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.pcd

Open PCD files and convert Kodak Photo CD to JPG

A .pcd file is a photo from a Kodak Photo CD: a lab scan of your film from the 1990s or 2000s.

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Contenta Converter results screen showing 32 converted photos and a before and after preview
The results screen of Contenta Converter: 32 photos converted in 47 seconds, with a before and after preview.
  1. Add your PCD filesDrop in single files or a whole folder.
  2. Pick output formatJPG, PNG, TIFF, PDF and more.
  3. Click ConvertEvery file converted in one pass.

Each file holds the same photo at several sizes, up to 3072×2048. Windows Photos cannot open it. Free viewers open one file at a time; Contenta Converter converts a whole disc to JPG at full resolution.

How to open a .PCD file on Windows

  1. IrfanView (free). Opens a single PCD file. Use Save As to keep that photo as a JPG.
  2. XnView (free). Also opens single PCD files. Fine for looking through a few photos.
  3. Contenta Converter, for a whole disc. Drop the Photo CD or its folder, pick JPG, PNG or TIFF, and every photo is converted at the full 3072×2048 size, not the 768×512 preview. Runs on Windows.

Before you convert PCD files

  1. What changes in the conversion
    A Photo CD scan is stored in Kodak's YCC colour space at up to 3072×2048 pixels. Converting to JPG, PNG or TIFF turns it into ordinary RGB at that size; JPG adds lossy compression, PNG and TIFF do not. Grain, dust and colour cast stay as they were scanned: the converter does not retouch. Nothing on the disc is changed.
  2. What Contenta Converter does with PCD
    Contenta Converter decodes the 16Base level, 3072×2048, of every .pcd file in one batch, and can resize, rename and add the scan date while it converts. The larger 6144×4096 level that some Pro Photo CD discs carry is not read, so those files also come out at 3072×2048.

The same photo, five outputs

Photo of a stage set with a bed, a small table and a checked sofaDSC_0001.NEF · 3900×2613
  • PNG.png1.9 s
    16.1 MB
  • AVIF.avif2.2 s
    2.02 MB
  • JPG.jpg1.7 s
    1.69 MB
  • WebP.webp1.7 s
    1.32 MB
  • JPEG XL.jxl1.7 s
    1.12 MB
One Nikon D60 RAW file converted to five formats, at quality 90 where the format has a quality setting. PNG is lossless, so it is the largest. Seconds are the median of three runs. Measured with the Contenta Converter 9.0.35 command line on an AMD Ryzen 9 3900X, 2026-09-30.
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Format

PCD

Company

Kodak
Description PCD (Photo CD) is Kodak's 1992 format for storing scanned photographs on CD-ROM. Each image is stored at five resolutions (192×128, 384×256, 768×512, 1536×1024, 3072×2048) in a single file, letting software pick the size it needs without resampling. Kodak offered PCD as a service — you mailed in film, got back a CD with digitized images. The product line ended in 2004, but the files persist in archives.
Benefits Multi-resolution design was ahead of its time — pick any of five sizes without server-side resizing. 12-bit color per channel at higher resolutions, YCC color space, Huffman coding. Decent compression for 1992.
Drawbacks Kodak discontinued Photo CD support in 2004. Most modern software opens the highest resolution stored but cannot write new PCD files. The format's quirks (YCC instead of RGB, reversed scan-line order on Pro PhotoCD) require specialized decoders; Contenta Converter PREMIUM handles this.

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PCD image organization

How to open PCD? How to process PCD? How to shrink PCD? How to reduce PCD? How to rename PCD automatically? How to organize PCD in sub-folders? How to recompress PCD? How to create a PDF photo album from PCD?

PCD image color processing

How to convert PCD to black and white? How to convert PCD to sepia? How to adjust the brightness of PCD? How to adjust the contrast of PCD? How to adjust the gamma of PCD? How to invert the colors of PCD? How to boost colors of PCD? How to boost the contrast of PCD?

PCD image processing

How to add a watermark to PCD? How to create animated GIF slideshows from PCD? How to create pencil/ink drawings from PCD? How to sharpen PCD? How to blur PCD? How to refocus PCD? How to denoise hot pixels from PCD? How to crop PCD? How to rotate PCD? How to flip PCD?

PCD image annotation

How to change the DPI resolution of PCD? How to modify the IPTC/XMP dates of PCD? How to modify the IPTC/XMP description of PCD? How to modify the IPTC/XMP location of PCD? How to modify the IPTC/XMP legal information of PCD? How to edit the IPTC/XMP workflow of PCD? How to edit the IPTC/XMP copyright of PCD?

Frequently Asked Questions about PCD

How do I open a PCD file on Windows?

Windows Photos cannot open PCD files, and most modern editors dropped support. The free viewers IrfanView and XnView open single PCD files. To convert a whole Kodak Photo CD to JPG in one pass, use Contenta Converter.

Can I open PCD files on a Mac?

Contenta Converter runs on Windows only; there is no Mac version. If you can use a Windows PC once, convert the disc to JPG there. The JPG files then open on any Mac.

Do I get the full resolution from my Photo CD?

Yes. Each PCD file stores the photo at several sizes. Contenta Converter decodes the largest one, 3072×2048 (16Base), not the small 768×512 preview, and saves it as JPG, PNG or TIFF.

Can Contenta Converter read the disc directly?

Yes. Put the Photo CD in a drive and drop its PHOTO_CD/IMAGES folder, or a copy of it, onto the app. Every .pcd is converted in one pass and the disc is only read. Copying the folder to the PC first is quicker when the drive is slow.

Need more than PCD conversion? Browse supported cameras that produce PCD files below, or:

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