diff --git a/npm/darwin-arm64/package.json b/npm/darwin-arm64/package.json
index 4e2f3de0..9fc9ca65 100644
--- a/npm/darwin-arm64/package.json
+++ b/npm/darwin-arm64/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@img/sharp-darwin-arm64",
-  "version": "0.34.3",
+  "version": "0.34.4-rc.0",
   "description": "Prebuilt sharp for use with macOS 64-bit ARM",
   "author": "Lovell Fuller <npm@lovell.info>",
   "homepage": "https://sharp.pixelplumbing.com",
diff --git a/npm/darwin-x64/package.json b/npm/darwin-x64/package.json
index c3146836..5bf105b7 100644
--- a/npm/darwin-x64/package.json
+++ b/npm/darwin-x64/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@img/sharp-darwin-x64",
-  "version": "0.34.3",
+  "version": "0.34.4-rc.0",
   "description": "Prebuilt sharp for use with macOS x64",
   "author": "Lovell Fuller <npm@lovell.info>",
   "homepage": "https://sharp.pixelplumbing.com",
diff --git a/npm/linux-arm/package.json b/npm/linux-arm/package.json
index 848b5e6c..b8bdf97d 100644
--- a/npm/linux-arm/package.json
+++ b/npm/linux-arm/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@img/sharp-linux-arm",
-  "version": "0.34.3",
+  "version": "0.34.4-rc.0",
   "description": "Prebuilt sharp for use with Linux (glibc) ARM (32-bit)",
   "author": "Lovell Fuller <npm@lovell.info>",
   "homepage": "https://sharp.pixelplumbing.com",
diff --git a/npm/linux-arm64/package.json b/npm/linux-arm64/package.json
index 24e92a3e..079e0c45 100644
--- a/npm/linux-arm64/package.json
+++ b/npm/linux-arm64/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@img/sharp-linux-arm64",
-  "version": "0.34.3",
+  "version": "0.34.4-rc.0",
   "description": "Prebuilt sharp for use with Linux (glibc) 64-bit ARM",
   "author": "Lovell Fuller <npm@lovell.info>",
   "homepage": "https://sharp.pixelplumbing.com",
diff --git a/npm/linux-ppc64/package.json b/npm/linux-ppc64/package.json
index efac8f0d..90a563e9 100644
--- a/npm/linux-ppc64/package.json
+++ b/npm/linux-ppc64/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@img/sharp-linux-ppc64",
-  "version": "0.34.3",
+  "version": "0.34.4-rc.0",
   "description": "Prebuilt sharp for use with Linux (glibc) ppc64",
   "author": "Lovell Fuller <npm@lovell.info>",
   "homepage": "https://sharp.pixelplumbing.com",
diff --git a/npm/linux-s390x/package.json b/npm/linux-s390x/package.json
index a26cc0c2..bf911112 100644
--- a/npm/linux-s390x/package.json
+++ b/npm/linux-s390x/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@img/sharp-linux-s390x",
-  "version": "0.34.3",
+  "version": "0.34.4-rc.0",
   "description": "Prebuilt sharp for use with Linux (glibc) s390x",
   "author": "Lovell Fuller <npm@lovell.info>",
   "homepage": "https://sharp.pixelplumbing.com",
diff --git a/npm/linux-x64/package.json b/npm/linux-x64/package.json
index bcbacc70..c0b6513c 100644
--- a/npm/linux-x64/package.json
+++ b/npm/linux-x64/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@img/sharp-linux-x64",
-  "version": "0.34.3",
+  "version": "0.34.4-rc.0",
   "description": "Prebuilt sharp for use with Linux (glibc) x64",
   "author": "Lovell Fuller <npm@lovell.info>",
   "homepage": "https://sharp.pixelplumbing.com",
diff --git a/npm/linuxmusl-arm64/package.json b/npm/linuxmusl-arm64/package.json
index b98c1d87..d5da94d0 100644
--- a/npm/linuxmusl-arm64/package.json
+++ b/npm/linuxmusl-arm64/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@img/sharp-linuxmusl-arm64",
-  "version": "0.34.3",
+  "version": "0.34.4-rc.0",
   "description": "Prebuilt sharp for use with Linux (musl) 64-bit ARM",
   "author": "Lovell Fuller <npm@lovell.info>",
   "homepage": "https://sharp.pixelplumbing.com",
diff --git a/npm/linuxmusl-x64/package.json b/npm/linuxmusl-x64/package.json
index 2133caec..f5358282 100644
--- a/npm/linuxmusl-x64/package.json
+++ b/npm/linuxmusl-x64/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@img/sharp-linuxmusl-x64",
-  "version": "0.34.3",
+  "version": "0.34.4-rc.0",
   "description": "Prebuilt sharp for use with Linux (musl) x64",
   "author": "Lovell Fuller <npm@lovell.info>",
   "homepage": "https://sharp.pixelplumbing.com",
