Support

GPRaw Support

Applies to version 1.30 or older (updated on October 17, 2026)

GPRaw opens, edits, and exports the GPR raw photos a GoPro takes, and gives Finder real thumbnails and previews for them. This page explains how to use it. If your question isn't answered here, write to us at gpraw.com/contact.

To see what's new in each version, read the GPRaw release notes.

What you need

GPRaw needs macOS 15 Sequoia or later. The App Store offers it only to Macs that can run it, so if it installed, your Mac is supported.

Your GoPro saves GPR files only when RAW is turned on in its photo settings.

Get GPR files onto your Mac

A GoPro saves each RAW photo as a .GPR file in the DCIM folder on its memory card, next to a JPEG of the same shot with the same name.

Put the card in a card reader, or connect the camera and use its own transfer app.
Drag the GPR files to a folder on your Mac.

You can also open GPR files straight from a card in a card reader. Copy them to your Mac first if you want to mark them Pick or Reject, because a camera card can't hold Finder tags. To copy photos from the camera over a USB-C cable instead, see Import photos from a GoPro over USB-C.

Import photos from a GoPro over USB-C

Connect GoPro lists the RAW photos on your camera's card and copies the ones you choose to your Mac, with the camera connected by a USB-C cable.

Connect the camera to your Mac with a USB-C cable, and switch the camera on.
In the empty GPRaw window, click Connect GoPro. If a window with photos is open instead, choose GPRaw > Connect GoPro (Shift-Command-I). The button is dimmed until the camera is on the cable and switched on.
The first time, macOS asks whether GPRaw can find and connect to devices on your local network. Click Allow. GPRaw lists the camera's photos as soon as you do. A GoPro on USB-C appears to your Mac as a network connection, not as a disk.
Tick the photos you want. Photos are grouped by the day they were shot, and ticking a day, a burst, or a timelapse ticks all of its photos. Command-A ticks every photo, and Shift-Command-A clears them. Select a photo to preview it.
Click Import Selected…. GPRaw copies the photos into a folder named after the camera, inside the folder shown in the window, then shows them in Finder. A photo with the same name as one already there gets a number added.

While photos are importing, the preview shows each one as it arrives, and you can't change the selection or the folder. Closing the window stops the import. It also stops GPRaw keeping the camera awake, so the camera can switch itself off again.

Browsing the card and previewing photos are free. Importing photos, and opening them from the camera, need the full version. In the free version, clicking either button opens the unlock window.

Choose where photos are imported

Photos go to your Downloads folder until you choose another. Click Select Folder… in the Connect GoPro window. GPRaw remembers the folder for next time.

Open photos as you import them

Leave Open In GPRaw ticked when you click Import Selected…. The imported photos open together in one GPRaw window, sorted into photos, bursts, and timelapses, however many you import.

Open photos without importing them

With Open In GPRaw ticked, click Open Only (Skip Import). The photos open in one GPRaw window and no files are written to your Mac, so export any you want to keep before you close the window. Open Only holds each photo in memory, so it opens 20 photos or fewer, and its button is dimmed while more are ticked.

If GPRaw can't reach the camera

While macOS is waiting for your answer about the local network, the window says it can see a GoPro but can't reach it yet. Click Allow, and the photos appear.
If you clicked Don't Allow when macOS asked about your local network, choose Apple menu > System Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network, turn on GPRaw, and then open Connect GoPro again.
A camera that was just switched on can take several seconds to respond. GPRaw waits for it to finish starting up.
If GPRaw says the camera is connected but not answering, unplug the cable, plug it back in, and try again.

Open photos

When you open GPRaw on its own, it shows an empty window that says Drop GPR photos or folders here. Do any of these:

Drag GPR files, or a folder of them, onto the window or the GPRaw icon in the Dock. A folder opens every GPR in it and in the folders inside it.
In the empty window, click Add Photos….
Choose File > Open… (Command-O).
Double-click a GPR file in Finder. When you open GPRaw, it becomes the default app for GPR files, unless an app not made by Apple already opens them.

Everything you open together goes into one window. GPRaw sorts the files into photos, bursts, and timelapses, using the camera's file names and the time between shots, and lists them in the filmstrip on the left. The edit panel is on the right. See Work with bursts and timelapses.

Add photos to a window

Drop GPR files or folders on a window that's already open, or choose File > Add Photos… (Shift-Command-O). The photos join that window instead of opening a new one.

