Settings

Open Settings from the opening screen gear icon. The panel has three tabs: General, Processing, and Controls.

General tab

General Settings

Setting	What it does	Default
Theme	Visual theme for the entire app: Dark, Grey, or Light.	Dark
Language	User interface language.	English
XMP Metadata Sync	Syncs ratings, color labels, and tags to standard XMP sidecar files for compatibility with other photo editors.	On
Create XMP if Missing (sub-setting, visible when XMP Sync is on)	Automatically creates a new XMP sidecar if one does not exist for an image.	Off
Folder Image Counts	Shows the number of images inside a folder when hovering over the folder tree.	Off
Display Edit Icon	Shows a small slider icon on thumbnails that have been edited.	On
Focus Mode	Automatically closes other panels when you open a new one.	Off
Font	Application font.	Poppins
Native Titlebar (Linux only)	Uses the system's window titlebar instead of RapidRAW's custom one.	Off

Adjustments Visibility

Controls which adjustment groups are shown in the Adjustments panel. Hidden groups are still applied at render time; hiding only removes them from the UI.

Group	Default
Chromatic Aberration	Hidden
Color Calibration	Hidden
Grain	Visible
Noise Reduction	Visible

My Lenses

A list of frequently used lenses for quick access in the Crop → Lens Correction panel. Add lenses by manufacturer and model; first select a manufacturer, then select your lens from the list of supported lenses. Click Add to My Lenses to add the selected lens to your Saved Lenses list.

Tagging

Setting	What it does	Default
AI Tagging	Enables automatic keyword tagging using a local AI model. Downloads an additional model on first use. Tags are used for searching within a folder.	Off
Maximum AI Tags (when AI Tagging is On)	Maximum number of tags generated per image.	10
Custom AI Tag List (when AI Tagging is On)	If provided, the AI uses only tags from this list instead of the built-in list. Tagging works in English only.	Empty (uses built-in list)
Tagging Shortcuts	Tags that appear as one-click shortcuts in the tagging context menu.	portrait, landscape, architecture, travel, street, family, nature, food, event

The tagging section also contains buttons to clear AI-generated tags or all tags from your library's sidecar files. These operations are destructive and cannot be undone.

Processing tab

Processing Engine

Some settings require an application restart to take effect. A Save & Relaunch button appears automatically in the panel when you change one of them.

Setting	What it does	Default
Preview Rendering Strategy	Switch between Dynamic (renders at your display's native pixel density, sharpest at all zoom levels) and Fixed Resolution (renders at a fixed size, fastest, best for lower-end hardware).	Dynamic
Preview Resolution (Fixed mode only)	Maximum resolution of the editor preview. Lower values improve performance.	Your monitor's default
Static Preview Resolution (Dynamic mode only)	Resolution for static previews used in crop, lens correction, and perspective tools. Does not affect the main editor preview.	Your monitor's default
Render Resolution Scale (Dynamic mode only)	Scales render resolution relative to your display. Lower values improve performance on high-resolution screens.	1.0× (Native)
High-DPI Rendering (Dynamic mode only, high-DPI displays only)	Renders at your screen's native physical pixel resolution. Sharpest possible preview, but uses significantly more memory.	Off
Live Interactive Previews	Updates the preview in real time while dragging sliders. Disable if the interface feels laggy during adjustments.	On
Live Preview Quality (visible when Live Previews is on)	Resolution and compression of the preview while dragging. Lower quality significantly improves responsiveness. Options: Full Resolution, High Quality, Performance.	High Quality
Thumbnail Resolution	Resolution of thumbnails in the library grid.	640 px
Thumbnail Worker Threads	Number of parallel threads for thumbnail generation. Higher values speed up library loading but use more CPU and RAM. Requires save and restart.	4
Decoded Image Cache	Maximum number of full-resolution images kept in RAM for instant re-switching. Higher values use more memory.	5 images
WGPU Direct Rendering	Bypasses browser encoding for instantly responsive live previews. Highly recommended. Disabled on Linux and Android due to platform limitations. Requires save and restart.	On (Windows/macOS)
Processing Backend	The GPU API: Auto, Vulkan, DirectX 12 (Windows), Metal (macOS), OpenGL. Change this if the canvas is blank or the app crashes on launch. See GPU & Drivers. Requires save and restart.	Auto
Linux Compatibility Mode (Linux only)	Forces software compositing to work around GPU driver crashes. Only enable if you still experience crashes after trying different backends. Requires save and restart.	Off

Image Preprocessing

Preprocessing settings run early in the RAW decoding pipeline, before any per-image adjustments. They apply globally to every image.

