.ai files
.ai file
Adobe Illustrator Artwork
Illustrator's vector working file, used for logos, icons and print artwork.
What opens a .ai file
- Windows
- Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Designer, Inkscape, CorelDRAW
- macOS
- Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Designer, Inkscape, Preview (built in — preview only)
- Linux
- Inkscape
- In a browser
- Photopea
What a .ai file is
AI is the native document of Adobe Illustrator. Modern versions are really a PDF with Illustrator-specific data attached, which is why renaming a "PDF Compatible" AI file to .pdf often previews fine — you lose all the editable structure. Inkscape and Affinity Designer import them; anything printed professionally usually wants the original AI or a PDF export.
Converting it
A .ai file is commonly converted to .pdf, .svg, .eps, .png or .jpg. It is a binary format, so a text editor will show unreadable characters rather than its contents.
Details
- Extension
- .ai
- Full name
- Adobe Illustrator Artwork
- Category
- Images
- MIME type
- application/postscript
- Created by
- Adobe
- Format
- Binary
Common questions
- How do I open a .ai file?
- On Windows use Adobe Illustrator; on macOS use Adobe Illustrator; on Linux use Inkscape. Illustrator's vector working file, used for logos, icons and print artwork.
- What is a .ai file?
- Adobe Illustrator Artwork. AI is the native document of Adobe Illustrator. Modern versions are really a PDF with Illustrator-specific data attached, which is why renaming a "PDF Compatible" AI file to .pdf often previews fine — you lose all the editable structure.
- Can I convert a .ai file?
- Yes. It is usually converted to .pdf, .svg, .eps, .png or .jpg, either by exporting from one of the programs listed above or with a format converter.
Related pages
- .jpg — JPEG Image The lossy photo format that every camera, phone and website has used since the 1
- .png — Portable Network Graphics Lossless image format with transparency, made for screenshots, logos and web gra
- .jpeg — JPEG Image (four-letter form) The same format as .jpg — the longer spelling, kept alive by Macs and Unix syste
- .heic — High Efficiency Image Container The format an iPhone saves photos in — about half the size of a JPEG at the same
- .webp — WebP Image Google's web image format — smaller than JPEG or PNG, and now supported everywhe
- .gif — Graphics Interchange Format The 256-colour animation format from 1987 that refuses to die.
- .psd — Adobe Photoshop Document Photoshop's working file, keeping layers, masks and text editable.
- .svg — Scalable Vector Graphics An XML text format describing shapes rather than pixels, so it stays sharp at an
- .avif — AV1 Image File Format A royalty-free image format built on the AV1 video codec, smaller than JPEG or W
- .tiff — Tagged Image File Format The lossless, multi-page image format used in printing, scanning and archiving.
- .raw — Camera Raw Image Unprocessed sensor data from a camera — and, confusingly, a literal extension us
- .ico — Windows Icon A container holding one icon at several sizes, used by Windows and by website fa
Sources
- Media Types Registry — IANA
- Official vendor product documentation — At One Place