Open windows to fill the screen

Windows open at a standard size that fits your screen. To have every new window fill the screen, choose GPRaw > Settings…, and under Windows, select Open Windows Maximized. Windows that are already open keep their size. To take a window back to the standard size, choose Window > Zoom.

Make GPRaw the default app for GPR files

Choose GPRaw > Settings… (Command-Comma).
Under Setup, click Default GPR Files to GPRaw….
If another app opens GPR files now, click Use GPRaw.

To use a different app later, select a GPR file in Finder, choose File > Get Info, choose the app under Open with, and click Change All.

Work with bursts and timelapses

A burst or a timelapse appears in the filmstrip under a heading that names it. GPRaw calls a group of shots a burst when most of them were taken within a second of each other, and a timelapse otherwise. Click a thumbnail to show that photo.

The arrow keys step to the previous or next frame from anywhere in the window. Option with an arrow key jumps to the next or previous item, and Home and End go to the first and last frame.
Click the arrow on a heading, or press S, to fold a burst or a timelapse into one thumbnail, or to open it again.
To hide the filmstrip, choose View > Hide Filmstrip (Option-Command-F).

Each photo, burst, and timelapse has its own edits. In a burst or a timelapse, Distortion, Framing, and Portrait always apply to every frame. Light, Color, and Details apply to every frame too, unless you make a frame Solo.

Edit one frame on its own

Show the frame, and click the frame count after Light, Color, or Details in the panel.
Choose Solo. That section's dials now change this frame only.

To make the frame follow the others again, choose All frames from the same menu, or choose Photo > Match Frame to Run to do it for every Solo section of the frame.

Select several photos

In the filmstrip, Shift-click to select a range, and Command-click to add or remove a photo. View > Select All Frames (Command-A) selects every thumbnail, and Escape goes back to the photo on screen. Paste Edits, Reset Edits, Export, Quick Share, Add to Photos, Pick, Reject, Remove, and Reveal in Finder then act on all of them. The dials still change only the photo on screen.

Remove photos from a window

Hold the pointer over a thumbnail and click the remove button in its top-left corner, or press Delete, or choose File > Remove. File > Remove All empties the window. Nothing is deleted from your Mac, and File > Put Back returns what you removed, with its edits.

If you delete a photo's file in Finder while it's open, GPRaw takes it out of the window and tells you which photos it removed.

Unlock the full version

The free version lets you open, view, and edit photos, and see thumbnails and previews in Finder. It also makes a basic export: photos at Quarter Size in 8 bits, movies at Quarter Size in H.264 or HEVC, and Quick Share at Quarter Size.

The full version adds every other export option, such as DNG, Full Size, Half Size, 10 and 16 bits, 4K, and ProRes, and exports Deflicker and Reduce Noise Across Frames. It also adds importing from a GoPro, Add to Photos, and saving edits in the Photos app. It's a one-time in-app purchase.

Choose GPRaw (Free Version) > Pay to Unlock Full Features…, or click Unlock Full Features… in the empty GPRaw window or in About GPRaw.
Click the Unlock for button, which shows the price, and complete the purchase. If GPRaw can't get the price from the App Store, the button reads Unlock… and you can still use it.

The purchase belongs to your Apple Account and works on your other Macs. Once it's recorded, it also works offline. If your family uses Ask to Buy, GPRaw waits until the purchase is approved.

Restore your purchase

On another Mac, or after reinstalling GPRaw, open the unlock window as above and click Restore Purchase. If GPRaw finds no purchase, check that you're signed in to the App Store with the Apple Account you used to buy it.

Redeem an offer code

An offer code for GPRaw's full-version pass unlocks everything for 30 days, including every export option, Add to Photos, and saving edits in the Photos app.

Open the unlock window as above.
Click Redeem an Offer Code…, and enter the code. The unlock window closes once the pass is active.

While the pass runs, the GPRaw menu and About GPRaw show the date and time it ends. Another code adds 30 days to the end of the current pass. When the pass ends, the full-version options lock again, and you can still edit photos and make a basic export. To keep the full version, choose GPRaw > Buy Full Version… at any time. Restore Purchase brings back the one-time purchase only, not a pass.

Edit a photo

Drag the dials in the panel on the right. The photo updates as you drag, then sharpens a moment after you stop, when GPRaw finishes rendering it at full resolution. GPRaw never changes your GPR file.

