Editing psd. How to open (edit) a PSD file without Photoshop

A file with the PSD extension is an Adobe Photoshop document; it is an image file created specifically by Adobe Photoshop; renowned professional image editing software. If you want to open or modify a psd image file without purchasing or installing Adobe Photoshop software. Here are some tips and tricks that will surely help you Open PSD without Adobe Photoshop.

The first thing I can advise you is to try opening the file by simply double-clicking on it. Your computer will try to determine which types of applications can open the file. If an error pops up on the screen or nothing happens at all, it means there are no programs on the computer that read the PSD file.

How can I open this file?

Here is the second method, several tools that will help you open this file. These are free programs, you can download and install them completely free of charge, I want to say in advance that there will be links to all programs, so you don’t need to look for them and don’t bother.

Paint.Net: This is an amazing free photo editor program that makes editing pictures and photos faster and easier. To open and edit a psd file, you need to install the additional Paint.net tool.

IrfanView: A free, small and terribly simple tool that opens PSD files in no time, effortlessly, simply and without Photoshop.

GIMP: is a very popular and completely free photo tool that can create and edit files, it will easily be able to open that file. You can use GIMP to edit PSD files, but since it can't recognize complex layers and possibly other properties that could be used in Photoshop already in the generated file, you may run into problems.

I also recommend using a simple notepad installed on your PC by default or any other text editor, it can also edit the PSD file. Many files are text documents, they are accessible regardless of the file extension, a text editor may be able to display the contents of the file. This may or may not be related to the PSD file, but it's worth a try.

How to open files in the programs above:

Load the PSD file into the installed program, select “File”, then “Open”. I hope now you know how to open a psd file. Hope this helped you ;).

Here is a list of best free PSD Editor for Windows. These software let you open and edit PSD files for free. You can perform basic as well as advanced PSD editing and modifications with the help of these PSD editor freeware. Most of these photo editors to edit PSD, retain layers of PSD files and let you add new layers, delete existing layers, merge layers, and form layer groups.

You will find a bunch of editing tools to modify and edit PSD files in these PSD editors. Some of these tools that these photo editors have to offer are: Select, Text, Pattern, Gradient, Free-hand drawing, Line, Shape, Ellipse, Ploygon, Bezier curve, Free line, Move, Transform, Fill tool, Inverse, Transform , Resize, Grid, Flip, Color picker, Blur, Filter, and many more. Edit your PSD file and save them in PSD or any other popular format.

Formats that these PSD editor freeware support are: , etc.

My Favorite PSD Editor Software:

I like to use GIMP the most as it is an open source PSD editor with almost all the editing tools an ideal photo editor should have. Apart from the vast format support, it also supports plugins.

GIMP

GIMP is a famous open source PSD editor. This cross platform image editor is available for Windows, MAC, and Linux. Open a PSD file in this freeware to edit it with various editing tools available. It retains the layers of PSD files and lets you modify them. Find layer options such as: Create new layer, Duplicate layer, Delete layer, Merge layers, Move layer up, Move layer down, etc.

Edit PSD by selecting a layer/object, and using the numerous editing tools for simple as well as advance editing. Use editing tools like: Invert color, Transform, Rotate, Color picker, Text, Pen tool, Brush tool, Clone Stamp, Bezier tool, Crop tool, and many more. Export PSD files in any of the following formats: .c, .h., .xhtml, .gif, .html, .jpg, .cel, .psd, .png, etc.

Apart from PSD, you can open and edit various other formats: .jpg, .bmp, .xcf, .cel, .ico, .ps, etc.

RealWorld Paint

RealWorld Paint PSD, you can also open .bmp, .gif, .jpeg, .png, .paint.net, web image files, real world vector, etc. This free photo editor retains the PSD layers to edit them. The layer panel is available on the left side of the interface. Access the following layer options: add new vector layer, add raster layer, delete layer, duplicate layer, import/export layer, etc.