Setting	What it does	Default
RAW Highlight Recovery	Controls how much detail is recovered from clipped highlights in RAW files. Higher values recover more highlight detail but can introduce purple artefacts. Range: 1–10.	2.5
Base Color Noise Reduction	Applies a cross-bilateral filter early in the pipeline to reduce chroma noise. Higher values apply stronger noise reduction. Range: 0–1.	0.5
Base Pre-Sharpening	Applies gentle detail enhancement early in the pipeline. Higher values apply more sharpening. Range: 0–1.	0.35
Apply Preprocessing to Non-RAWs	Extends colour noise reduction and pre-sharpening to JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and other standard formats.	Off
Linear RAW Processing	Controls how LinearRAW DNG data is interpreted. See below.	Auto
Global Tonemapper Override	Forces a specific tonemapper for all images globally, hiding the per-image Tone Mapper switch in the Adjustments panel.	Off
Default RAW Tonemapper (visible when Override is on)	Tonemapper applied to RAW images: AgX or Basic.	AgX
Default Non-RAW Tonemapper (visible when Override is on)	Tonemapper applied to non-RAW images: AgX or Basic.	Basic

Linear RAW Processing

Some DNG files produced by DJI drones, certain phone ProRAW modes, and scientific or industrial cameras store pixel data that has already been processed into a linear light representation rather than raw Bayer sensor data. RapidRAW detects these automatically via their PhotometricInterpretation metadata tag.

The Auto option works correctly for most LinearRAW DNGs. If a file opens with a pink cast, magenta tint, or other colour artifacts, use this dropdown to override how that data is interpreted.

Option	What it does
Auto (default)	Applies colour calibration; no gamma correction. Correct for most LinearRAW DNGs.
Apply Gamma	Applies gamma correction before calibration. Try this first if colours look wrong or washed out.
Skip Calibrate	Skips colour calibration entirely, no gamma correction. For files where calibration produces incorrect results.
Apply Gamma & Skip Calibrate	Applies gamma correction and skips calibration. Use when both problems occur together.

This setting has no effect on normal Bayer RAW files (NEF, ARW, CR2/CR3, RAF, ORF, RW2, and so on).

Generative AI

Selects the backend used for generative AI features (Generative Replace and Quick Erase). Two options:

Built-in AI (CPU) — integrated directly into RapidRAW, runs entirely on your computer, free, no setup. Covers AI masking (Subject, Sky, Foreground), automatic image tagging, and simple inpainting. Selected by default.

Self-Hosted (AI Connector) — connects RapidRAW to your own local ComfyUI instance via the RapidRAW AI Connector. Requires entering the connector's address and port. Gives full control over models and workflows.

Data Management

Action	What it does
Clear All Sidecar Files	Permanently deletes all `.rrdata` edit files in your active root folders. Cannot be undone.
Reset Workspace Layout	Restores panel docks, widths, and panel-switcher positions to their defaults.
Clear Thumbnail Cache	Deletes all cached thumbnails. They regenerate automatically on the next folder visit.
View Application Logs	Opens the log file location in your file explorer. Useful when filing a bug report.

Controls tab

Mouse Controls

Setting	What it does	Default
Input Device Optimization	Choose between Mouse and Touchpad to optimize canvas pan and zoom behaviour for your primary input device.	Mouse
Zoom Speed Multiplier	How fast the canvas zooms when using the scroll wheel or pinch gesture. Range: 0.1–3.0.	1.0
Zoom photo to 100%	When enabled, clicking the canvas in the editor instantly zooms to 100% (1:1 pixels); click again to return to fit. When disabled, clicking zooms in gradually.	Off

Keyboard Controls

A full list of every keyboard action in RapidRAW, organized into sections: Library, Editing, Panels, Rating & Labels, and View. Click any action to record a new key combination. Press Escape during recording to clear the binding. Use Reset All to Defaults to restore every binding at once.

Conflicting bindings are highlighted. If two actions share the same key, both are marked; resolve by reassigning one.