Convert DICOM to JPG
A DICOM file stores far more than a picture. Alongside the pixel data it carries window center, window width, rescale slope and intercept, photometric interpretation, and dozens of other tags the radiology software uses to display the image correctly. A naive extraction — treating the raw bytes as grayscale pixels — produces a useless black or overexposed image for almost every clinical modality.
This converter reads the DICOM tags, applies the correct rescale (m·x + b) and then the VOI window (center ± width/2) before mapping to 8-bit grayscale. The result is the same representation the radiologist reviewed: proper contrast, proper brightness. MONOCHROME1 images (where high values are dark, common in some X-ray systems) are automatically inverted.
Everything runs in your browser. The DICOM file — and the patient name, ID, study date, and other PHI embedded in it — never leaves your machine.
Open the converter — free, no upload
How to get DICOM files from a hospital CD
- Insert the imaging CD. On Windows, open File Explorer; on macOS, it mounts as a disk.
- Look for files with the .dcm extension, or a folder named DICOM, IMAGES, or similar.
- Copy the .dcm files to your Desktop or another folder.
- Drop them into the converter above.
Questions
Why does my DICOM look black when I open it in Preview or Photos?
Those apps don't understand DICOM's 12- or 16-bit pixel data or its windowing tags. They render the raw values as if they were 8-bit, which produces near-black images for most CT or MRI data. A proper DICOM converter applies windowing first, then maps to 8-bit.
Is there a size limit?
Only your device's available memory. No file ever uploads, so there is no server cap.
Will the JPG look the same as what the radiologist saw?
The converter uses the window center and width stored in the DICOM tags — the same values the radiologist's workstation used. Results are visually equivalent to the clinical display.