.psd files
.psd file
Adobe Photoshop Document
Photoshop's working file, keeping layers, masks and text editable.
What opens a .psd file
- Windows
- Adobe Photoshop, Affinity Photo, GIMP, Paint.NET (with plugin)
- macOS
- Adobe Photoshop, Affinity Photo, GIMP, Preview (built in — flattened preview only)
- Linux
- GIMP, Krita
- In a browser
- Photopea
What a .psd file is
A PSD holds the whole editable state of a Photoshop project — layers, masks, adjustment layers, live text and effects — rather than a flattened picture. Photoshop is the native application, but GIMP, Affinity Photo and the free browser tool Photopea all open PSDs with reasonable fidelity; exotic layer effects are where they drift. Files above 2 GB or 30,000 pixels use the .psb "large document" variant instead.
Converting it
A .psd file is commonly converted to .jpg, .png, .tiff, .pdf or .webp. It is a binary format, so a text editor will show unreadable characters rather than its contents.
Details
- Extension
- .psd
- Full name
- Adobe Photoshop Document
- Category
- Images
- MIME type
- image/vnd.adobe.photoshop
- Created by
- Adobe
- Format
- Binary
Common questions
- How do I open a .psd file?
- On Windows use Adobe Photoshop; on macOS use Adobe Photoshop; on Linux use GIMP. Photoshop's working file, keeping layers, masks and text editable.
- What is a .psd file?
- Adobe Photoshop Document. A PSD holds the whole editable state of a Photoshop project — layers, masks, adjustment layers, live text and effects — rather than a flattened picture. Photoshop is the native application, but GIMP, Affinity Photo and the free browser tool Photopea all open PSDs with reasonable fidelity; exotic layer effects are where they drift.
- Can I convert a .psd file?
- Yes. It is usually converted to .jpg, .png, .tiff, .pdf or .webp, 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.
- .svg — Scalable Vector Graphics An XML text format describing shapes rather than pixels, so it stays sharp at an
- .ai — Adobe Illustrator Artwork Illustrator's vector working file, used for logos, icons and print artwork.
- .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