darktable

Open-source raw photo developer and library manager for photographers, with non-destructive editing, on Linux, macOS and Windows.

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Pricing: Open source · see prices
Platforms: Linux, macOS, Windows
Categories: Design & photo

About darktable

darktable is an open-source photography workflow application and raw developer, built by photographers and released under the GPL 3.0. It manages images in a database with a zoomable 'lighttable' for browsing, tagging, rating and filtering, and a 'darkroom' for non-destructive raw development; edits are stored in XMP sidecar files and its database so the original file is never changed. It processes images in 32-bit floating point, supports GPU acceleration through OpenCL, has full colour management with ICC profiles, offers tethered shooting with live view for some cameras, exports to JPEG, PNG, TIFF, EXR and web galleries, and can be scripted in Lua. Version 5.6 is current.

Good for

Photographers who want a free alternative to Lightroom for raw processing and cataloguing, especially on Linux, and users who value local, open file storage.

Watch out for

Its module-based darkroom has a steep learning curve compared with commercial raw editors. The macOS download listed is for Apple silicon (arm64), and some Linux packages are maintained by the community rather than the project.