GPRaw doesn't save edits. When you close a window, its edits are gone, so export before you close it. A window asks first when it holds edits on two or more photos, bursts, or timelapses, or holds keyframes or Solo frames. A window with one edited photo closes without asking.
There's no Undo, and Command-Z fits the photo to the window instead. To take a change back, double-click a dial to reset it, or click the reset arrow next to a section's name. To reset everything, click Reset Edits at the bottom of the panel.
To compare your edit with where you started, click Compare in the toolbar. The before and after appear side by side, and zooming or moving either one moves both. Click Compare again to go back to your edit.
To glance at the before, hold Compare. The before keeps your crop, straightening, and lens correction, with the other dials at rest. To see the original photo instead, hold Command as you press Compare. Compare appears once you've made an edit.

Zoom in and move around

Click the photo to zoom in on that spot, and click again to go back to the whole photo. For a quick look, hold the click instead, and the photo zooms back out when you let go. Shift-click a zoomed photo to fill the whole window with it. Drag a zoomed photo to move around it.

Space does the same as a click. While a photo is zoomed in, Shift-Space fills the window with it. To choose how far a click zooms in, choose View > Click Zooms To, and then 100%, 200%, or 400%. It starts at 100%.

You can also use the zoom slider in the toolbar, its minus and plus buttons, or pinch on a trackpad. To fit the photo to the window, double-click the zoom slider or choose View > Zoom to Fit (Command-Z). View > Zoom to Fit Below Toolbar (Option-Command-Z) keeps the whole photo clear of the toolbar, and View > Zoom to Fill (Shift-Command-Z) fills the window. To hide the panel, choose View > Hide Sidebar (Option-Command-S).

What's in the panel

A histogram sits at the top. Under it, the sections run from top to bottom in the order you'd usually work:

Distortion: removes the fisheye curve. See Correct lens distortion.
Framing: straighten, rotate, flip, and crop. See Crop and straighten.
Light: Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks.
Color: Temperature, Tint, Vibrance, and Saturation.
Details: Dehaze, Sharpening, and Denoising. Sharpening starts at 40 and Denoising at 10, so every photo gets a little of each.
Portrait: blurs the background. See Blur the background.

Click a section's name to fold it away or open it again, or choose it from View > Sections (Command-0 for the histogram, and Command-1 to Command-6 for the sections). Some controls are dimmed when they can't be used on a photo. See If editing controls are dimmed.

Let GPRaw set the dials

Distortion, Framing, Light, Color, and Details each have an AUTO button next to the section's name. Click it to set that section's dials for the photo, and click it again while it's working to cancel. You can keep adjusting the dials afterward.

Distortion's AUTO picks the strength that makes a curved horizon straight, or 0.60 when there's no horizon to go by.
Framing's AUTO levels the horizon, including a lake's waterline, and then crops the photo if it finds a better framing. The crop applies straight away, and the section's reset arrow takes it back.
Light's AUTO sets the six Light dials, and Color's AUTO sets the Color dials. Both judge the part of the photo the crop keeps.
Details' AUTO sets Dehaze from the haze in the photo and Denoising from the grain in the file. It leaves Sharpening where it is, because no measurement of a photo says how sharp you want it.

To run them all at once, click Auto Adjust at the bottom of the panel, or choose Photo > Auto Adjust (Command-U). It skips Distortion when GPRaw has no lens profile for the photo. Click Auto Adjust again, or move a dial, to stop it.

Turn a section's edits off and on

Once you've changed a section, a check circle appears next to its name. Click it to see the photo without that section's edits, and click it again to bring them back. Your dial settings are kept while the section is off, and moving one of its dials turns it back on.

Crop and straighten

These tools are in the Framing section.

Drag Straighten to level the horizon, up to 30 degrees either way.
Use the rotate and flip buttons to turn the photo or mirror it. The same commands are in the Photo menu, and Command-[ and Command-] rotate the photo.

To crop by hand:

Click a shape: Native (the photo's own shape), Free, 1x1, 4x3, 3x2, 16x9, or 2x1. The crop frame opens in that shape. You can also press R to open it in the shape that's selected.
Optional: click the button before Native, or press Shift-R, to switch the shapes between landscape and portrait.
Drag the corners of the frame.
Click inside the frame or press Return to apply the crop. If you let go and do nothing, it applies after two seconds.

To cancel, press Escape, click outside the frame, or click the same shape again. A new crop replaces the one before it, and the frame opens on the current crop, so you can make a tight crop wider again.

