How to open a psd file in Photoshop. How to open a PSD file

The image file extension is ".PSD". It is an image file format that is native to the very famous software Adobe Photoshop. While most people tend to use JPEG, BMP, or PNG files for their day to day tasks, a PSD file can involve a lot more than just storing an image file. PSD file (Photoshop Document) can store a huge amount of additional information about the image, such as layers, masks , color profiles, transparency, text, support for storing multiple images, objects, filters, vector paths and shapes, and much more.

PSD files are typically high quality reference images, such as those used in website templates or for desktop publishing. They also do not lose in image quality, 100% image quality is maintained at all times, where something like JPEG will gradually lose image quality after each save.

PSD files have a maximum height and width of 30,000 pixels and a maximum size of 2 GB.

A similar format for PSD is PSB (Adobe Photoshop Large Document File), which supports larger images, up to 300,000 pixels, and file sizes up to 4 exabytes (4 billion GB).

How to open a PSD file

The PSD file extension are image file types that are created with the most commonly used professional image editing software Adobe Photoshop. The problem is that PSD is not open format... While PNG, JPG and BMP can be opened in almost every image editor, PSD is special - and needs special support.

How to open a PSD file on Windows

IrfanView is a small, free viewer, image converter that can easily open “PSD files”.

XnView is a free image viewer that supports about 50 graphic and multimedia formats, including Adobe Photoshop.

GIMP - This is an incredibly popular and completely free photo editing program that will open PSD files. You can also use GIMP to edit PSD files, but since it has problems recognizing complex layers and advanced features, you may run into problems.

Adobe Photoshop - since Photoshop saves the image with this ".psd" extension, you can use it to open this file for viewing and editing.

How to open a PSD file in Linux

How to open a PSD file on MacOS

GIMP for GNU Image Manipulation is a free image retouching tool that supports the "PSD extension" by default.

Adobe Photoshop - since Photoshop saves the image with this ".psd" extension, you can use it to open this file for viewing and editing.

Apple Preview, bundled with macOS, should be able to open PSD files by default. An easy-to-use PSD file viewer application will allow you to freely open and view a picture of the PSD file, but you will not be able to edit the PSD file.

The PSD format is created using the well-known graphics editor Adobe Photoshop. Therefore, if there is such a program on board your computer, then the issue of opening PSD files can be considered resolved - this format opens and is best used in it.

Licensed versions of Adobe Photoshop in Russia cost from 28,500 rubles.

Free ways to open psd file

What to do for those people who, for some reason, cannot use the Adobe Photoshop editor? Try to find analogs that can also open the coveted format. Fortunately, nowadays there are enough of them free of charge.

There are also some paid programs that allow you to open the PSD format, but they cost about the same as Adobe Photoshop, and they do not support all the functions of the PSD format.

1. Graphic editor GIMP. The program is essentially a free analogue of Adobe Photoshop. The project is being developed by a group of enthusiastic developers and distributed completely, and even open source (this means that any person versed in programming can make some additions and new functions to the program if he considers it necessary). GIMP allows you to work with raster and partially even with vector graphics.

2. Lightweight graphics editor Paint.NET in conjunction with the Paint.NET PSD Plugin. Both the program and the plugin are distributed completely free of charge. Compared to Adobe Photoshop, Paint.NET is a much less complex application, but has features that are of great interest to a number of users. Paint.NET, although it comes with closed source code (you cannot make changes to it), is an extensible graphics editor. That is, the functionality of this program can be significantly expanded, it is enough to connect special plugins to it.

3. Online service Pixlr.com. It is located on the site by its appropriate name. The site resembles the design of Adobe Photoshop, but unlike the latter, it is based on Flash technology. The service allows you to work only with raster graphics. It is possible to switch to full screen mode, there is support for the Russian language.

4. PSD viewer. A very simple editor. The program is intended mainly for viewing Adobe Potoshop documents, but there is also the possibility of easy editing: image rotation, resizing, scaling and some others. Editing is done without loss of quality.

These programs and services will help the reader to open and use files with many popular extensions. Some of them provide the ability to work with vector graphics as well. Some of the above support even very rare extensions.

How to open a psd file, what is hidden behind this extension, and are there free programs to work with it?

