Effective September 10, 2013, you must be a fully registered member of The LightZone Project in order to download the program. See the message above about registration.  Once the registration process is fully completed, including approval, and you have logged in after approval, you will see the download links for Linux, Windows, and Mac in the left sidebar---not the bottom right corner.   The program remains free of charge.  We are doing this now for security purposes and to better track the downloads and to help build the community.  It is fine if you do not wish to participate in the forums---no one is forcing you to---- but we would like you to participate and believe that in the long run a larger member base will be better for the project, especially in terms of attracting development support.  We do not think it is too much to ask that you register in exchange for free and quite interesting software.  We hope that you like it as much as we do, and will share with the community your experiences, questions, and comments.

Shooting raw format photos means fewer pictures on your card and more time spent editing your images. So why do nearly all pros do it? Below find answers to 8 common questions every beginner has about shooting raw format.

High Image Quality

Get the most details and least artifacts from your raw photos thanks to modern and traditional demosaicing algorithms: AMaZE, DCB, fast, AHD, EAHD, HPHD & VNG4.
Advanced color handling from white balance to HSV (Hue-Saturation-Value) curves and color management.
Enhanced exposure and tonality tools: tone and Lab curves, highlights and shadows tools, etc.
Multiple denoising methods: luminance, chrominance, impulse (for salt and pepper noise) noise reduction.
Several tools to enhance details: unsharp mask, RL deconvolution, contrast by detail levels.

Efficiency

Multi-threaded algorithms for high performance (RawTherapee can utilize modern processor features).
Quick thumbnails load lightning fast and are replaced later with live thumbnails
Batch processing: convert all the developed images at once without not loading the processor while you work.
Basic tools immediately at your hands.
Parallel editing of multiple images.
An optional secondary display can be used.

Versatility

Wide variety of supported cameras: almost all DSLRs and even some medium format bodies are supported.
Advanced control over the algorithms with many fine-tuning parameters.
Command line usage besides the normal graphical interface.
Various layouts: multiple tabs, single tab with filmstrip, vertical tab with filmstrip.

Freedom for Free

RawTherapee is free and open source software, meaning you can use it free of charge, wherever you like on whatever hardware you like, as long as you abide by the copyleft GPLv3 license. Download the source code, modify it, feel free to do what comes to mind. We believe in open software.
RT is cross-platform: Linux, Mac, or Windows, be it 32-bit or 64-bit - you pick, we provide.
International: it is available in 25 languages!

darktable is an open source photography workflow application and RAW developer. A virtual lighttable and darkroom for photographers. It manages your digital negatives in a database, lets you view them through a zoomable lighttable and enables you to develop raw images and enhance them.

The Unidentified Flying Raw (UFRaw) is a utility to read and manipulate raw images from digital cameras. It can be used on its own or as a Gimp plug-in. It reads raw images using Dave Coffin's raw conversion utility - DCRaw. UFRaw supports color management workflow based on Little CMS, allowing the user to apply ICC color profiles. For Nikon users UFRaw has the advantage that it can read the camera's tone curves. Even if you don't own a Nikon, you can still apply a Nikon curve to your images.

My guiding concept in the development of UFRaw is to give all the essential (and some non-essential) information and control over the raw conversion, with the hope that one could resolve all the exposure and white balance issues during the raw conversion. The obvious advantage is that one can make full use of the raw data. The provisional advantage is that this way we circumvent the current 8-bit limitation of the Gimp, as UFRaw does all manipulations in 16-bits.

There are some important features which are still missing in UFRaw:

Sharpening.
Embed EXIF data - UFRaw can save the EXIF data to JPEG output for a few supported formats. These formats include Canon (CRW, CR2), Nikon (NEF), Pentax (PEF), Samsung (PEF), Sony (SR2, ARW), Fuji (RAF) and Adobe's DNG. For information on how to save EXIF data for other formats you should use ExifTool by Phil Harvey as is explained here.

UFRaw was originally based on Dave Coffin's plug-in and Pawel Jochym's plug-in with live preview. Joseph Heled's RougePhoto is another Gimp plug-in with some interesting features.

UFRaw is licensed under the GNU General Public License. This means that it is free both as in free speech and as in free beer.

You are welcome to participate in UFRaw's Open Discussion Forum, browse and update the wiki page, file bug reports, or request new features (you should read UFRaw's MANIFEST before requesting new features). If you want to know when the next version of UFRaw will be released, you should subscribe to the ufraw-announce mailing list (very low volume). Release annoncements are also made at FreshMeat. And if you wish to experiment with UFRaw's latest source you can check it out from the CVS.

UFRaw is covered in Klaus Gölker's book GIMP 2 for Photographers: Image Editing with Open Source Software (or in the German version Fotobearbeitung und Bildgestaltung mit dem GIMP 2).

French speakers might want to check out the book Développer ses fichiers RAW by Volker Gilbert. The book has a chapter on the different raw processing software and UFRaw gets its own section.

There is also a French version of UFRaw's user manual here.

Spanish speakers might be interested in this UFRaw tutorial in Spanish, a tutorial on getting better results from Ufraw and Gimp or this comperhensive book.

For Chinese speaker there is also a user guide.

I would like to thank all the UFRaw users that contributed to its development by sending patches, finding bugs and making insightful suggestions. Special thanks go to Vlado Potisk for many valuable suggestions, Shawn Freeman for adding support for Nikon curves and the curve editor and Niels Kristian for active participation in the development. Thanks also go to all the translators.