RapidRAW icon
RapidRAW icon

RapidRAW

GPU-accelerated RAW photo editor for Windows, macOS, and Linux featuring non-destructive workflow, AI-driven masking tools, 32-bit precision, advanced color grading, tonal controls, batch operations, preset system, customizable interface, and comprehensive export options.

RapidRAW screenshot 1

Cost / License

Application type

Platforms

  • Mac
  • Windows
  • Linux
  • Flathub
  • Flatpak
71likes
0articles
Save

Features

Properties

  1.  Lightweight
  2.  Customizable
  3.  Privacy focused
  4.  AI-Powered

Features

  1.  Non Destructive Editing
  2.  No registration required
  3.  Ad-free
  4.  Dark Mode
  5.  Image Processing
  6.  Image Masking
  7.  Presets
  8.  Hardware Accelerated
  9.  Denoise
  10.  Live Preview
  11.  Works Offline
  12.  Built-in Color Picker
  13.  Batch Editing
  14.  Colour Grading
  15.  No Tracking
  16.  GPU Acceleration
  17.  Undo and redo
  18.  Batch processing

RapidRAW News & Activities

Highlights All activities

Recent News

No news, maybe you know any news worth sharing?

Share a News Tip

Recent activities

  • Grain Photo icon
    Mauricio B. Holguin added RapidRAW as alternative to Grain Photo
  • SilverNode icon
    Martijn-Courteaux added RapidRAW as alternative to SilverNode
  • Cervo liked RapidRAW
  • JamPhotos icon
    JamPhotos added RapidRAW as alternative to JamPhotos
  • Obscura Studio icon
    trashpanda62 added RapidRAW as alternative to Obscura Studio
  • linusmuth liked RapidRAW
  • summoner icon
    Jan-Ku-era added RapidRAW as alternative to summoner
  • ewanneil reviewed RapidRAW  

    I have mixed feelings about RapidRaw. On the one hand, I am grateful it even exists. It offers a wonderful, powerful and free alternative to a host of other well known alternatives. The developer deserves many thanks and much admiration for his efforts.

    However, I have struggled a bit with it. It seems counter-intuitive to me. Just when I am beginning to think I am getting to grips with it, I encounter another issue that seems to contradict the way the previous one worked. For example, I...

  • Stash - Asset Manager icon
    morphy added RapidRAW as alternative to Stash - Asset Manager
  • PhotoFlare Lens icon
    Paul added RapidRAW as alternative to PhotoFlare Lens

Comments and Reviews

   
Top Positive Comment
David Busto Zoni
1
Director at Alfabeta Digital

This is great, it does work out of the box and it provides some deep editing along with a quick browsing experience, and it is open source, and it runs on win/mac/linux. Amazing :)

ewanneil
0

I have mixed feelings about RapidRaw. On the one hand, I am grateful it even exists. It offers a wonderful, powerful and free alternative to a host of other well known alternatives. The developer deserves many thanks and much admiration for his efforts.

However, I have struggled a bit with it. It seems counter-intuitive to me. Just when I am beginning to think I am getting to grips with it, I encounter another issue that seems to contradict the way the previous one worked. For example, I was doing some minor perspective correction and when I had finished I had to hit "Apply". But when I wanted to do some further cropping there was no "Apply" button there. It took me ages to work out what to do - just click to return to "Adjustments". Dealing with things like that has meant it has taken ages for me to get to grips with it.

OK, so that's probably just me. Some software you just "click" with, but with others it seems like an impenetrable puzzle. RapidRaw has been tough for me to learn but I can see that once I have mastered it, it will be a valuable editing tool.

nazarzajya
0

Nice UI, fast Reactions, a lot of Features, masterpiece of noise reduction and light AI features. I like it!

Owengraven
0

Amazing tool who made my wife's workflow so much better.

We moved to RawTherapee but she was overwhelmed and I also found it quite sluggish.

RapidRaw is the perfect replacement for it, easier, more to the point and the updates are fast and consistant. Good job!

Lehuga ntaps
0

very promising image editor just like raw therapy but a bit better

Darlene Sonalder
2
App tester and reviewer at Great App Testing Ltd.

This looks like a promising FOSS alternative to Adobe Lightroom, I'll keep an eye on the project and probably support the dev financially or with translation contribution as the UI looks more intuitive than RAWTherapee or darktable

David7ce
Replying to @Darlene Sonalder

I feel exactly the same way.