To let GPRaw choose a crop, click Smart Crop. It shows its suggestion in the same frame, so you can adjust it or cancel it before it applies.

Correct lens distortion

In the Distortion section, drag Correction. Off keeps the camera's full fisheye view. At 1.00, straight lines are fully straight and the edges are cropped the most. 0.60 is the lens profile's recommended strength.

Protect Subject reduces the stretching that correction causes on people near the edges of the frame, while the lines behind them stay straight. It works when Correction is above Off and GPRaw finds a subject in the photo.

Correction needs a lens profile for the camera that took the photo. When GPRaw has none, the section is dimmed and says it could not find a lens profile for the photo.

Blur the background

In the Portrait section, drag Strength to blur the background. Aperture sets how quickly the blur falls off, from f/16 to f/1.4, and starts at f/2.8. To choose what stays sharp, click Select Focus Point. If GPRaw can't work out depth for a photo, the Portrait section is dimmed.

Check exposure and clipping

The histogram shows the photo as it looks now. Press J to show clipping on the photo. Red marks where the camera itself clipped, amber where the picture is at white but the camera didn't clip, and blue where the shadows are black. Press J or Escape to hide it. The triangles in the histogram's top corners turn the highlight and shadow marks on and off one at a time.

See a photo's details

Under the histogram, GPRaw shows the photo's ISO, focal length, aperture, and shutter speed. The focal length is the 35 mm equivalent. Hold the pointer over the line to see the lens's actual focal length.

To see more, click that line, or choose View > Show Info (Command-I). The Info window shows the file name, date, camera, size, and exposure settings such as shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. Click the file name to show the file in Finder. If the photo has a location, click it to open that place in Maps.

To see the details of another photo in the window without moving to it, Control-click its thumbnail and choose Get Info.

Copy edits to other photos

Show the photo whose edits you want, and choose Photo > Copy Edits (Shift-Command-C).
Show another photo, or select several in the filmstrip.
Choose Photo > Paste Edits (Shift-Command-V).

Paste Edits copies Distortion, Light, Color, and Details. Each photo keeps its own crop and Portrait blur. Pasted on a burst or a timelapse, the edits reach every frame. The copied edits last until you quit GPRaw.

Change a timelapse's look over time

Keyframes let Light, Color, and Details change gradually across a timelapse, such as warming a sunrise. The frames between two keyframes follow a smooth ramp.

Show a frame of the timelapse, and press K, or choose Photo > Add Keyframe. The first keyframe also puts one on the first and last frame.
Set the dials for that frame.
Go to another frame, press K again, and set its dials.

A timeline floats along the bottom of a timelapse frame. Click it to go to a frame, or drag along it to scrub. View > Previous Keyframe (Option-Command-Left Arrow) and View > Next Keyframe (Option-Command-Right Arrow) jump between keyed frames.

Shift-K, or Photo > Remove Keyframe, removes the keyframes on the frame on screen. To go back to one look for the whole timelapse, choose Photo > Stop Keyframing Light…, or the same item for Color or Details.

Even out a timelapse's brightness

When a GoPro changes its exposure during a timelapse, the movie can jump in brightness. Deflicker reads each frame's recorded exposure and evens out those jumps, by up to one stop a frame. Brightness changes in the light itself, such as a passing cloud, are left alone.

Show a frame of the timelapse.
Click Deflicker at the end of the timeline, or choose Photo > Deflicker. Hold the pointer over the button first to see how many frames jump.

Deflicker needs at least five frames with exposure data. Editing with it is free, and exporting with it needs the full version. In the free version, exports are written without it, and the export dialog says so.

Mark photos Pick or Reject

Pick and Reject are Finder tags on the photo's file, in green and red, so they stay with the file and you can search for them in Finder.

Show the photo, or select several in the filmstrip.
Press P for Pick or X for Reject, or choose Photo > Pick or Photo > Reject. Press the same key again to clear the mark.

On a folded burst or timelapse, a mark goes on every frame. GPRaw can't mark a photo on a disk that can't hold Finder tags, such as a camera card, and says so. Copy the file to your Mac first.

The File menu has three more commands. Show Rejected in Finder selects the window's rejected files in Finder, so you can delete them there. Clear All Picks and Rejects… removes every mark in the window, after asking. Remove All Rejected takes the rejected photos out of the window. GPRaw never deletes a photo.