Go to the toolbar to access these options: Select, Line, Curve, Ploygon , Rectangle, Text, Red eye removal, etc. Other helpful features of this PSD editor freeware are: Grid, Watermark, Change canvas size, Rotate, Transform, and many more.

Paint.NET

Paint.NET is an excellent photo editor which can be used to edit PSD. It does not natively support PSD files, but adding a simple extension makes Paint.NET ready for seamless PSD editing. Download the plugin, install it, and get ready to open, save, and edit PSD on Paint.NET. To download and plugin, and to know how to open PSD on Paint.NET visit the Paint.NET PSD Plugin website.

You can access the layers of the PSD easily in the Layers window. The Layer window lets you select, add new layer, delete layer, and duplicate layer. Make adjustments like: auto level, contrast, curve, invert color, etc. The tool bar is available on the left side of the UI. The available tools for editing are: lasso, select, crop, stamp clone, shapes, lines, text, brush, draw, and many more.

Paint.NET is a great tool to carry out basic as well as advanced image editing. Adding option to open and edit PSD in Paint.NET makes it even better at what it does.

Krita

Krita is an open source PSD editor software which has been developed as a free digital painting and sketching software. Open PSD files and view the layers in the box available at the bottom right corner. The toolbar on the left side of UI has a plenty of designing and editing tools to help you make creative designs. These tools include: Select, Text, Pattern edit, Gradient edit, Calligrapgy, Free-hand brush, Line, Shape, Ellipse, Ploygon, Bezier curve, Free line, Move, Transform, Fill tool, Color selector, etc.

Find color tools and other important tools on the right side of UI, such as: Advance color selector, Specific color selector, Color slider, Layers, Brush presets, etc. After editing PSD, save your work in .psd or other formats, like: .bmp, .jpg, .gif, .kra, .xpm, .odg, .ora, .ppm, .pgm, .tiff, .xgf, .pdf, etc.

Artweaver Free

Artweaver Free lets you open and edit PSD files for free. Including .psd, you can open and edit various other image formats, like: .awd, .vst, .bmp, .jpg, .gif, .png, .ora, .pcx, etc. The layers are preserved when you open a PSD and you can edit, delete, duplicate, hide, and merge these layers.

The tool bar is available on the left side of the UI and has the following photo editing tools: Brush, Move, Shape, Magic wand, Lasso, Crop, Text, Gradient, Eraser, Stamp, Paint, Bucket, Zoom, etc. Options like: Brush property, Colors, Color set, Layers, and History are available on the right side of the interface. Save your PSD file in .psd format, or any other format this PSD editor supports: .awd, .vst, .bmp, .jpg, .gif, .png, .ora, .pcx, .pdf, etc.

There are two versions of Artweaver, one is free to use while another one is a premium version. The free version of this PSD editor comes with limited functionality and only can be used for non-commercial and academic purposes.

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FireAlpaca

FireAlpaca is a free photo editing and paint tool which can be used as a PSD editor. Open and view the layers of a PSD file at the right bottom corner of the screen. Find a variety of image editing tools to modify your work, such as: Select, Pan, Eraser, Rectangle, Flood fill, Bezier curve, Text, Color picker, etc.

Other important tools and options available are:

• View: Rotate left, Rotate right, Flip, Zoom, Onion skin mode, Autoplay (plays all steps from start to end), etc.
• Layer: Add layer, Add folder, Duplicate, Delete, Merge-all, etc.
• Snap: Off, Parallel, Cross, Circle, and Curve.
• Filter: Mosaic, Cloud, Sand, etc.
• Other tools: Inverse, Transform, Lock layers, Show grid, Pixel, etc.

Edit your photos and save them in various formats, like: .psd, .bmp, .png, .jpg, .mdp, .gif, .tiff, etc.

