darktable
A non-destructive raw developer and photo workflow application: a virtual lighttable and darkroom for photographers.
These buttons open the developer's own site, repository or store listing in a new tab. wares.gg does not host downloads.
7 more ways to get darktable
Other download sites
Run by third parties, not by The darktable team. Prefer the official page above when it works.
Package managers
- winget
winget install --id darktable.darktable - Chocolatey
choco install darktable - Homebrew
brew install --cask darktable - Flathub
flatpak install flathub org.darktable.Darktable
About darktable
darktable manages digital negatives in a database, lets you browse them on a zoomable lighttable, and develops raw images in a darkroom view. Every edit is non-destructive: the original file is never modified, and the pipeline is applied at export time instead.
It has professional colour management from import through to print and GPU-accelerated processing through OpenCL. The project is clear that it is made by photographers for photographers, and equally clear that it is not meant as a drop-in free Lightroom replacement.
Strengths
- Fully non-destructive: your original raw file is never modified
- Professional colour management maintained all the way through to print
- GPU-accelerated processing to speed up the pipeline
- Manages the whole library in a database, not just single-file editing
- Wide camera support, listed publicly per model
Limitations
- The project itself says it is not a free Adobe Lightroom replacement
- A steep learning curve; the module list assumes you know the underlying concepts
- GPU acceleration depends on working OpenCL drivers, which are not a given
Details
- Pricing
- Free · Free and open source, funded by donations.
- License
- GPL-3.0
- Developer
- The darktable team
- Platforms
- Windows, macOS, Linux
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Works offline
- Yes
- Best suited for
- Developing raw files with full control and no subscription
- Categories
- Photo editing and viewing
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Selected from the TechWalrus downloads catalog (Photos); facts checked against the developer's own pages, 4 sources on file.
darktable as an alternative
Listings that name darktable as an alternative.
GIMP
The long-running free image editor for photo retouching, compositing and general pixel work.
darktable develops raw files non-destructively; GIMP edits finished bitmaps pixel by pixel.
Similar software
Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.
RawTherapee
A raw processor built around demosaicing and colour accuracy, with a 32-bit floating point engine and unusually deep controls.
digiKam
A photo manager built for libraries of a hundred thousand images, with face recognition, batch processing and heavy metadata support.
GIMP
The long-running free image editor for photo retouching, compositing and general pixel work.
