PSD File Format

PSD file format is a proprietary format designed by Adobe Systems as the default data saving format for Adobe Photoshop. The PSD file extension generally stores multi-layered lossless raster graphics.

PSD files are the most beneficial ones for digital art and graphic design. There are millions of free stock PSD templates for everyone to download and have fun (or to have a very serious business) with, and there are millions of ways how to use PSD file format qualifications to create something unique.

The PSD format contains an image as it is – with all the layers, text, masks, colors, effects and textures. A typical image file is small, single-layered and contains a flat image. A PSD file is a quite large image (though it is still smaller than an image saved in the TIFF format, the closest one to a RAW format), it holds a huge amount of data and it typically consists of a few layers. Those specifications are what makes the PSD file format so distinguished.

The maximum height and width of a PSD file are 30,000 pixels which is more than enough to design and craft a high-quality drawing. The maximum size of a PSD file is 2GB, but there is a format similar to PSD called PSB that shares all the features of PSD while allowing you to store up to 4 billion GB of image data.

Alongside all those specifications, the biggest advantage of a PSD file format is its supreme layer support. Layers are usually composed from a number of separate images that make a one whole drawing. PSD allows user either to edit every layer seperately or to combine layers and continue to edit the image as a whole.

Layer structure provides an amazing editability compared to other formats. An image saved in PSD can be opened as a whole image with a file viewer and can also be opened as a cluster of layers with a file editor. This extraordinary feature is not yet implemented by any other raster or vector format.

The PSD file format is mostly used to create drafts for websites and drawings as it is more convenient to share a smaller PNG file rather trying to send to the customer the huge data dump that a PSD file can be.

How to Open and Edit PSD Files

To get a complete PSD format experience there is no better tool than Adobe Photoshop. It makes sense since the PSD format is native to Adobe software, ergo the PSD file can only reach its full potential if it is opened and edited in Photoshop. The only disadvantage here is that Adobe software, being the most powerful and popular, comes with a cost of 10$ per month – the cheapest price for a full-fledged creative plan.

If there is no best price than free, free PSD viewers come to the rescue. To open PSD file for free users might consider GIMP, Paint.Net (with PSD plugin for Paint.Net), XnView and IrfanView. The first two tools allow user to edit layers, the last two do not, still providing an option to edit image as a whole.

If there is a one-time need to edit PSD files, there is the Photopea online tool. Though Photopea is not quite as good as other applications, it supports working with PSD source file layers.

How to Convert a PSD File to Other Formats

Since PSD files are used as drafts, they are very convertible. PSD files can be converted to any other raster format using a PSD viewer of choice.

Photoshop has a convenient ability to save PSD file as any other file format after when editing process is over. Other PSD viewers use a similar method.

Photopea converts PSD file through simply exporting them to other file formats. There are other online PSD converters as well.