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PaintStar

PaintStar is a free photo editor to edit PSD files with different photo editing tools. It can open a PSD file, but cannot retain the layers, however you can carry on editing with adding new layers and effects. The editing tools available in the toolbar are: Rectangle, Elliptical, Hand draw, Bezier curve, Selection, Move, Crop, Filp, Color picker, Flip, Text, Paint brush, Air brush, etc. A special tool to morph objects is also available under Tools>Morph Maker. The Filter menu consists of the following filters: Color, Blur, Sharpen, Morphology, Distort, Light effect (nova, lighting, bump map), etc.

Save your images in these formats: .bmp, .jpeg, .gif, .pcx, .psd, .emf, .tiff, etc.

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Pixia

Pixia is a free and simple picture editor for Windows. With this PSD editor, you can open and save .psd files, but you can not preserve layers while opening or saving a PSD. Layers option is available only for editing purpose.

The toolbar at the top of the UI has the following tools: Free-hand, Select, Box, Line, Circle, Polygon, Bezier, Fill, Zoom, etc. The Color, Layers, and Brush tools are available on the right side of UI. The supported formats are: .psd, .bmp, .ico, .gif, .tiff, .png, .jpg, .tga, etc.

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PhoXo

PhoXo is an open source photo editing software and also works as a PSD editor. It does not retain layers of a PSD; however, it supports layered editing. This means you can add new layers, delete layers, and merge layers to add new editing effects. The following options are available in the toolbar: Select, Move, Free wand, Zoom, Text, Color picker, Eraser, Clone, Red eye removal, Shape , Gradient fill, Transform, Fade, etc.

You can also apply the following effects: Brightness, Hue, Color tone, Black and white, Color, Size, Auto-trim, Flip, Rotate, Distort, Filter, etc. A special tool lets you create ASCII painting which you can open in a text editor. Add frames and clipart to your photo if you like. This PSD editor supports formats like: .psd, .tiff, .png, .jpg, .tga, .ico, .oXo, etc.

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Gimphoto

Gimphoto is a lightweight and free PSD editor for Windows. It has editing tools that most photo editors have. The list of tools includes: Selection tool, Rectangle shape, Free-hand drawing, Color picker, Zoom, Measure, Text, Flip, Blend, Pencil, Paintbrush, and many more.

The layers window lets you add, delete, merge, and position layers. Add the following filter effects: Render, Animation, Blur, Sharpen, Noise, Distort, Light, Shadow, etc. Edit a PSD and save it as PSD, else you can save the edited file in these formats: .tga, .cel, .ico, .jpg, .pdf, .gif, .ppm, .png, .ps, .bmp, .tiff, .xwd, etc.

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HeliosPaint

HeliosPaint lets you open and edit PSD files without layers. It is a perfect photo editing software to perform basic editing. You can add text, add shapes, draw using pencil tool, free-hand tool, paintbrush, and spray. Use lasso or wand to select an area to apply effects. This PSD editor freeware can also be used to batch resize images.

Supported image files: .psd, .bmp, .jpg, .pct, .pcx, .ppm, .tga, .ras, .tiff, .wbmp, etc.

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PixBuilder

PixBuilder is another simple PSD editor freeware which can carry out basic as well as professional photo editing. It doesn't open the layers of PSD files, but lets you edit PSD using various editing tools. Add text, rectangle, circle, and other shapes to your image.

Toolbar on the left panel has the following photo editing tools: Lasso, Rectangle marque, Move, Magic wand, Polygon, Pencil, Brush, Eraser, Line, Fill color, Gradient, Crop, Measure tool, Eye dropper, etc. It can not retain layers, but lets you add new layers, delete layers, duplicate layer, etc. You can also make the following modifications: Brightness, Clolor balance, Curve, Saturation, Grayscale, Invert, Quick blur, Gaussion blur, Sharpness, Contrast, etc. Here are some of the supported formats: .psd, .bmp, .jpg, .tga, .psb, .tiff, .ico, .png, etc.

