A ColrBent open-source project
ThisIsRAW is an independent fork of RapidRAW. It keeps the original app’s lightweight, GPU-accelerated, non-destructive editing foundation and adds practical tools for culling, stacking, metadata, export, and large libraries.
Not just another edit.
A more deliberate workflow.
This is a fork. Clearly and intentionally.
RapidRAW was created by photographer and developer Timon Käch, known as CyberTimon. Its architecture, rendering engine, editing tools, and much of the experience you see here come from his substantial original work. ThisIsRAW is maintained independently by ColrBent and is not an official RapidRAW release.
Visit the original RapidRAW projectWhy this fork exists
The difficult part often begins before the first slider moves: sorting similar frames, deciding what deserves attention, keeping derived copies connected, and carrying decisions between tools and machines.
This fork develops that middle space. The aim is not to replace RapidRAW’s core design, but to add carefully integrated workflow features without turning a light application into a crowded one.
What Enhanced adds
Features are grouped by the problem they solve, not by the number of controls they add.
Create manual stacks, collapse or expand them, reorder members, move a chosen image to the top, and see the same stack structure in the Develop filmstrip.
Use Selected, Rejected, Deferred, and Unflagged states with shortcuts, thumbnail badges, filters, and Caps Lock auto-advance.
Keep frequently used productivity, copy, stacking, and flag actions visible in a customizable bottom toolbar shared by Library and Develop.
Synchronize ratings, labels, keywords, flags, and physical stack structure. Read matching XMP files recursively from a folder when XMP should be authoritative.
Export beside each source image, use remembered filename suffixes, retain appropriate EXIF metadata, optionally remove GPS, and automatically reconnect outputs with their source stack.
Progressive loading prioritizes visible thumbnails while metadata and EXIF work continue in bounded, cancelable background batches.
Save named Luma and RGB curve presets, update them when an edit evolves, and switch each image between Color and Black & White without discarding color work.
Built on RapidRAW
RapidRAW provides the essential application: a modern RAW editor with GPU-accelerated processing, non-destructive sidecars, masking, library tools, metadata, presets, batch operations, and export capabilities.
ColrBent’s work sits on top of that foundation. Attribution is not a footer formality. It is part of describing the software honestly.
Development status
ThisIsRAW is a work in progress. Features, behavior, packaging, and platform support may change between releases. Bugs are possible, and workflows involving important files should be tested before relying on them.
The current release history shows frequent, focused updates to loading performance, XMP portability, culling, metadata, and workflow behavior.
Read release notesFree and open source
Download packaged releases from GitHub or inspect the full source. There is no purchase price and no subscription for the fork.
Check each GitHub release for its available operating-system builds and installation notes.
License and attribution
ThisIsRAW is distributed under the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3. The original RapidRAW code remains subject to its existing copyright and attribution notices. ColrBent’s modifications are distributed under the same license.
The fork does not remove, replace, or diminish the rights and notices attached to RapidRAW. For authoritative terms, read the full license in the repository.