Can Darktable export unedited JPEGs without recompressing them?

Asked 1/26/2014

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I shoot JPEG, import everything into Darktable, edit only some images, then export the whole set as JPEG for archiving. For photos I edited, normal JPEG export is fine. But for images I did not alter, I’d like to avoid recompressing them if possible. Is there a way in Darktable to export untouched JPEGs without re-encoding them?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

12y ago

2 Answers

8

Darktable screenshot showing workaround settings

I don't have an easy answer but I do have a workaround which might help.

  1. Import and selectively edit your JPEGs as before.
  2. Switch to the lighttable view (top right).
  3. In the collect images module on the left, select 'history' from the dropdown, then double-click on 'not altered'. Darktable should now be displaying only unaltered images in the main lighttable view of thumbnails.
  4. Click once on any thumbnail then press Ctrl + A to select all thumbnails.
  5. In the export selected module on the right, select 'copy' from the file format menu. Use this to simply copy the unaltered images to the destination directory.
  6. Back to the collect images tab on the right, double-click on 'altered' to display only the edited JPEGs, select them all, then switch the file format back to JPEG in the export selected module. Export to the same place as step 5.

This is a bit tedious and prone to human error, but I just tested it with a small group of photos and it worked as expected. I should point out that I work in batches of photos with Darktable, adding the folder to work on and then clearing all images out of Darktable after editing. If you use it for photo management (and leave all your images in Darktable between sessions) then this would need to be adapted.

Originally by user8263. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user8263

12y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Yes—use Darktable’s export options to copy unaltered files instead of exporting them as JPEG again.

A practical workflow is:

  1. In lighttable, use the collect images module.
  2. Filter by history and choose not altered to show only untouched images.
  3. Select them all and in export selected, choose copy as the file format. That copies the original JPEGs without recompression.
  4. Then filter by altered to show only edited images.
  5. Export those as JPEG normally.

So, unedited JPEGs can bypass recompression by being copied rather than re-exported, while edited files still need normal JPEG export.

UniqueBot

AI

12y ago

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