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IrfanView

IrfanView lets you view and edit PSD files. It is primarily a photo viewer, but has various simple photo editing tools as well. Open PSD or any other image file to add basic effects like: Text, Watermark, Flip, Rotate, Resize, Change Canvas size, Decrease color depth, Channels, Histogram, Auto adjust color, Sharpen, Color correction, Red eye removal, etc. You can also create slideshow and batch process images with this freeware.

Supported formats are: .psd, .bmp, .jpg, .jp2, .tga, .psb, .tiff, .avi, .cam, .ico, .jp2, .sgi, .sff, etc.

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Chasys Draw IES

Chasys Draw IES is a free photo editing software to edit PSD free. It preserves and lets you edit layers of PSD that you open without any issue. In fact you can add new layers, delete layers, merge layers, and click on an object to select the layer it is on. Go to the toolbar to use tools, like: Pencil, Line, Curve, Brushes, Spray gun, Color picker, Flood fill, Text, Crop, Magic wand, Custom shape, Block tool, etc.

The best part of this PSD editor is that it supports Photoshop plugins. Here are some formats that it supports: .cd5, .bmp, .ani, .cpp, .gif, .ico, .jpg, .ppm, .tga, .avi, etc.

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Fotografix

Fotografix is a PSD editor freeware which lets you open and edit PSD file while retaining its layers. It is a basic photo editor with common photo editing tools. Use the following tools for editing: Rectangle, Circle, Magic-wand, Ruler, Select, Paintbrush, Eraser, Transform, Flood fill, Text, Droper, etc. The right panel displays Layers, Channels, and Scripts. You can change the image size, canvas size, flip image, and rotate image easily.

Supported formats: .fgx, .psd, .bmp, .jpg, .tga, .tiff, .xcf, .pcx, .raw, etc.

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VirtualStudio

VirtualStudio is an easy to use simplelistic PSD editor for Windows. You can easily open PSD in this editor, but can not access the layers. The editing options include basic color enhancements, exposure enhancement, rotate, flip, resize, filters, textures, etc. Other tools to add objects, draw, brush, and text are not available. Another good feature of this image editor is that you can select a geometrical area like rectangle, oval, circle, or polygon and apply effects just to that selected area.

Supported formats of this PSD editor are: .psd, .tiff, .png, .jpg, .tga, .jp2, .ico, .emf, .avi, .mpg, etc.

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PSD is a graphic file format for maximum compression without memory loss. It was created specifically for Adobe Photoshop.

This format delivers not only images, but also graphic layers, text, masks and other information from Photoshop. He supports monochrome pictures and color systems RGB And CMYK.

These pictures can be opened in several ways. The most common applications are the ones listed below.

We use Adobe Photoshop

This is a full-fledged multifunctional graphics editor developed by Adobe System. This application is designed for professional processing images and creation of graphic files. An indispensable assistant for web design and creating layouts and sketches.

To get started with PSD in Adobe Photoshop you need run the program, then click " File" in the upper right corner.
Further " Open».

Then find document and press Enter or " Open" If there are several pictures, then highlight right click:

This method of working with documents is only suitable for the licensed version of the editor, which is expensive. If it is not possible to purchase a license, you can use other photo editors or convert the necessary pictures.

Paint.NET + PSD Plugin Application

Most simple photo editing software developed by the .NET Framework company. Runs on Windows OS. For working with graphic images, the software's capabilities are minimal. In addition, you can install PSD Plugin, for processing documents of this format.

GIMP Editor

Free analogue of Adobe Photoshop. Has open source data. This allows the user to make changes to documents. An excellent service for creating website templates, posters and photo collages. A user-friendly interface that anyone can understand.

Using InfanView

Program for viewing graphic files, audio recordings and video files on the computer. Can view with high quality any digital image. Works with Windows and ReactOS. Works with many formats, including Photoshop image format. Distributed on the Internet for free.