Export All Photos and Export Video leave rejected photos out, and say how many. To keep them, choose GPRaw > Settings…, and under Export, deselect Leave Out Rejected Photos. Export Photo, an export of selected photos, the Finder quick actions, and the Photos app extension always export the photos they're given.

Use keyboard shortcuts

To see every key GPRaw answers, choose Help > Keyboard Shortcuts (Command-/). The list stays over the window while you work, and the same key closes it.

These keys work in a GPRaw window:

Period and Comma move to the next or previous dial. Then the Up and Down Arrow keys move that dial, Shift moves it five steps at a time, and Escape leaves it.
Y shows the before and after side by side, and Y again goes back. Backslash switches between your edit and the before, and Command-Backslash between your edit and the original. Escape goes back to your edit from any of them.
R opens the crop frame, and Shift-R switches the crop shapes between landscape and portrait.
P and X mark a photo Pick and Reject, J shows clipping, and S folds or opens a burst or a timelapse.
K and Shift-K add and remove a timelapse's keyframes.
Photo > Auto Color (Shift-Command-U) runs the Color section's AUTO.
Photo > Reset Framing (Option-Command-R) resets that section, and Photo > Reset Edits (Shift-Command-R) resets everything.

Export a photo

Choose File > Export Photo… (Shift-Command-E), or click Export in the toolbar. On a timelapse frame, the Export button opens a menu, and you choose Export Photo….
Choose a format: JPEG, PNG, HEIC, AVIF, TIFF, or DNG. AVIF appears only if your Mac can write it.
Choose a bit depth and an image size. Each size shows the exact pixel dimensions it will write, with your crop and straighten included.
Select Preserve Metadata to keep the camera, date, and GPS information.
Optional: select Add to Photos or Share Image to also add the file to Photos or share it.
Choose where to save the file, and save it.

The export dialog remembers the choices and the folder from your last export, even after you quit GPRaw. Photos and movies are remembered separately. If a remembered format can't be used this time, such as DNG after an edit it can't carry, the dialog starts on JPEG instead.

In the free version, DNG, Full Size, Half Size, 10 Bits, and 16 Bits are dimmed and marked as full version only, and a line under the options says so. See Unlock the full version.

JPEG is always 8 bits. HEIC and AVIF can be 8 or 10 bits, and PNG and TIFF 8 or 16 bits. An exported JPEG, PNG, HEIC, AVIF, or TIFF is always the right way up. If you quit while an export is running, GPRaw asks you first.

Export as DNG

DNG keeps the photo as a raw file that other raw editors can open. It can carry lens correction but no other edit, so DNG is available only when Distortion is your only change. Any other edit makes it unavailable, including Light, Color, Details, crop, straighten, rotate, flip, Portrait blur, and Protect Subject. To export a DNG, reset those edits or turn their sections off. A DNG always keeps the full size and all metadata, so the bit depth, size, and metadata options are dimmed.

Export every photo in a window

Choose File > Export All Photos…. The dialog says how many photos it will write, counting every frame of each burst and timelapse.
Choose the format, bit depth, and size, as for one photo.
Choose a folder, and click Export.

Each photo is named after its file and keeps its own edits. To export only some photos, select them in the filmstrip and choose File > Export, which then names how many photos it exports.

Export a timelapse as a movie

Show a frame of the timelapse.
Choose File > Export Video…, or click the Export button in the toolbar and choose Export Video….
Choose a codec: H.264, HEVC, HEVC 10-Bit, Dolby Vision HDR, ProRes 422 HQ, or ProRes 4444. Each one says what it is for.
Choose a frame rate (24, 25, 30, or 60 fps) and a frame size: Full Size, Half Size, Quarter Size, 4K, or 1080p.
Optional: select Reduce Noise Across Frames, or Deflicker, or Add to Photos or Share Video to also add the movie to Photos or share it.
Choose where to save the movie, and save it.

Each frame size shows the dimensions the movie will have, with your crop and straighten included. ProRes saves a .mov file, and the other codecs save an .mp4 file. H.264 is dimmed when the frames are too large for it. Every frame is rendered at the size you choose, so a long timelapse takes a while. A burst can't be exported as a movie.

In the free version, you can export a movie at Quarter Size in H.264 or HEVC. The other sizes, codecs, and options are dimmed and marked as full version only.