The name Photoshop Document (PSD) means a file made in Photoshop. It differs from the more common graphic formats (jpeg, gif and png) by the following features:

• contains a raster image consisting of multi-colored or transparent dots (as opposed to a vector image, which is a series of geometric shapes);
• uses quality-preserving compression and usually has a large file size;
• stores in itself and allows you to edit separate layers with parts of the image or special effects;
• supports fully and partially transparent areas;
• may contain editable lettering in various fonts, geometric shapes and other editable vector elements.

Programs for viewing and editing psd files

A standard program for viewing images will most likely fail to open such a file; a specialized tool is required to view or change it. The choice of a graphic editor for psd files is influenced by several factors at once:

• the need for serious professional work or light processing at an amateur level;
• the operating system you have installed;
• the ability to spend a certain amount on the purchase of software.

Let's consider the features of popular programs for working with * .psd, taking into account these nuances.

Adobe Photoshop is a professional photo editing environment

The famous editor for raster graphics supports Windows (including 7 and 8 versions), it works with OS X. This is a professional environment for processing photos and images created from scratch is equipped with the widest range of tools.


But you will have to pay for the functionality - the program is distributed by subscription, you can get only a trial version for free.

GIMP is a free and free graphic editor

GIMP works with all popular operating systems (Windows, Mac OS, Linux) and is only slightly inferior to its commercial counterpart. GIMP is good for home use: it has a set of basic image processing functions and is compatible with formats and tools of other editors.

IrfanView - image viewer

If you just need to open the psd file or make small changes to it, use this simple image viewer instead of the heavy editors described above. IrfanView allows you to get basic information about files, display them in different modes and apply simple effects to them.

It runs on Windows and has free version for home use.

This is a program that has great functionality. With it, you can create, edit images, and create drawings.

The developer of this program is Adobe, and the full name of the utility is.

It has existed for more than twenty years and now has the CS prefix in its name, which stands for Creative Suite software.

The program does not need to be purchased in a complete package. It can be downloaded separately.

The program performs many functions, the simplest of which are:

Extension PSD

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This format was created by the Adobe Photoshop image program and is a raster format. It compresses without affecting quality. It contains layers with masks, transparency, color spaces, texts, two-color settings, and more.

The maximum expansion limit is 30K pixels in both height and width, and is over 4 exabytes in length.

In addition, the extension is capable of supporting some fragments in vector graphics. The format is based on the RLE compression algorithm - series encoding.

But though this file and has huge volumes in file extension, but the size of the uncompressed TIFF format is still larger.

Most often, this format is used when storing intermediate data during the design of various sites and for storing working data in the fields of graphic design.

And to store the original versions, other extensions are often used, since in this type of format, not the finished image, but only its individual layers, can be saved.

The final compression allows you to get only converting this extension to others.

How to open PSD

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This format can be used in other programs developed by Adobe. For example, Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects. But only Photoshop can be more productive and fully functional with this file.

If you want to open a file in PSD format, and installed application If you don't have Photoshop, then don't be upset.

This utility is free distribution and has Russian language support. It is intended for creation and drawings, and also supports raster and partially vector graphics.

The utility will help you in creating and processing images, changing their size, variations with color parameters, overlaying layers on images or removing any of its elements, as well as converting different graphic file extensions.

The program is an approximate analogue, therefore, it is capable of easily reading the PSD format without installing any additional plugins, on a par with other types of formats.

But, unfortunately, it does not read everything. In addition, it may not save changes to the file correctly.

But if you opened it for normal viewing or made a number of minor changes, then you do not need to worry about it.

PaintNET

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This graphic editor can create and correct images, as well as work simultaneously with several files.

During the operation of processing pictures, the editor can save the history of updates: adding effects, blurring, fonts, etc. That is, you can restore or undo any action during correction or drawing.

This utility is much better and more functional than the classic Paint from Microsoft.: it is simple, as easy to use as possible.

With its help, you can not only apply to the image standard methods, but you will also find tons of new features and interesting features.

The program will also help you open the PSD file, but only when installing the plugin.

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This is not a download program, but just an online service that looks a bit like Photoshop in its interface.

This option will suit you if you do not want to install additional programs on your computer for the sake of opening one file.

But, at the same time, please note that any are not highly practical, although this one can not only open the PSD extension, but also work with its individual layers and masks.

In addition to working with PSD itself, the service can resize images, create objects and apply effects. In general, as for an online service, it is very powerful.

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Organizer for opening and organizing images.

In addition to the most common functions, such as adding effects, filters and adjusting colors, the utility has excellent navigation and tools for working with images:

All these and many other operations can be applied simultaneously to several files in an automated manner. In addition, all these combinations and settings can be saved for later use in other works.

