Glossary

Terms that are specific to RapidRAW, or that are used in a particular way in these docs.

.rrdata

The sidecar file that stores your edits, rating, flag, color label and tags for one photo, as JSON. It sits next to the photo (IMG_2231.NEF.rrdata) and is created the first time you change something. Virtual copies have their own, with an ID in the name (IMG_2231.NEF.3f9a1c.rrdata). See Importing Photos.

.rrexif

A sidecar used by older versions to keep camera data for merged images. RapidRAW now reads these once, moves the data into its cache and deletes them.

.rrpreset

A preset file exported from the Presets panel. Can contain several presets and folders. See Presets.

AgX

One of the two tone mappers in Basic. It handles a very wide brightness range and rolls bright areas off smoothly into white, like film. See Basic.

AI Connector

A small server that connects RapidRAW to your own ComfyUI installation for generative fill with your own models. See Settings → Generative AI.

AI-Free mode

A Generative AI setting that turns off and hides all AI features. Existing AI edits still render.

Analytics display

The histogram, waveform, parade and vectorscope above the adjustment sliders. Toggle with A. See Editor View.

Auto Cull

A tool that groups similar photos and finds blurry ones, and suggests which to keep. See Cull and Rate.

Backend

The graphics interface RapidRAW uses to talk to your GPU: Vulkan, DirectX 12, Metal or OpenGL. Changing it is the most common fix for display problems. See GPU & Drivers.

Basic (tone mapper)

The default tone mapper. A neutral curve similar to most cameras and editors.

Centré

A slider in Details → Presence that draws attention to the center of the photo: more light, detail and color in the middle, softer edges. The center can be moved on the image. See Details.

Component

One part of a mask, such as a Sky selection or a brush stroke. A mask combines one or more components with Add, Subtract or Intersect. Called submask in other apps. See Masks.

Culling View

A library view that shows up to six photos side by side, with synced zoom, for choosing the best of a series. See Library View.

Depth map

An AI estimate of how far away each pixel is. Used by Depth masks, Lens Blur and Fog. Calculated once per photo and cached.

dnglab and rawler

The open-source project (dnglab) and its library (rawler) that RapidRAW uses to decode RAW files. New cameras are added there. See File Formats.

Film emulation

Built-in LUTs based on real film stocks (Portra, Ektar and others), applied in place of the tone mapper for film-like highlight roll-off. See Effects → LUT.

Flag

Pick or Reject, a quick yes/no marker separate from star ratings. Shortcuts Shift+P, X and U.

Flow

A mask brush that builds up the effect gradually with each stroke, like an airbrush. See Masks.

Halation

A red-orange glow around bright highlights, as seen on color film. See Effects.

Immich

A self-hosted photo server. RapidRAW can browse, edit and export to it directly. See Immich.

Jobs

The list of background tasks (exports, imports, AI masks, denoise, downloads) behind the tray icon in the library header.

Lensfun

The open-source lens database used for automatic lens corrections. See Crop & Transform.

LUT

Look-up table: a file that maps each color to a new color, used to apply a look. RapidRAW reads .cube, .3dl and Hald CLUT images and can export your edit as a .cube. See Effects.

Non-destructive

Your original file is never changed. Edits are settings, stored in .rrdata, and applied every time the photo is shown or exported.

Normal map

An AI estimate of which direction each surface faces. Used by Relight.

Quick Eraser

The fastest way to remove an object: click or box it in the Inpaint panel and it is filled automatically. See Inpaint.

Relight

An effect that adds virtual 3D lights to a photo using depth and normal maps. See Effects.

Style preset / Tool preset

A Style preset stores every setting and gives photos exactly its look. A Tool preset stores only the settings you changed and leaves the rest alone. See Presets.

Tone mapper

The step that squeezes the wide brightness range of a RAW file into what a screen can show. Basic or AgX. See Basic.

Virtual copy

A second edit of the same photo, without duplicating the file. See Virtual Copies.

Waveform

A graph that shows brightness (bottom to top) for each column of the image (left to right). Shows exactly where in the frame tones are clipped.

WGPU

The cross-platform GPU library RapidRAW uses. WGPU Direct Rendering draws the preview straight to the window for speed. The image processing itself is written as WGSL shaders.

XMP

A standard sidecar format other photo apps use. RapidRAW can sync ratings, labels and tags with .xmp files. See File Formats.