12 Best Free RAW Photo Editors in 2026

Next in line of the best free RAW image editor software is Darktable. It’s an open-source platform for photographers who want control over RAW files without modifying the original shots.

Once installed, it sorts your RAW footage into a searchable library with tags, ratings, and color labels. You can jump between thousands of images without slowing down. The interface separates library and development modules. You can adjust exposure, color, and tones with precision. Sliders, masks, and panels manage local edits. GPU acceleration and caching keep large files responsive.

It supports a host of RAW formats, from CR2 and NEF to RAF and HDR. Edits stay non-destructive, color is managed through ICC profiles, and exports cover JPEG, TIFF, PFM, and EXR. Tethered camera support and Lua scripting make batch work and live shoots faster.

Darktable keeps evolving – version 5.2.1 (mid-2025) added new camera profiles, refined noise handling, and small UI tweaks. It runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and translations cover more than 20 languages.

I worked on a set of morning hike CR2 shots. Local masks brightened the shadows while leaving the sky untouched. A subtle contrast tweak followed, and I exported JPEG previews for sharing. Even with multiple large RAW files open, everything stayed responsive, and all edits left the originals intact.

Raw Therapee is also an open‑source, free RAW photo editor. The program works on Windows, macOS, and Linux; supports the most popular cameras and file types. The platform offers HDR tone mapping, exposure correction, bar graph matching, noise reduction, and a variety of enhancement tools. You can adjust curves, manage white balance, and handle multiple images at once. The interface takes some time to get used to, but every panel has a purpose.

The 5.12 update emerged on May 28, 2025. It added a handful of nice extras, such as a Dehaze feature for black-point correction, a de-fisheye tool for wide-angle lenses, and ACES-based Gamut Compression for saturated colors. It also supports demosaiced floating-point DNGs, which helps with HDR workflows

I brought Raw Therapee into play on a series of outdoor portraits shot with a Nikon Z6 in late afternoon sunlight. The HDR tone mapping helped balance shadows and highlights across tricky lighting. I used the noise reduction tools to clean up subtle grain without softening skin textures. The Gamut Compression kept colors vivid yet controlled, and I could fine-tune each image with precision. Exporting multiple files at once saved me time when preparing a portfolio set.

Modern Smartphone cameras are really powerful, but you probably still notice shots that could benefit from a little editing touch, so this is where Darkroom comes in handy. It is a mobile RAW photo editor built for iPhone, iPad, and Mac users.

Darkroom packs the essential tools for mobile RAW editing: Curves, Selective Color, masks, batch processing, and 4K video. You can adjust tones, colors, and perspective across devices, while edits remain nondestructive and presets are fully customizable.

The app keeps control simple on smaller screens. Pre-made effects and filters are adjustable, and you can create your own. Siri shortcuts let you handle basic edits hands-free. Darkroom chiefly caters to photographers who want strong RAW editing on the go, especially those who rely on iOS devices and prefer a hands-on, intuitive workflow. Updates and fixes are really frequent, showing up nearly every month.

I tried Darkroom on a set of RAW photos from a rainy afternoon in the city. I lifted the midtones to bring out building textures and slightly cooled the overall color. Using masks, I isolated reflections in puddles without changing the rest of the scene. The edits were accurate, and batch processing let me apply the same adjustments to several images in seconds.

Let’s be honest: not every photographer wants to spend money before even knowing if RAW editing is for them. Snapseed is perfect in that case. It’s completely free, and that doesn’t mean it’s basic. The app gives you full control over your RAW images without asking for a single cent.

Snapseed covers all the essentials: cropping, rotating, and tuning exposure. But, it also throws in tools you may not expect for freeware, like healing, perspective correction, and selective adjustments. You can apply filters with one tap or tweak precise areas of a photo.

It runs smoothly on iPhone, Android handheld devices. But we all know that most of the higher-end image and video editing is done on computers, so it does have a dedicated downloadable version for Windows and macOS.

The team was not releasing any major drops for several years. But surprisingly, Snapseed got a big 3.0 update in mid‑2025. Its interface changed to a grid layout with a floating “plus” button, a new toolbar layout, and a set of film‑inspired filters.

As an enthusiastic photographer, I love testing new tools to polish my RAW footage with. So I tested Snapseed on a set of RAW landscape shots from a cloudy afternoon. I corrected the horizon lines using the perspective tool and brightened just the sky without touching the foreground.

The healing tool helped remove unwanted power lines, and selective adjustments let me enhance tree colors subtly. Working with Snapseed felt surprisingly responsive, and I could move quickly between images without losing quality.

VSCO is a well-known photography app available on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, visionOS, Android, and through a web/desktop app, but here I’m focusing on the mobile experience. It combines RAW photo and video editing tools with hundreds of professional-grade filters.