Featured in Lists

Create without Adobe (free n' paid) 2025

There is no doubt that Adobe Suite is great, even in some case it's probably the best. But you can be mad at Adobe for many reasons, expensive monthly subscribtion method, bad stability, useless features, paying for tools you don't use. Here is my list with the best way to ditch Adobe monopoly in my opinion. I tried to add Open Source alternatives too as some are really good. I only covered Adobe softwares that I've used so I'm sorry if you don't find what you came for...
By Darlene Sonalder72 appsUpdated

Powerful Open Source Creative Softwares

Ever wondering about free great open source software to start your idea? Here's a list for you to get started. Also mentions several rarely known and newer software as well! Please note that almost none of these alternatives are 1-to-1 replacement with exact some features. Most of these software might have entirely different scope of project. Notable event: Libre Graphics Meeting, annual meeting on Free/Libre and Open Source software for graphics. https://www.libregraphicsmeeting.org Cover image by David Revoy (CC-BY 4.0) https://www.davidrevoy.com/article1061/cmyk-support-in-inkscape-could-be-a-game-changer-for-professional-print-designers
By cel116 appsUpdated

Linux • Graphics

My personal list of graphics applications made or ported to linux (Incomplete)
By dco3lh0140 appsUpdated

Official Links

Install from the command line

  • winget install -e --id CyberTimon.RapidRAW
  • flatpak install flathub io.github.CyberTimon.RapidRAW

Be careful what you paste into a terminal. Check what a command installs before running it.

What is RapidRAW?

A beautiful, non-destructive, and GPU-accelerated RAW image editor built with performance in mind.

RapidRAW is a modern, high-performance alternative to Adobe Lightroom. It delivers a feature-rich, beautiful editing experience in a lightweight package (under 30MB) for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

I developed this project as a personal challenge at the age of 18. My goal was to create a high-performance tool for my own photography workflow while deepening my understanding of both React and Rust, with the support from Google Gemini.

Key Features:

Core Editing Engine

  • GPU-Accelerated Processing: All image adjustments are processed on the GPU using a custom WGSL shader for rapid feedback.
  • Masking: Instantly create precise masks with AI subject and foreground detection. Combine with traditional Brush, Linear, and Radial masks for great control.
  • Generative Edits: Remove objects or add new elements with text prompts. Each edit creates a non-destructive patch layer, powered by an optional ComfyUI backend.
  • Full RAW Support: Supports a wide range of RAW camera formats thanks to rawler.
  • Non-Destructive Workflow: All edits are stored in a .rrdata sidecar file, leaving your original images untouched.
  • 32-bit Precision: Ensures high-quality adjustments without banding or data loss.

Professional Grade Adjustments

  • Tonal Controls: Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks.
  • Tone Curves: Full control over Luma, Red, Green, and Blue channels.
  • Color Grading: Temperature, Tint, Vibrance, Saturation, and a full HSL color mixer.
  • Detail Enhancement: Sharpening, Clarity, Structure, and Noise Reduction.
  • Effects: Dehaze, Vignette, and realistic Film Grain simulation.
  • Transform Tools: Crop with aspect ratio locking, Rotate, and Flip.

Library & Workflow

  • Image Library: Effortlessly sort, rate, and manage your entire photo collection for a streamlined and efficient workflow.
  • Folder Management: Integrated folder tree, create, rename, and delete folders directly within the app.
  • File Operations: Copy, move, and duplicate images and their associated edits.
  • Filmstrip View: Quickly navigate between all the images in your current folder while editing.
  • Batch Operations: Save significant time by applying a consistent set of adjustments or exporting entire batches of images simultaneously.
  • EXIF Data Viewer: Gain insights by inspecting the complete metadata from your camera, including shutter speed, aperture, ISO, and lens information.

Productivity & UI

  • Preset System: Create, save, import, and export your favorite looks.
  • Copy & Paste Settings: Quickly transfer adjustments between images.
  • Undo/Redo History: A robust history system for every edit.
  • Customizable UI: Resizable panels and multiple beautiful UI themes with smooth animations.
  • Exporting: Control file format (JPEG, PNG, TIFF), quality, and resizing options on export.

RapidRAW information

AlternativeTo Categories

Photos & Graphics, System & Hardware, Video & Movies, AI Tools & Services

GitHub repository

  •  10,295 Stars
  •  582 Forks
  •  434 Open Issues
  •   Updated  
View on GitHub

Popular alternatives

View all

Our users have written 6 comments and reviews about RapidRAW, and it has gotten 71 likes

RapidRAW was added to AlternativeTo by Paul on and this page was last updated .