RAWTHERAPEE(1)

📦
version 5.13 · 2 versions
, in alpine 3.24, fedora 43, fedora 44, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable, opensuse-leap 16.0, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 RAWTHERAPEE(1) 💖

okay bestie, so this is the manual page for RawTherapee, from the General Commands Manual section. It's the whole vibe, let's get into it. 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

RawTherapee — an advanced, cross-platform program for developing raw photos. that's it, that's the name, she's simple, she's iconic. 💅

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

So RawTherapee is an advanced program for developing raw photos and for processing non-raw photos. Not me flexing but she's:

  • non-destructive — she never ruins your originals, periodt
  • makes use of OpenMP — parallel processing, she's got main character energy on multiple cores
  • supports all the cameras supported by dcraw and more — yes, MORE, she ate
  • carries out her calculations in a high precision 32-bit floating point engine — precision is the moment, no cap

go follow her everywhere bestie, she posts 💖

⭐ SYMBOLS ⭐

okay so before we get into the syntax, here's the legend, iykyk:

  • <Chevrons> indicate parameters you can change. (the little arrows? yeah those are your fill-in-the-blank slots 👑)
  • [Square brackets] mean the parameter is optional. (you can just… not)
  • The pipe symbol | indicates a choice of one or the other. (pick a lane bestie)
  • The dash symbol - denotes a range of possible values from one to the other. (from here to there, the whole spectrum 🌈)

💅 SYNOPSIS 💅

RawTherapee GUI

rawtherapee <folder>           Start File Browser inside folder.
rawtherapee <file>             Start Image Editor with file.

RawTherapee CLI

rawtherapee-cli -c <dir>|<files>   Convert files in batch using
default parameters.
rawtherapee-cli <other options> -c <dir>|<files>  Convert files in
batch using your own settings.
rawtherapee-cli [-o <output>|-O <output>] [-q] [-a] [-s|-S] [-p
<one.pp3> [-p <two.pp3> ...] ] [-d] [ -j[1-100] [-js<1-3>] | [-b<8|16>]
[-t[z] | [-n]] ] [-Y] -c <input>

✨ OPTIONS ✨

here's where it gets juicy, stay with me 🫶

  • -c <files> — specify one or more input files. 🚨 -c must be the last option. like, LAST last. she's the final girl.
  • -o <file>|<dir> — set output file or folder. if you don't specify -o, she saves the output file alongside the input file. (convenient bestie behavior)
  • -O <file>|<dir> — set output file or folder and copy the pp3 file into it. same deal: if -O isn't specified, the output file gets saved alongside the input file.
  • -q — quick-start mode. does not load cached files to speedup start time. (speed. she's speed. 🏃‍♀️)
  • -a — process all supported image file types when specifying a folder, even those not currently selected in Preferences > File Browser > Parsed Extensions. she's thorough like that.
  • -s — use the existing sidecar file to build the processing parameters, e.g. for photo.raw there should be a photo.raw.pp3 file in the same folder. if the sidecar file does not exist, neutral values will be used. (neutral = no drama, no edits, blank slate 🌸)
  • -S — like -s but skip if the sidecar file does not exist. (she's not gonna make something up for you 💀)
  • -p <file.pp3> — specify processing profile to be used for all conversions. you can specify as many sets of "-p <file.pp3>" options as you like, each will be built on top of the previous one, as explained below. (layering? we love a stack 👑)
  • -d — use the default raw or non-raw processing profile as set in Preferences > Image Processing > Default Processing Profile
  • -j[1-100] — specify output to be JPEG (default, if -t and -n are not set). optionally, specify compression 1-100 (default value: 92).
  • -js<1-3> — specify the JPEG chroma subsampling parameter, where:
    • 1 = Best compression: 2x2, 1x1, 1x1 (4:2:0) — chroma halved vertically and horizontally.
    • 2 = Balanced (default): 2x1, 1x1, 1x1 (4:2:2) — chroma halved horizontally.
    • 3 = Best quality: 1x1, 1x1, 1x1 (4:4:4) — no chroma subsampling.
  • -b<8|16> — specify bit depth per channel (default value: 16 for TIFF, 8 for PNG). only applies to TIFF and PNG output, JPEG is always 8. (jpeg said 8 and meant 8 💀)
  • -t[z] — specify output to be TIFF. uncompressed by default, or deflate compression with 'z'.
  • -n — specify output to be compressed PNG. compression is hard-coded to 6. (no negotiating, she picked for you ✨)
  • -Y — overwrite output if present. careful bestie, she WILL replace what's there 🚨

🧚 how your pp3 files get built 🧚

your pp3 files can be incomplete, and RawTherapee will build the final values as follows:

  1. A new processing profile is created using neutral values,
  2. If the "-d" option is set, the values are overridden by those found in the default raw or non-raw processing profile.
  3. If one or more "-p" options are set, the values are overridden by those found in these processing profiles.
  4. If the "-s" or "-S" options are set, the values are finally overridden by those found in the sidecar files.
The processing profiles are processed in the order specified on the command line. 👈 order matters, bestie, don't play with her like that

👑 AUTHOR 👑

RawTherapee was originally written by Gabor Horvath of Budapest, Hungary, before being re-licensed as free and open-source software in January 2010.

The RawTherapee development team comprises of passionate people from all around the world. 🌍 (passionate people = the whole squad, we love to see it)

aaaand that's the whole page bestie, you're officially fluent 💖 this manual page was living under the General Commands Manual umbrella, dated May 10, 2017, and yes she signs her work RAWTHERAPEE(1) like the icon she is. slay, go develop some raw photos, ily 🫶✨

📦 where this page comes from