Open with Go2convert

Free service for converting documents. It works with images formats PSD, JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, WMF, TIFF, TGA. File Transformer does not have a separate program that can be downloaded. You can only use its services online.

What if you need to open a standard PSD file, but you simply don’t have Photoshop installed? Let's look at seven ways to do this.

The problem is that the PSD format is not open source like PNG, JPG or BMP. It was developed by Adobe as a graphic editing project. Once you open such a file, you can always continue editing from where you left off. However, if you don't want to pay for a subscription to Adobe applications, then you'll have to look for an alternative. In functionality, the free analogues will be noticeably inferior to the Photoshop monster; moreover, some will only be able to open the PSD file for viewing. However, this is often quite enough.

GIMP

The first free application to try for opening a PSD file is GIMP. And not only because the rich functionality of this graphic editor is close to Photoshop and even can, but rather due to its availability on all platforms, be it Windows, Mac or Linux. Once you've tried the app, you can then use it on other devices.

To open a PSD file in the GIMP application, no additional plugins or extensions are needed. Just use the “File – Open” menu, select the PSD file and click “Open”.

The project will open not just as a static picture. Available layers will be displayed on which you can perform certain operations. However, you should remember that when you make changes and then save the file, it may later have problems opening in native Photoshop. So you can work with the file, but you shouldn’t make edits this way for a designer who uses Adobe software.








The free graphic editor Gimp can, if desired, be very similar to Photoshop and even inherit its hotcases.

Paint.NET

A much more advanced graphics editor than the standard Microsoft Paint, and at the same time not as intimidating with the abundance of functionality as GIMP or Photoshop. Simple and functional.

However, to open PSD files for the Paint.NET application, you will need to install a special plugin. Download the contents of the plugin, open the archive and copy the PhotoShop.dll library to the directory with the installed editor (most often this is C:/Program Files/paint.net), and more specifically to the FileTypes subdirectory. After that, launch the application itself.

If you did everything correctly, then PSD files should open smoothly in Paint.NET. Like GIMP, the layers of the project will be displayed, but Paint.NET does not support all the features of Photoshop, so some layers may not be available or even give errors when opening the file.

Photopea Online Editor

If you have not heard of Photopea before, then the project will be a pleasant discovery for you. The not-so-famous online editor is certainly inferior in functionality to Photoshop and GIMP, but it’s difficult to expect anything similar from browser-based editors. However, Photopea is really worth a look.

When you open the online editor’s website, you don’t even immediately believe that this is not a separate application. There is a familiar menu through which you can open files from your computer. Therefore, click “File – Open” and indicate the path to the PSD file.

Photopea works well with individual layers, which is very cool for an online editor. Thus, it becomes possible to edit PSD files wherever you are - from any computer.

XnView

The free picture organizer allows you to view and organize your pictures in a variety of ways. It can also be used for basic editing - applying filters, effects, changing the position of the picture, and so on.

XnView is capable of working with more than 500 formats, as well as exporting to 70 different formats. Therefore, the application will be useful not only for viewing images, but also for converting them.

During installation, the application will offer three options - minimal, standard and advanced. At the same time, the minimum is enough to open PSD files, so there is no need to clutter up the disk with the extended version. And yes, you don’t need to install any additional extensions or plugins.

After purchasing a new computer or laptop, the question invariably arises of what programs to install on it first.

IrfanView

Another image browser that also works as a converter. IrfanView does not support as many formats as XnView, but it works with the most common ones. Isn't that what we were trying to achieve?

IrfanView easily opens PSD files. Yes, he cannot edit them, but converting them to another format is easy.

This application is convenient to use as the default photo browser. Chances are, it will never disappoint you, unlike the standard Windows application. IrfanView does not take up much space and is not demanding on resources.

Google Drive

It's a little strange to use Google's cloud service as a file browser, but it is quite capable of opening a wide variety of formats. In particular, you can view the contents of the PSD file uploaded to the online Drive.