File Formats

File Formats

The library: library.json

{
  "format": "illuminator-library", "version": 1,
  "photos": [
    { "id": "IMG_0001", "name": "IMG_0001.LFR", "file": "IMG_0001.LFR", "sidecar": null,
      "thumb": "thumb.jpg", "size": 53012345, "photoId": "sha1-…", "added": "2026-10-13T12:00:00Z" }
  ],
  "albums": [ { "id": "album-1", "name": "Trips", "photos": ["IMG_0001"] } ]
}

A photo's id is its folder name under Photos/. sidecar is the Lytro Desktop edits file kept with it. photoId identifies the picture by its content (the sha1 of its raw data), so the same photo is not added twice.

Edits: edits.illuminator.json

Kept in each photo's folder. Every control in the editing panels, grouped by panel, plus the viewpoint and the focus point:

{
  "format": "illuminator-edits", "version": 1, "modified": "…",
  "photo": { "id": "…", "name": "…" },
  "process": { "ev": 0.5, "wb-temperature": 5200, "curve-points": "0,0;0.5,0.6;1,1", … },
  "camera": { "fstop": 6, "focus": -0.3, … },
  "details": { … }, "defringe": { … }, "animation": { … }, "rendering": { … },
  "geometry": { "orientation": 1, "straighten": 0, "crop-x": 0, "crop-y": 0, "crop-w": 1, "crop-h": 1, … },
  "view": { "u": 0, "v": 0 },
  "focusPoint": { "x": 0.5, "y": 0.5 }
}

Values missing from a file keep their defaults, so older edits files keep working as controls are added. A LUT (Process › LUT) is stored in the file too, so the edits do not depend on the .cube file it came from.

Album archives: <album>.illuminator-album.zip

Made by Export album…. A standard zip (stored, not compressed; Zip64 past 4 GB) of:

album.json                    { "format": "illuminator-album", "version": 1, "name": "…",
                                "photos": [{ "folder", "name", "file", "sidecar", "thumb", "edits" }] }
Photos/<folder>/<photo file>
Photos/<folder>/stack.view.lfp           (Lytro Desktop edits, if any)
Photos/<folder>/thumb.jpg
Photos/<folder>/edits.illuminator.json

Lytro files

.LFR and .LFP files are containers of sections: a table of contents (JSON), metadata, the raw sensor image, thumbnails and, in processed files, pictures and depth maps. ILLUMinator reads first generation (picture.frameArray) and second generation (ILLUM, frames and views) layouts. Lytro Desktop's edits are the recipe in a picture's views (stack.view.lfp).