You can adjust contrast, saturation, grain, fade, HSL, and more – while keeping edits nondestructive. The app also lets you save favorite edits as “Recipes.” That’s really useful because it makes applying a consistent look to multiple images quick and easy.

Beyond editing, VSCO acts as a social platform. You can share your work, follow creators, and explore curated content through weekly challenges. It’s like a more arty alternative to Instagram, where photographers can connect while refining their skills. The design is self-explanatory – you can focus on your images rather than fighting the interface.

I spent a quiet evening experimenting with VSCO in a city park. The light under the trees was tricky, so I nudged the shadows to reveal hidden details and used a custom preset to give the series a consistent look.

Sharing the shots in the community feed was interesting – seeing how other creators captured similar scenes added a whole new layer to the process. The app handled RAW edits without reproach. It literally let me focus on color and mood rather than technical frustrations.

I can say that VSCO shows that mobile editing can be precise, creative, and social all at once. It helps you preserve your memories beautifully while connecting with other photographers. Also, VSCO keeps both mobile and desktop products fresh with frequent updates, adding new perks for users.

Affinity Photo 2 on the iPad feels like you've squeezed a powerful, professional design studio onto a tablet. It's packed with high-end tools for photo editing and design. At the same time, it’s totally optimized for touch and the Apple Pencil, giving you that full desktop experience right in your hands. It opens up tons of creative doors without being tied to your desk.

That free RAW photo editor for iPad loads your RAW shots into a clean 16-bit workspace where you can tune exposure, color, white balance, shadows, highlights, and noise. Moreover, it supports advanced color spaces (RGB, LAB, CMYK, etc.) and preserves EXIF data. Even hefty RAW files don’t make it flinch – it stays fast and stable with high-megapixel images.

I’ve thrown plenty of oversized RAW files at it, and it barely flinched. Tweaking colors with the Apple Pencil feels almost like painting light onto the image. And when everything stays smooth even after several edits stacked up, you start trusting it as much as a desktop tool.

PhotoKit isn’t as widely known as some other titles on my list, but it packs a lot for a web editor. You can run basic adjustments or let the AI handle enhancements automatically. This little online application opens RAW files and lets you tweak exposure, color, and contrast. Backgrounds can be removed in seconds, and unwanted objects vanish with a single click.

One random afternoon, I grabbed screenshots from a travel vlog and tossed them into PhotoKit. The AI fixed color balance, erased annoying text overlays, and I batch-exported everything in seconds.

The interface is far from being blunt, but lovely and intuitive. It gives access to inpaint, cutout, exposure repair, and clarity tools. You can batch edit, resize, compress, or rename images in one go. Filters and effects are easy to apply, and the browser handles multiple images smoothly.

Fylm.ai started as a video grading tool but has branched into RAW photo editing, and it’s almost entirely about color. It can work with RAW files from DSLRs, mirrorless cameras, smartphones, or digital backs. 

The standout features – NeuralToneAI and NeuralFilmAI – let you generate film-inspired grades almost instantly, while the subtractive CMY color model gives shadows depth and keeps colors rich without flattening the highlights. You can export your grades as LUTs, XMP profiles, or Capture One styles, so your looks travel to other software effortlessly.

When exploring Fylm.ai, I pulled a moody, overcast street photo and tried matching it to a reference film scan. Within moments, the AI reproduced the tone, midtones, and subtle grain across multiple shots. Playing with different film simulations like Kodak Vision 3 or Cinestill 800T revealed how shadows, halation, and highlights could be adjusted for that “shot-on-film” feel. Batch export worked fast, and the generated LUTs fit right into my Lightroom^® workflow.

After exploring all the contenders, Polarr feels like the last piece snapping perfectly into place. I picked it because I wanted a powerful, browser-based editor that could still give my RAW shots a professional finish. It’s available on various platforms, including web browsers, iOS, macOS, and Windows.

In particular, its web app, known as Polarr Next, works right in your browser – no uploads required – and can even remember your edit history or run offline if needed. Polarr’s AI tools are surprisingly sharp: you can train them to match your style and apply consistent edits across entire galleries.

From global adjustments like exposure, HSL, curves, and vignettes, to object-specific tweaks using AI masks, it offers a level of control usually reserved for desktop-heavy apps. The one free professional export per day gives hobbyists a taste of its full power, while a subscription unlocks the entire arsenal, including millions of filters and batch AI editing.

After using it for a while, I can say that Polarr is the perfect capstone for anyone hunting for free RAW editing power, giving you advanced controls, AI magic, and platform flexibility – all in a package that feels surprisingly light.