RapidRAW utilizes a complete non-destructive editing architecture where all adjustments are saved as separate metadata, ensuring that the original RAW file remains unaltered. This feature brings three core values: users can go back an unlimited number of times to the modification history; different versions of the work can be derived from the same original file; and editing presets can be safely applied to RAW files from all camera models.
In terms of specific implementation, the software utilizes hierarchical management technology to store exposure compensation, white balance and other parameter adjustments separately from pixel data. The history panel completely records the time stamp and parameter changes of each operation, and supports any node fallback. Tests show that when processing complex engineering files with 20 layers of adjustments, the software's memory consumption only increases by 15% of the original file size, which is much lower than the traditional program that needs to generate intermediate files.
This answer comes from the articleRapidRAW: A non-destructive tool for fast RAW image editingThe
