Darktable Performance Decreases Significantly After Importing Large RAW Files

A common issue when working with Darktable is experiencing significant performance degradation after importing large RAW files.

This can manifest as slow image rendering, sluggish navigation, or even crashes when applying edits.

The first step in addressing this issue is to check your system's resources.

Darktable relies heavily on CPU and RAM, and large RAW files, especially those from high-resolution cameras, can put a significant load on your system.

Start by checking your system’s memory usage using tools like htop (Linux), Task Manager (Windows), or Activity Monitor (Mac).

If you notice high memory usage, try increasing your system’s RAM if possible.

Darktable's processing is GPU-accelerated, so ensuring that your graphics drivers are up to date can have a significant impact on performance.

For Linux users, check that you have the proper GPU drivers installed (e.g., NVIDIA’s proprietary drivers or open-source Nouveau).

On macOS, ensure that you're using the latest updates for Metal support.

If your GPU is not well-supported, Darktable may fall back on CPU processing, which is slower.

In addition to hardware considerations, adjusting Darktable's settings can help improve performance.

Under the Darkroom module, lower the Default output profile resolution to reduce the output file size when editing images.

You can also limit the Preview size under the Preferences > Tiling section.

Additionally, reducing the Tile size under Preferences > Cache may help lighten the load during editing.

If these measures don’t significantly improve performance, try disabling certain features like high-quality preview rendering, which can demand more resources.

Additionally, cleaning up the image cache can sometimes resolve slowdowns caused by accumulated preview files or other temporary data.

Go to Preferences > Cache and manually clear the cache or configure Darktable to automatically purge older files.

Finally, ensure that you’re not overloading your image with too many concurrent edits.

Darktable processes many adjustments in real time, so if your image has multiple complex layers of editing, this can slow performance.

Consider applying edits incrementally rather than in one go.

If the performance issues are still not resolved, it may be worth testing with a lower-resolution proxy or working in a dedicated environment (such as a Linux machine) for optimal performance.

By taking these steps, you can mitigate issues with Darktable’s performance when handling large RAW files.