RawTherapee is a free, cross-platform raw photo processing program released under the GPLv3. It develops raw files from a wide range of digital cameras and is aimed, in the project’s words, at users from enthusiast newcomers who want to understand how digital imaging works to professional photographers. Unlike darktable or digiKam, RawTherapee focuses on processing rather than on managing a photo library, although it has a file browser and a batch queue.
The project is open about the trade-off: RawTherapee rewards people who take the time to learn what its many tools can do.
How to get the official version
RawTherapee 5.13 was released on 26 July 2026. The 5.13 download page offers:
- Windows: installers for 64-bit x86 and for ARM64. The GitHub release also has zip versions and debug builds; most people want the “release” installer.
- macOS: a universal build hosted on rawtherapee.com.
- Linux: AppImages for x86_64 and ARM64, plus the source code.
Nightly builds and build-from-source instructions are on RawPedia’s download page. On Windows, winget install RawTherapee.RawTherapee installs the same GitHub release.
What’s new in 5.13
The release notes list, among other changes, enhancements to the Gamut Compression and Abstract Profile tools, a new Michaelis-Menten tone mapper and Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch improvements in Selective Editing, a Capture Deconvolution sharpening method in Selective Editing, reworked crop guides that can be combined and recoloured, horizontal or vertical scaling in the Lens / Geometry tool, and colour labels read from embedded XMP in the File Browser.
Price and account
RawTherapee is free and open source. It has no account, ads or paid features.
Safety notes
Take the software only from rawtherapee.com or the RawTherapee GitHub releases. The debug builds in the release are larger and meant for bug reports; they are official but not needed for normal use. Compare your file with the SHA-256 values below.
Questions
RawTherapee or darktable?
Both are free raw developers. darktable adds a full photo library with a lighttable; RawTherapee concentrates on processing and uses a folder-based file browser.
Can I try features before the next release?
Yes. RawPedia’s download page explains how to get nightly builds or build RawTherapee from source.
Where are older versions?
The downloads page keeps every release back to 2.4.1 from 2009.