diff --git a/npm/package.json b/npm/package.json
index f7562ed4..0295044d 100644
--- a/npm/package.json
+++ b/npm/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@img/sharp",
-  "version": "0.34.3",
+  "version": "0.34.4-rc.0",
   "private": "true",
   "workspaces": [
     "darwin-arm64",
diff --git a/npm/wasm32/package.json b/npm/wasm32/package.json
index 9e4f518d..ba8996bb 100644
--- a/npm/wasm32/package.json
+++ b/npm/wasm32/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@img/sharp-wasm32",
-  "version": "0.34.3",
+  "version": "0.34.4-rc.0",
   "description": "Prebuilt sharp for use with wasm32",
   "author": "Lovell Fuller <npm@lovell.info>",
   "homepage": "https://sharp.pixelplumbing.com",
diff --git a/npm/win32-arm64/package.json b/npm/win32-arm64/package.json
index 44ce09ac..dc055ac1 100644
--- a/npm/win32-arm64/package.json
+++ b/npm/win32-arm64/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@img/sharp-win32-arm64",
-  "version": "0.34.3",
+  "version": "0.34.4-rc.0",
   "description": "Prebuilt sharp for use with Windows 64-bit ARM",
   "author": "Lovell Fuller <npm@lovell.info>",
   "homepage": "https://sharp.pixelplumbing.com",
diff --git a/npm/win32-ia32/package.json b/npm/win32-ia32/package.json
index 3645bce4..2131df2d 100644
--- a/npm/win32-ia32/package.json
+++ b/npm/win32-ia32/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@img/sharp-win32-ia32",
-  "version": "0.34.3",
+  "version": "0.34.4-rc.0",
   "description": "Prebuilt sharp for use with Windows x86 (32-bit)",
   "author": "Lovell Fuller <npm@lovell.info>",
   "homepage": "https://sharp.pixelplumbing.com",
diff --git a/npm/win32-x64/package.json b/npm/win32-x64/package.json
index e2e55719..d55a7870 100644
--- a/npm/win32-x64/package.json
+++ b/npm/win32-x64/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@img/sharp-win32-x64",
-  "version": "0.34.3",
+  "version": "0.34.4-rc.0",
   "description": "Prebuilt sharp for use with Windows x64",
   "author": "Lovell Fuller <npm@lovell.info>",
   "homepage": "https://sharp.pixelplumbing.com",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 85f72e8b..0371408b 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "sharp",
   "description": "High performance Node.js image processing, the fastest module to resize JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, AVIF and TIFF images",
-  "version": "0.34.3",
+  "version": "0.34.4-rc.0",
   "author": "Lovell Fuller <npm@lovell.info>",
   "homepage": "https://sharp.pixelplumbing.com",
   "contributors": [
@@ -141,8 +141,8 @@
     "semver": "^7.7.2"
   },
   "optionalDependencies": {
-    "@img/sharp-darwin-arm64": "0.34.3",
-    "@img/sharp-darwin-x64": "0.34.3",
+    "@img/sharp-darwin-arm64": "0.34.4-rc.0",
+    "@img/sharp-darwin-x64": "0.34.4-rc.0",
     "@img/sharp-libvips-darwin-arm64": "1.2.1",
     "@img/sharp-libvips-darwin-x64": "1.2.1",
     "@img/sharp-libvips-linux-arm": "1.2.1",
@@ -152,17 +152,17 @@
     "@img/sharp-libvips-linux-x64": "1.2.1",
     "@img/sharp-libvips-linuxmusl-arm64": "1.2.1",
     "@img/sharp-libvips-linuxmusl-x64": "1.2.1",
-    "@img/sharp-linux-arm": "0.34.3",
-    "@img/sharp-linux-arm64": "0.34.3",
-    "@img/sharp-linux-ppc64": "0.34.3",
-    "@img/sharp-linux-s390x": "0.34.3",
-    "@img/sharp-linux-x64": "0.34.3",
-    "@img/sharp-linuxmusl-arm64": "0.34.3",
-    "@img/sharp-linuxmusl-x64": "0.34.3",
-    "@img/sharp-wasm32": "0.34.3",
-    "@img/sharp-win32-arm64": "0.34.3",
-    "@img/sharp-win32-ia32": "0.34.3",
-    "@img/sharp-win32-x64": "0.34.3"
+    "@img/sharp-linux-arm": "0.34.4-rc.0",
+    "@img/sharp-linux-arm64": "0.34.4-rc.0",
+    "@img/sharp-linux-ppc64": "0.34.4-rc.0",
+    "@img/sharp-linux-s390x": "0.34.4-rc.0",
+    "@img/sharp-linux-x64": "0.34.4-rc.0",
+    "@img/sharp-linuxmusl-arm64": "0.34.4-rc.0",
+    "@img/sharp-linuxmusl-x64": "0.34.4-rc.0",
+    "@img/sharp-wasm32": "0.34.4-rc.0",
+    "@img/sharp-win32-arm64": "0.34.4-rc.0",
+    "@img/sharp-win32-ia32": "0.34.4-rc.0",
+    "@img/sharp-win32-x64": "0.34.4-rc.0"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "@emnapi/runtime": "^1.4.5",