BZ2 meet what PFM cannot give you. Tighter than gzip on text and source trees Meanwhile Enormous files (16 bytes per pixel) One pass through the converter above puts your file on the right side of that trade-off.
Frequently asked questions
Is this PFM to TAR.BZ2 converter really free?
Yes — completely free, with no sign-up, no watermark and no daily conversion limits. The site is supported by advertising.
Are my files uploaded to a server?
No. The conversion runs entirely inside your browser using WebAssembly, so your files never leave your device — that is what makes it instant and private.
Does it work on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android?
Yes. Anything with a modern browser works: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. No software installation is required.
Will I lose quality converting PFM to TAR.BZ2?
No — TAR.BZ2 is a lossless format, so every pixel of the converted image matches your original PFM file. You can also adjust the quality/size balance before converting when the target format supports compression.
What happens to EXIF data and other metadata?
Conversions here re-encode the image, and re-encoding generally does not carry the original metadata over. If the EXIF data of your PFM files matters (camera model, GPS, timestamps), keep the original file as the master and treat the converted copy as the shareable version.
Will transparent areas survive the conversion to TAR.BZ2?
Transparency is kept whenever TAR.BZ2 actually supports an alpha channel. If the target format has none (like JPG), transparent areas are flattened onto a white background — that is a property of the format, not of this tool.