Reduce grain in a timelapse

Select Reduce Noise Across Frames in the Export Video dialog. GPRaw blends each frame with the frames beside it, except where something moved, which smooths out grain most visibly in night skies. It makes the export slower, it's off until you select it, and it needs the full version. Frames marked Reject are never blended in.

Choose a frame size for a screen

Full Size is the whole picture your dials leave, and Half Size and Quarter Size are fractions of it. 4K and 1080p instead fit that picture inside 3840 x 2160 or 1920 x 1080, either way up, and never enlarge it. A photo you cropped to 16x9 fills 4K exactly. When a size would write the same movie as Full Size, it's dimmed and says so. If your frames are cropped to 16x9, the dialog opens on 4K in the full version and on Quarter Size in the free version.

Export a timelapse in HDR

Choose Dolby Vision HDR as the codec. GPRaw keeps the brightness the camera recorded above white, so a sunrise holds its highlights on an HDR television or phone instead of flattening to white.

Televisions and phones play these movies up to 4K, so the codec is dimmed while the frames are larger than that. Choose 4K or a smaller frame size, and it becomes available again.

Stop an export

While a movie or a batch of photos exports, the Export button in the toolbar shows its progress. Click it to see the time left and to stop, or choose File > Stop Export (Command-Period). A stopped movie leaves no file behind, and a stopped batch keeps the photos it already wrote.

If a frame can't go in the movie

GPRaw leaves that frame out and closes the movie up over it, rather than giving up on the whole export. When it's done, it says which frames are missing and why. If you chose Add to Photos or Share Video, GPRaw asks first whether that still stands.

Click Copy Report in that message to put a report of what happened on the clipboard, then paste it into a message to us. It names the frames, the reason for each one, and what GPRaw and your Mac were running. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you send it. The same button is on the message you get when a movie export fails and no movie is written.

Click the share button in the toolbar, and choose one of these, or choose the same command from the File menu:

Quick Share (Shift-Command-S) makes a half-size JPEG with your edits, or a quarter-size one in the free version, and opens the share sheet, so you can send it with AirDrop, Messages, or Mail.
Add to Photos puts a full-size copy with your edits straight into your Photos library. It needs the full version.

On a timelapse, both send the frame on screen. With several photos selected in the filmstrip, they send all of them.

Add to Photos writes the format chosen in GPRaw > Settings… under Add to Photos: DNG, JPEG, or HEIC. It starts on DNG. A DNG can't hold most edits, so when a photo has them, GPRaw asks whether to add a full-size JPEG instead.

If you close the share sheet without choosing anything, GPRaw deletes the temporary copy straight away. Otherwise it keeps the copy for at least two days, so a message you haven't sent yet still has its attachment, and deletes it the next time you open GPRaw after that.

Use GPRaw from Finder

GPRaw gives GPR files real thumbnails in Finder and large previews when you press the Space bar, in the free version too. It also adds three quick actions. Select one or more GPR files, then Control-click and choose Quick Actions, or use the buttons in the Finder preview pane.

GPRaw: Export saves converted copies, with the same format and size options as the app. It exports the photos as they came from the camera, and its options start fresh each time. In the free version, the full-version options are dimmed, as in the app. With several files selected, you choose a folder and click Convert. A file already in that folder is kept, and the new copy gets a number, such as HERO5 2.JPEG.
GPRaw: Quick Share makes JPEGs and opens the share sheet.
GPRaw: Add to Photos imports the photos into your Photos library in the format chosen in Settings, then opens Photos. It needs the full version. In the free version, it offers to open GPRaw so you can unlock it.

Apple's own Convert Image quick action also appears for GPR files, but it can't read them. Use GPRaw: Export instead.

If the quick actions don't appear

Choose Apple menu > System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions.
Click the info button next to System Services.
Turn on the GPRaw actions.

New quick actions can also start out under the More button in the Finder preview pane.

Use GPRaw with Photos

Allow GPRaw to add to your Photos library

The first time you use Add to Photos, GPRaw explains what it needs. Click Continue, and then allow access when macOS asks.

GPRaw asks for add-only access. It can add new photos to your library, but it can never see, change, or delete the photos already there. You can also set this up ahead of time: choose GPRaw > Settings…, and under Setup, click Set Up Add to Photos….

If you decline, macOS doesn't ask again, and it doesn't list add-only apps in its Photos privacy settings. Add to Photos then stays unavailable on that Mac. Exporting to files still works.

