PSD Reader Tools: 7 Best in 2023 [Out of 15 Tested]
5. XnView
Apart from XnView being a very good image viewer with support for over 400 file formats, it’s the PSD file support which makes it worth a mention. In addition to being able to load and view the files, it can also view and split the PSD layers allowing you to view and save them individually. Although XnView can save images as a PSD file, it appears to be only as a single layer image, but still a big plus if you need the function.
XnView has a number of options most other good quality viewers / editors have such as reasonable editing and retouching functions, a number of effects and filters, screen capture and batch operations.
6. PhotoFiltre
Although I’m not a fan of this quite as much as Paint.NET, PhotoFiltre is still a pretty good image creator and editor that can do just about everything the average user would need. This program also has a number of retouching functions and several standard and artistic filters. There is also the ability to use plugins in addition to an image browser and a TWAIN compatible image acquisition function.
PhotoFiltre is able to open PSD files by default although it appears to open as a flat image and doesn’t seem to keep many of the PSD format’s extras. To open a PSD file in the file dialog, you have to change the drop down from “Common images” to “Photoshop (*.pdd,*.psd)”
You can find out more about and Download PhotoFiltre from the website.
7. IrfanView
IrfanView is a very fast and compact freeware image viewer and converter for Windows systems from 9x right up to Windows 7. The program has been around forever and looks a little bit dated these days, but that’s where it gets its speed and low system requirements from, because there’s absolutely no bloat.
While it supports a large number of image formats by default, you can also download a plugins pack which adds another huge load of extra formats and other multimedia functions. There are built in options to play slideshows, batch convert images, basic editing functions, and more importantly for this article, IrfanView has support for Adobe Photoshop Filters.
If you only want to view a PSD file, IrfanView is definitely a program to have a look at and because it’s small, works well on just about all systems.
Lovely article. Thanks for these information man!
Paint.net now belongs to a paint company
Paint.net is the name of the software and not the name of the website. It’s a paint program built around the .Net Framework, hence the name. As far as I know, getpaint.net has always been the official site, probably because paint.net was already taken from the start.
I think that the best free PSD viewer and editor is Photopea.com
Thanks a lot for mentioning the free apps. I think GIMP is the best in this list.
I am trying to open some psd photos, so I have down load paint.net and wants to install the plug in, but I do not know what is the zip file that I need to open and where is the photoshop.dll I don’t know much so I would be thankful for your explanation. I just don’t know what to do with the below instruction. thanks
Open the ZIP file, and then copy PhotoShop.dll to: C:\Program Files\paint.net\FileTypes
I’m really really thank for this. I’ve tried many app and it is doesnt work.
Wow, thank you so much. These 7 methods are very useful since I don’t have Photoshop. Photoshop is too expensive to buy. I love GIMP because it is easy to use.
I must say… thanks for the help! There are not alot of free help sites out there anymore and alot of sites point you to download spyware and adware. Thanks for being one of the “good” guys.
xnview fantastic, just what i needed to convert a PSD file to JPG to view on a public computer, no software install just pick the file choose format at go.
Big thumbs up!!
Thank’s a lot. very useful. let’s promote free software.
Great alternatives to open a psd file, another good one is Xnview.
Thanks raymond… this is so helpful…. i download some vector .eps format and in the same time i don’t have photoshop… i use paint.net… so now the problem fix! thanks again
Awesome tip about the plugin for Paint.net. Thanks.
hi
thanks for the tip
YA
OMG thanks so much….I don’t want to waste space and you helped me SOOO much
I also found XNVIEW a good tool for opening .psd files.
thank you very much
try Artweaver. This can open psd files, it’s free, it has a kind of photoshop lay-out and you doesn’t have to install the program on your hard disk. You just run the program.
PhotoFiltre is free and can do that and so much more..
GIMP is really useful !
However, I just found Photoshop Portable. Its the ultimate thing !
Thanks Ray.
Keep it up.
Thanks, already knew this, but GiMP is a fantastic substitute to photoshop, and its free!