A number of program features include: creating, working with OS wallpaper and a contact list, splitting images into frames, counting the colors used in an image, generating link albums for posting on the network and various options with image capture. In short, the utility has an incredible amount of features and functions.

The utility is not very popular, although in vain: it surpasses any converter or file viewer in all respects and can open more than five hundred different image formats: from the most popular to little-known ones.

And it can save them in more than seventy extensions.

Therefore, it deserves attention and installation, at least as a typical converter or editor for PSD formats.

In its settings, you can specify the type of conversion: group or streaming.

Not only is the application interface very easy to use and convenient, but users can also customize it depending on their own preferences.

The utility has an interesting, original design, unlike many programs that do not differ from each other either by their buttons or by the toolbar.

It seems that the features have already been described, not no: you can use it to open / watch videos / movies in some extensions.

The Russified version is present in programs such as Standart and Extended.

IrfanView

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IrfanView

The program is similar to the previous one, with its help you can view, edit and convert graphic image formats, but it supports an order of magnitude fewer extensions - less than 50.

It has sufficient power and, in addition to graphics, can work with both audio and video formats.

It also supports many plugins, different viewing modes, has standard tools for image processing, is able to take screenshots, create wallpapers for the desktop, go into slideshow modes, and show thumbnails of images.

In addition, it can remove images from the icons of files with the extension exe and dll.

To make the functions more extensive and add other options for operations, you can additionally install plugins for it.

The utility has a fairly high speed and weighs no more than 5 MB.

It opens the file with the PSD extension as a normal image. You cannot edit / view masks and layers in it, but it is perfect as a simple file opening.

But in order to get more options for working with this format, you first need to convert it to another extension.

You can fully work with PSD files only in Photoshop. But there are several free software that can open PSD files and even layers.

All programs in the collection are free. Of course, they cannot be compared with the functionality of Photoshop, but they will cope with simple tasks.

At a minimum, you can just open a PSD file as an image, and some of these programs even open layers.

1. GIMP

• Operating system: Windows, Mac and Linux.
• Russian language: supported.

This is one of the most interesting free Photoshop counterparts. GIMP reads PSD files without installing additional plugins, so you can open the file in the same way as regular images: File → Open.

The GIMP opens the layers of the PSD document for editing. But there are pitfalls here: the program does not read all layers, some need to be rasterized. Also, the GIMP may not save changes to the PSD correctly. After that, the file may not open in Photoshop. The latter shouldn't bother you if you've opened the file for minor edits and saved the image as a JPEG.

• Operating system: starting with Windows 7.
• Russian language: supported.

Paint.NET is better standard Microsoft Paint, but as clear and easy to use as possible. If you don't know what to do with a file in GIMP, open Paint.NET.

The program reads the PSD, but only after installing the appropriate plugin. For this:

• Download the plugin.
• Extract the files from the downloaded archive.
• Copy the PhotoShop.dll file.
• Go to your Paint.NET installation folder (e.g. C: \ Program Files \ paint.net).
• Paste the PhotoShop.dll file into the FileTypes folder.
• Start Paint.NET.

• Operating system: any, as the application opens in a browser.
• Russian language: supported.

Photopea is an online service whose interface resembles Photoshop or GIMP. Its advantage is that you do not need to install anything. The program will open in a browser on any device. But online applications are often not as practical as the software they install. Photopea is no exception, but it allows you to work with layers in a PSD document.

• Operating system: Windows (there is a version for Linux and macOS).
• Russian language: supported only in Standard and Extended versions.

XnView is a kind of graphic organizer in which you can open and organize collections of images on your PC. XnView has primitive editing functions: you can change the color palette, add a filter or effect.

The program is unpopular, but in vain: it can open images in more than 500 formats and resave them in 70 more. So set it up as a primitive PSD editor or converter.

The basic version only supports English, French and German.

• Operating system: Windows.
• Russian language: supported.

IrfanView, like XnView, is designed to view and convert graphic files. But IrfanView supports fewer formats. The program opens the PSD as a picture. You cannot edit layers, but you can do a regular image. To get more processing options, the PSD file must first be converted to another format.

IrfanView is fast and lightweight (installation files are just over 3MB).

If none of the options work for you, you can convert PSD to JPG using Go2Convert or any other converter. You can also open the PSD as a picture in Google Drive.