For Lytro ILLUM and first generation Lytro cameras
ILLUMinator is a modern replacement for Lytro Desktop that renders higher resolution, higher quality images and videos. Import photos directly from your hard drive or SD card, and keyframe just about any setting to animate your pictures. You can also import your existing Lytro Desktop library.
Windows · macOS · Linux
A modern replacement
Lytro shut down in 2018, and Lytro Desktop was abandoned. ILLUMinator picks up where it stopped: a full-featured modern app for Windows, macOS, and Linux, plus a version that runs in any modern web browser.
ILLUMinator renders on the GPU, so the application responds quickly as you interact with your photos.
| Lytro Desktop | ILLUMinator | |
|---|---|---|
| Updates | None since 2018 | Actively developed |
| Systems | Older Windows and macOS | Windows, macOS, Linux, browser |
| Apple Silicon | Not native | Native |
| Still images | Max resolution 2450 × 1634 (4 MP) | Max resolution 2460 × 1708 (4.2 MP) Upscaled 9840 × 6832 (67 MP) |
| Video | Max resolution 1920 × 1080 (1080p) | Max resolution 2160p (4K) |
| Keyframes | Camera settings | Every setting |
| Your library | Stays in the old app | Imported, edits included |
Superior results
ILLUMinator renders your light fields at a higher resolution and a higher quality than Lytro Desktop, for stills and for video. Its full sensor renderer places every pixel of the sensor where it belongs, then recovers fine detail in extra passes, up to four times the lens grid. A dedicated upscaler then enlarges photos up to four times more and video frames to 4K, keeping edges crisp, with its method and sharpening yours to set.
Save stills as PNG or JPEG, up to 2460 × 1708 (4.2 MP) as rendered or 9840 × 6832 (67 MP) upscaled, and 3D pictures as anaglyph, side by side or cross-eyed pairs. Export video as WebM or MP4, compressed with VP9, VP8, AV1, H.264 or H.265, from 1080p to 4K or sized for social media at 9:16, 4:5, 1:1 and 16:9.
Animation
Lytro Desktop could only animate basic camera settings. In ILLUMinator every slider can change over time: exposure, white balance, the tone curve, each local adjustment's position and effect, tilt, bokeh, lens corrections and framing.
Each setting has a ◆ beside it to add keyframes and step between them, and the keyframe editor shows them grouped like the panels, with smooth curves you can shape.
“Living Filters” from Lytro Desktop are imported as Local Adjustments you can keep editing.
Select by distance instead of drawing: an adjustment covers just one slice of the scene, and can follow the focus as it moves.
Tilt the plane of focus in any direction after the shot, and spread the sharp range.
296 film emulation LUTs included, from color negative and slide to black and white and instant film, or import your own .cube LUTs.
Photos enlarged up to 4× and video up to 4K on the GPU, with your choice of AMD FSR 1, Lanczos or smooth upscaling and adjustable sharpening.
Export video ready for Reels, TikTok, Shorts and Stories at 9:16, feed posts at 4:5 or 1:1, and YouTube at 16:9, up to 4K.
Video as WebM or MP4 with VP9, AV1, H.264 or H.265 at up to 40 Mbit/s; photos as lossless PNG or JPEG at the quality you choose. Both in 3D too: anaglyph, side by side, or for VR headsets like the Meta Quest 3.
Zoom from the whole sensor down to single pixels under the microlenses, and see which pixels a full sensor render uses and how evenly they cover the picture at the current focus.
Fill in the faint dark spots dust leaves on the sensor or lens, despeckle small bright or dark specks, and fix hot, warm and dead pixels automatically, alongside luminance, color and multi-view noise reduction.
Remove chromatic aberration, distortion, vignetting and flare, automatically or by hand.
Native apps for Windows, macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon), and Linux.
For any purpose under the PolyForm Shield license.
Backward compatibility
Point ILLUMinator at your Lytro Desktop library and it brings every picture across, with the edits Lytro Desktop saved for each one, into an album named after the library: color, crop, animations as keyframes, effects as local adjustments, pan and zoom, and 3D. The work you did in Lytro Desktop is still there, and importing the library again replaces photos with the newer copies.
Photos also import straight from the camera over USB. Edits are kept beside each photo in a plain file, can be reset to a fresh start from the photo's menu, and albums export as a single archive to move between computers.
Library
Albums
Import Lytro Desktop library
~/Pictures/Lytro Library.lytrolibrary
Copying photos and edits…