Open a folder.
Edit. Export.
No import, no catalogue, no subscription.
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RAWRAWRAWRAWRAWRAWRAWRAWRAWRAWRAWRAWRAWRAWRAWRAWRAWRAWExport 12 photos
Times measured on my M2 Pro.
Tint shadows, midtones and highlights on one wheel.
Get one photo right, paste the edit onto the rest.
Common ratios, your own, and auto-level.
Distortion, fringing and dark corners, from measured profiles.
Crisp detail, cleaner high-ISO shots. Off until you want them.
Type "35mm", "f/1.8", "beach" or "2024". Filter by camera or lens.
Press Space to flip through photos at full size.
Hold \ to see the original, let go for the edit.
Cameras, lenses and habits from your photos. Full page for Patreon supporters.
Press . to heart a photo.
A white border and an old-school date stamp.
Originals are never touched. Edits are small files beside them.
It's free.
No trial, no subscription, no ads, and nothing free today ends up behind a paywall later.
Why I made it
I shoot a Sony and a Ricoh GR. When I dropped Lightroom, the free editors could do everything, but they felt clunky to me. So I made my own.
If you like it and want to chip in, there's Patreon. You never have to.
Open Terminal (⌘ Space, type Terminal), paste this and press Return:
curl -fsSL https://rawdemption.com/install.sh | bashIt downloads the app, checks it and puts it in Applications. No password, nothing else installed. Read the script if you like; it's short.
- Download RAWdemption (6.6 MB) and move it to Applications.
- Run this once in Terminal, so macOS lets it open:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/RAWdemption.app
SHA-256 of the zip: 2c38d6ae0a1c509209ffad886a98fae8049d8cf084266c127d193ec53c8c2dc4
Why Terminal?
macOS only opens a browser-downloaded app straight away if Apple has notarised it, which needs a paid yearly developer membership. I make this on my own and give it away, so for now macOS calls it “damaged”. Nothing is wrong with the file.
Both ways above just do what you'd do by hand. After that, every update is signed with RAWdemption's own key, and the app checks it before installing.
Questions
Something else? Settings › Feedback in the app comes straight to me.
Will it stay free?
Yes. Editing and exporting are free and always will be: no limits, no subscription, no ads, and nothing that's free today will be put behind a payment later. Patreon is optional. It lets me spend more time on RAWdemption, and as a thank-you, supporters get their full profile page and every Thing.
Which cameras does it open?
RAWdemption reads RAW files with LibRaw, the open-source RAW library many editors are built on. It opens most RAW files from Canon, Fujifilm, Leica, Nikon, OM System/Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax/Ricoh, Sony and others, plus DNG. Sigma's Foveon cameras aren't supported. JPEG, HEIC, PNG and TIFF open too. If your camera doesn't work, tell me in Settings › Feedback.
Will my photos look like they do in Lightroom?
Not exactly. RAWdemption reads RAW files with LibRaw, an open-source library, and does its own colour and tone from there; Lightroom uses Adobe's own engine. Every editor develops RAW files a little differently, and so does your camera's JPEG. Expect some difference in contrast and colour.
And a word to the pros: if your trained eye spots a red that isn't quite the red you know, I believe you, and I'm sorry. RAWdemption isn't Lightroom and doesn't pretend to be. It's one person, not a building full of colour scientists. If something looks off, send me the photo through Settings › Feedback.
Did you use AI to make it?
Yes. I'm a photographer, not a developer, and I wrote RAWdemption with LLMs, mostly Claude. A RAW editor made by one person in their spare time would absolutely not exist otherwise.
Your photos never leave your Mac. Things and the one-click Subject and People masks use Apple's Vision, on your Mac's Neural Engine. Nothing is uploaded and no AI service ever sees your photos.
Does it change my photos?
Originals are only read. Each edit is a small recipe saved in a hidden .lightbox folder beside the photos, along with your favourites, so edits travel with the folder to another drive or Mac. Exports are always new files.
Which Macs does it run on?
Macs with Apple silicon (M1 or later) on macOS 13 Ventura or later. 16 GB of memory is recommended for smooth editing of 24-megapixel RAW files; Intel Macs aren't supported.
Why does installing need Terminal?
macOS only opens an app downloaded in a browser if Apple has notarised it, which takes a paid developer membership. RAWdemption is free and made by one person, so it isn't notarised, and macOS calls it “damaged” instead. The Terminal command installs the very same app without the “downloaded” label that triggers this. The install script is short enough to read, and every update after that is signed and checked by the app before it installs.
Can it replace Lightroom?
For a lot of people who shoot for fun, yes. It covers what I used Lightroom for day to day. It doesn't do catalogues across many drives, tethered shooting, print layouts or plugins, and I don't plan to add them in this current version of the app anyway.
Is it finished?
No. It's in public beta. If something breaks or looks off, Settings › Feedback sends it to me. I read every report.