Edit in the Photos app

Open a photo in Photos and click Edit. Click the extensions button, which looks like three dots, and choose GPRaw. You get the same panel as in the app, with a few differences:

It works on photos, not videos.
There are no crop handles. The shape buttons choose the shape Smart Crop uses. Smart Crop, Framing's AUTO, and Auto Adjust apply their crop straight away. If Smart Crop decides the whole photo is the best framing, it removes an earlier crop.
Sharpening and Denoising work only on GoPro raw photos.

Photos saves your edits, and you can revert them like any other Photos edit. In the free version, every control works, but clicking Done doesn't save the edit, and the status line says so. Unlock the full version in GPRaw to save. If GPRaw is missing from the list, turn it on under Photos Editing in System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions.

Turn on Maximum Image Quality

Maximum Image Quality renders photos with Apple's latest raw processing, for sharper detail, more accurate color, and improved noise reduction. It needs macOS 27 or later.

Choose GPRaw > Settings… (Command-Comma).
Under Image Quality, select Maximum Image Quality (slower).

The photo you have open renders again straight away. Dragging a dial stays fast, but exports, full-size previews, and movie exports take longer. On earlier versions of macOS the checkbox is dimmed, and Settings offers a link to Software Update.

Check for updates

Choose Help > Check for Updates…. GPRaw tells you whether a newer version is on the App Store, and if there is one, offers to open its App Store page so you can update. If the newer version needs a later macOS than your Mac runs, GPRaw says so instead. If it can't reach the App Store, it says so.

GPRaw also checks when you open it. When a new version your Mac can install has been on the App Store for at least a day, GPRaw lets you know, at most once a day. If you click Later, GPRaw won't bring that version up again when you open it, but Check for Updates… still shows it. The check sends Apple only GPRaw's app identifier.

See what's new

The first time you open GPRaw after an update, it shows what's new in that version. To see it again, choose Help > Show Release Notes. When the update message has no notes to show, it offers a Release notes link to gpraw.com/release-notes instead.

Rate GPRaw

Choose Help > Rate GPRaw to open GPRaw's App Store page, ready for you to write a review.

Once you've bought the full version and exported a few times, GPRaw may also show the standard macOS rating prompt after an export. It asks only once, and not at all if you've already used Rate GPRaw.

If something isn't working

If a photo won't open

When you open a photo on its own, GPRaw says it couldn't read, decode, or render the file, and closes the window. That happens when a file isn't a GPR, or is damaged or incomplete. A file that was only partly copied from a card is the usual cause, so copy it from the card again. In a window of several photos, the window stays open, and the status line says GPRaw couldn't open that photo. You can remove it from the window.

If Finder shows generic icons instead of thumbnails

Open GPRaw once, so macOS registers it.
In System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions, make sure GPRaw's thumbnail and preview extensions are on.
Restart your Mac to clear old thumbnails.

If another app that also opens GPR files is installed, macOS may use it for previews instead. Remove that app, or turn off its extensions.

If editing controls are dimmed

Controls stay dimmed for a moment while a photo first renders.
Distortion is dimmed when GPRaw has no lens profile for the camera. See Correct lens distortion.
Protect Subject needs Correction above Off and a subject in the photo.
Portrait is dimmed when GPRaw can't work out depth for the photo.
Sharpening and Denoising are dimmed when they aren't available for a photo.

If rendering or exporting is slow

Processing a raw photo at full resolution takes a lot of work, especially from the larger sensors. Maximum Image Quality makes exports and full-size previews take longer, so turn it off if you don't need it. A movie export renders every frame, so it takes longer than a photo, and Reduce Noise Across Frames makes it slower still.

Privacy

GPRaw collects nothing. There's no analytics, no crash reporting, and no account, and your photos are decoded, edited, and exported on your Mac. GPRaw makes two network connections, and neither carries anything about you or your photos. One goes to a GoPro connected by USB-C, to list and import its photos. The other asks the App Store whether a newer GPRaw is available. Purchases, offer codes, and the rating prompt are handled by Apple's App Store, and clicking a photo's location opens Apple Maps. The full policy is at gpraw.com/privacy.

Contact us

Write to us at gpraw.com/contact with questions, bug reports, or requests. It helps to include your GPRaw version and Mac details:

Choose GPRaw > About GPRaw.
Click the version line. GPRaw copies the version details and your Mac's chip, memory, and macOS version, and shows Copied.
Paste it into your message.

If a movie export left frames out or failed, copy its report and paste that in too. See Export a timelapse as a movie.