What is a PSD file – how to open, use and convert
PSD files – how to open, edit and convert this format
A PSD file is an Adobe Photoshop document file. The best programs for opening and editing PSD files are Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Elements
The PSD file is used primarily in Adobe Photoshop as the default format for saving data. Files with this extension are called Adobe Photoshop document files and have their own format developed by Adobe.
While some PSD files only contain one image and nothing more, common uses of a PSD file involve much more than just saving an image file. They support multiple images, objects, filters, text, etc., and also use layers, vector paths, shapes, and transparency.
For example, let's say you have five images in one PSD file, each on its own separate layer. Together the images look as if they are on a single flat image, but in reality they are movable and fully editable in their own layers - just as you would if you were working on individual images. You can open this PSD file as many times as you like and make changes to individual layers without affecting others.
PSD is also an acronym for other technology terms such as personal secure disk, programmable system devices, shared access to ports and packet switch design, but none of them are related to the Adobe Photoshop Document file format.
How to open a PSD file
The best programs for opening and editing PSD files are Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Elements, as well as CorelDRAW and Corel PaintShop Pro.
Other Adobe programs can also use PSD files, such as Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Adobe After Effects. These programs are primarily used for video or audio editing, rather than as image editors such as Photoshop.
If you are looking free a program for opening PSD files, we recommend . This is an extremely popular and completely free photo editing/creation tool that opens PSD files and other file formats. You can also use GIMP to edit PSD files, but you may have trouble recognizing complex layers and other advanced features that may have been used in Photoshop when creating the file.
Paint.NET(with the Paint.NET PSD plugin) is another free program like GIMP that can open PSD files. Other free photo editors also support opening PSD files, and some can also save in PSD format.
If you want quickly open a PSD file without Photoshop We highly recommend Photopea. It's a free online photo editor that runs in your browser and lets you not only view all the PSD layers, but also do some editing... although it's not like what Photoshop provides. You can also use Photopea to save the files back to your computer in PSD format.
IrfanView, PSD Viewer and Apple QuickTime Picture Viewer – part free program QuickTime – will also open PSD files, but you cannot use them to edit the PSD file. You also won't have any support for layers because they just act as a PSD viewer.
Apple Preview, included with macOS, should open PSD files by default.
How to convert a PSD file
The most common reason to convert a PSD file is probably that you can't use it as a regular , BMP or GIF file, for example. So you can upload the image online (many sites don't accept PSD files) or email it so it can be opened on computers that don't use PSD editors.
If you have Photoshop on your computer, converting a PSD file to an image file format is very simple: use the menu option File → Save as...
If you don't have Photoshop, one of quick ways Convert PSD file to PNG, JPEG, SVG (vector), GIF or WEBP - via Filepea File → Export as option.
Most of the above programs that support editing or viewing PSD files can convert PSD to another format using a process similar to Photoshop and Photopea.
You should know that converting a PSD file to a regular image file will flatten or merge all layers into one single-layer file. This means that once the PSD file is converted, it is not possible to convert it back to PSD to use layers again. You can avoid this keeping the original .PSD file along with your converted versions.
More information about PSD files
PSD files have a maximum height and width of 30,000 pixels, and a maximum size of 2 GB.
A similar PSD format is PSB (Adobe Photoshop Large Document), which supports large images, up to 300,000 pixels, and file sizes up to 4 exabytes (4000000000 GB).
Adobe has some additional information about the PSD file format in the Adobe Photoshop File Format Specification document on their website.
Keep in mind that some file extensions are similar to .PSD but have nothing to do with this image format. WPS, XSD and PPS are just some examples of these similarities. Double check the file extension to make sure it is a PSD file before concluding that you cannot open the file with PSD editing programs.
The PSD format is created using the famous graphics editor Adobe Photoshop. Therefore, if there is such a program on board your computer, then the question of opening PSD files can be considered resolved - it opens and in the best possible way This format is used exactly in it.
Licensed versions of Adobe Photoshop in Russia cost from 28,500 rubles.However, a licensed version of Adobe Photoshop is very expensive, and obtaining a pirated program will not be considered in this article.
Free ways to open a psd file
What should those people do who, for some reason, cannot use the Adobe Photoshop editor? Try to find analogues that can also open the treasured format. Fortunately, nowadays there are enough of them free.
There are also some paid programs, which allow you to open the PSD format, but they cost about the same as Adobe Photoshop, and they also 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 knowledgeable in programming can make some additions and new functions to the program if they deem it necessary). GIMP allows you to work with raster and partially even vector graphics.
2. Lightweight graphic editor Paint.NET together with the Paint.NET PSD Plugin. Both the program and the plugin are distributed completely free of charge. Compared to Adobe Photoshop, the Paint.NET editor is a much less complex application, but has features that are very interesting to a number of users. Although Paint.NET comes with closed source code (you cannot make changes to it), it is an extensible graphics editor. That is, the functionality of this program can be significantly expanded, just connect special plugins to it.
