Open Madosuite
Alpha, about 61% ready for real work

Light, a free photo library and raw editor in your browser

Develop raw photos without touching the originals, and keep your library of albums, ratings and people. A free alternative to Lightroom.

Open LightLight vs Lightroom

Opens

DNGCR2CR3ARWNEFRAFJPEGPNGTIFFWebPJPEG XL

Saves

JPEGPNGTIFFPSDWebPAVIFJPEG XLDNG

What Light does

From the app’s own documentation, version 0.16.0.

Tools

  • Non-destructive 32-bit float pipeline
  • White balance, Color Mixer and Color Grading
  • Masks: brush, gradients, sky, subject and background
  • 41 presets; copy and sync settings
  • Library with albums, smart albums, stacks and ratings
  • Spot heal, clone and red eye
  • HDR and panorama merge
  • XMP sidecars

Files it opens

DNGCR2CR3ARWNEFRAFJPEGPNGTIFFWebPJPEG XL

Files it saves

JPEGPNGTIFFPSDWebPAVIFJPEG XLDNG

Not there yet

  • Some compressed raw variants
  • AI Denoise and generative fill
  • Print layouts and contact sheets in the browser

What Light replaces

The paid apps people use for the same job. Prices from the vendors’ US pages on 14 November 2026.

Light instead of Lightroom

Lightroom costs US$11.99 a month on an annual plan, billed monthly, with 1 TB of storage.

Read the comparisonLight instead of Creative Cloud Pro

Creative Cloud Pro costs US$69.99 a month on an annual plan, billed monthly (US$779.88 a year paid up front).

Read the comparison

Open a file with Light

Open raw files

The unprocessed file from a camera’s sensor: Canon CR2 and CR3, Nikon NEF, Sony ARW, Fujifilm RAF and Adobe DNG.

Open .cr3 files

The raw format of Canon’s newer cameras.

Open .nef files

The raw format of Nikon cameras.

Open .arw files

The raw format of Sony cameras.

Open .raf files

The raw format of Fujifilm cameras.

Open .dng files

Adobe’s open raw photo format.

Light questions

Is Light free?

Yes. Light is part of Madosuite, which is free. It runs in your browser on your own device.

Which files does Light open?

DNG, CR2, CR3, ARW, NEF, RAF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, WebP, JPEG XL. It saves JPEG, PNG, TIFF, PSD, WebP, AVIF, JPEG XL, DNG.

Is Light ready for real work?

Alpha: its makers rate it about 61% ready for real work. Not there yet: some compressed raw variants; ai denoise and generative fill; print layouts and contact sheets in the browser.

Can Light replace Lightroom?

For developing raw photos and keeping a photo library, often yes, and free. Light has no AI Denoise or generative fill yet, and some compressed raw variants do not open.

Where are my files kept?

In the browser on your device, inside Madosuite’s own Linux machine, in its home folder. Your files are not uploaded to us. Clearing the site’s data in your browser deletes them, so download what you want to keep.

Who makes the apps?

The suite apps are the ArtCraft team’s open-source Crafting Apps, under the MIT or Apache-2.0 licence. Madosuite puts them on one desktop in your browser, with Files, a Terminal and Edix, the code editor. See credits.

More apps in Madosuite

Word

Write and lay out documents with the ribbon, styles, tables, track changes and references you already know, and save real .docx files.

Grid

Spreadsheets with 500+ functions, dynamic arrays, pivot tables and charts, saved as .xlsx.

Deck

Build slide decks with themes, charts, transitions and animations, open and save .pptx, and present full screen.

Photo

Edit images with layers, masks, adjustment layers, layer styles and type, and open and save real .psd files.

Light is LightCraft 0.16.0 by the ArtCraft team, open source under MIT or Apache-2.0. Credits.