RapidRAW
Relight: Adding Real Light to a Flat Photo
How RapidRAW turns a single photo into a 3D surface, and lets you light it like a studio scene after the fact.
The RAW Editor You've Been Waiting For.
I built it to fit my own workflow. 700,000+ downloads later, it fits a lot more than mine.
Free & open source · Other platforms & release notes →
Recognized & Featured By
Gizmodo
The Phoblographer
CHIP
YouTube
Hacker News
reddit
A Faster, Smarter Workflow
GPU-Accelerated Engine
Every adjustment runs in a 32-bit GPU pipeline, so sliders, masks and previews update instantly.
AI Masks for Anything
Select subjects, skies, faces or anything you type, and combine them with color and luminance masks.
Spatial Effects
Depth-based lens blur, relighting with real light sources, and fog, all without leaving the editor.
Professional Color
AgX tone mapping, accurate RAW colors, curves, color wheels, an HSL mixer, film emulations and LUTs.
Retouch & Denoise
Clone, heal and liquify, AI denoise on your GPU, and generative remove or add via ComfyUI or Cloud.
Library & Immich
Cull, rate, flag and tag your whole collection, locally or on your Immich server, with edits synced across computers.
Batch Editing
Paste edits and presets onto hundreds of photos at once. Exports and AI jobs run in a background queue.
HDR, Panoramas & More
Merge brackets, stitch panoramas, stack focus, convert film negatives, and shoot tethered with Live View.
Your AI, Your Way
Everyday AI tools run right on your computer. For generative edits, choose the setup that suits you:
Built-in AI Tools
Built into RapidRAW and running entirely on your computer, accelerated by your GPU. Fast, free, private, and no setup needed.
- AI masks for subjects, skies, faces and text prompts
- AI Denoise
- Depth maps for lens blur and relighting
- Automatic image tagging
Self-Hosted (ComfyUI)
For users with a capable GPU who want maximum control, connect RapidRAW to your own local ComfyUI server.
- Use your own hardware & models
- Cost-free advanced generative edits
- Custom workflow selection
Cloud Service
For those who want a simpler solution, an optional subscription provides the same high-quality results without any hassle, and directly funds RapidRAW's development.
- Maximum convenience, no setup
- Same results as self-hosting
- Best way to support the project
Master your editing workflow.
I've built a minimalistic, focused guide. From first setup to advanced masking, presets, and workflows, it’s all here.
Shortcuts
Learn the essential hotkeys that make RapidRAW incredibly fast to use.
Masks & AI
Combine AI subjects, skies, and Flow Masks for perfect localized edits.
Complete Tutorials
Walk-throughs of complete photo edits, before and after.
Technical Reference
The math behind RAW decoding, every slider and the AI tools.
From the Blog
Why Your Skies Turn Magenta (and How RapidRAW Fixes It)
What really happens when a camera sensor clips, and how RapidRAW rebuilds the missing colors in blown highlights.
10,000 Stars: How an Empty Folder Became a Global Community
Reflecting on over 610,000 downloads, YouTube reviews, learning GPU shaders, and how a solo project became a global community.
Here for the long run.
In the age of AI, anyone can build a photo editor in a weekend. The hard part is keeping one working on hundreds of cameras, release after release, for years. I've been doing that since June 2025, at a pace I can keep up.
2025
In development since
69
Releases
2–4 weeks
Between updates on average
80+
Contributors
Your edits stay yours
Your originals are never changed. Edits live in small JSON files next to your photos, and the code is AGPL, so both stay open whatever happens.
A steady rhythm
Usually a new release every few weeks. Sometimes I'm out taking photos instead, and that's how I find out what RapidRAW still needs.
Not just me
Over 80 people have contributed code, and Cloud subscriptions and donations pay for the time that goes into it.
Why I built RapidRAW.
A brief history by Timon Käch
As a photography enthusiast, I often found existing software to be sluggish and resource-heavy on my machine. I wanted a faster, simpler photo editing experience, so I decided to build my own. The goal was to create a tool that was not only fast but also helped me learn the details of digital image processing and camera technology.
I started developing this project as a personal challenge when I was 18. I set an ambitious goal to rapidly build a functional, feature-rich application from an empty folder. This challenge pushed me to learn quickly and focus intensely on the core architecture and user experience.
The foundation is built on Rust for its safety and performance, and Tauri for its ability to create lightweight desktop apps. The entire image processing pipeline is offloaded to the GPU via WGPU and a custom WGSL shader, ensuring that even on complex edits with multiple masks, the UI remains fluid.
Timon Käch
Developer & Photographer • Lucerne, CH
Support the Project
Community Donations
CHF 10'500 / CHF 20'000 Raised
As a young developer balancing this project with an apprenticeship, your support means the world. If RapidRAW has a place in your workflow, a donation buys me more time to work on it, new gear to test it with, and days outdoors with my camera, which is where most new ideas for RapidRAW start.
Using generative AI? A RapidRAW Cloud subscription gives you generative edits without any setup, and supports development directly.