3. Online service Pixlr.com. It is located on the website according to its name. The site's design resembles 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 designed primarily for viewing Adobe Potoshop documents, but there is also the possibility of easy editing: rotating the image, changing its size, scaling and some other things. Editing is done without loss of quality.
These programs and services will help the reader open and use files with many popular extensions. Some of them also provide the ability to work with vector graphics. Some of the above even support very rare extensions.
What if you need to open a standard PSD file, but Photoshop program Do you just not have it installed? Let's look at seven ways to do this.
The problem is that PSD is not an open format 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. Most likely, he will never disappoint you, unlike standard application Windows. IrfanView does not take up much space and is not demanding on resources.
Google Drive
A little weird to use cloud service from Google 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.
Go2Convert
The latter method will not allow you to open, much less edit, a PSD file, but it can easily convert this format into a more common one. If you just need PNG or JPG output, then you don't need to install any application.
Simply visit the Go2Convert website, upload your PSD project and select the format you would like your image to be in. You can also resize it and give it additional compression. Simple and clear. Nothing extra.
Photoshop is by far the best editor for working with a PSD file. It saves the entire conversion history so you can close at any time and resume later. The difficulty here is that licensed Photoshop() is a very expensive pleasure. If you only need to open and view a few files created in Photoshop, then there is no need to use such heavy software.
Luckily, there are free options. Are they as good as Photoshop? - No. How powerful or flexible? - Not at all. In fact, most of these applications will only be able to view the PSD, without the ability to work with layers. But often a review and minor edits are all we need.
GIMP
Paint.NET
Google Drive
- It seems strange to use Google Drive as your picture viewer, but don't be confused—it works pretty well. Log in to the service, Click “My Drive” and select “Upload files...”.
- Find and open the PSD file. Double click the file to view. This is probably the easiest way to view one or more files in the proprietary PSD format.
Video: Review of the GIMP graphics editor
If you have installed on your computer antivirus program Can scan all files on your computer, as well as each file individually. You can scan any file by clicking right click mouse on the file and selecting the appropriate option to scan the file for viruses.
For example, in this figure it is highlighted file my-file.psd, then you need to right-click on this file and select the option in the file menu "scan with AVG". When you select this option, AVG Antivirus will open and perform a scan this file for the presence of viruses.
Sometimes an error may occur as a result incorrect installation software , which may be due to a problem encountered during the installation process. This may interfere with your operating system link your PSD file to the correct application software , influencing the so-called "file extension associations".
Sometimes simple reinstalling Adobe Illustrator CC can solve your problem by linking the PSD correctly with Adobe Illustrator CC. In other cases, problems with file associations may result from bad software programming developer and you may need to contact the developer to obtain additional help.
Advice: Try updating Adobe Illustrator CC to latest version to make sure you have the latest patches and updates installed.
This may seem too obvious, but often The PSD file itself may be causing the problem. If you received the file via an attachment email or downloaded it from a website and the download process was interrupted (for example, a power outage or other reason), the file may become damaged. If possible, try getting a new copy of the PSD file and try opening it again.
Carefully: A damaged file may cause collateral damage to a previous or existing malware on your PC, so it is very important to keep an updated antivirus running on your computer at all times.
If your PSD file related to the hardware on your computer to open the file you may need update device drivers associated with this equipment.
This problem usually associated with media file types, which depend on successfully opening the hardware inside the computer, e.g. sound card or video card. For example, if you are trying to open an audio file but cannot open it, you may need to update sound card drivers.
Advice: If when you try to open a PSD file you get .SYS file error message, the problem could probably be associated with corrupted or outdated device drivers that need to be updated. This process can be made easier by using driver update software such as DriverDoc.
If the steps do not solve the problem and you are still having problems opening PSD files, this may be due to lack of available system resources. Some versions of PSD files may require a significant amount of resources (e.g. memory/RAM, processing power) to properly open on your computer. This problem occurs quite often if you are using a fairly old computer. hardware and at the same time a much newer operating system.
This problem can occur when the computer has difficulty completing a task because operating system(and other services running in the background) can consume too many resources to open the PSD file. Try closing all applications on your PC before opening Adobe Photoshop Document. By freeing up all available resources on your computer you will be in the best possible position to attempt to open your PSD file.
If you completed all the steps described above and your PSD file still won't open, you may need to run equipment update. In most cases, even when using older versions of hardware, the processing power can still be more than sufficient for most user applications (unless you're doing a lot of CPU-intensive work, such as 3D rendering, financial/scientific modeling, or intensive multimedia work) . Thus, it is likely that your computer does not have enough memory(more commonly called "RAM", or RAM) to perform the file open task.
