If you have any photoshop files but don’t own photoshop software there is a way that you can open those files and edit them. Photoshop is a great piece of software but it is very expensive and so a lot of people don’t have it.

Paint.net is a free editing software that I have used for many years now. There are of course limitations but it is fine for the things that I need it for.

You can download it for free here.

However, more recently I was wondering if it were possible to open photoshop files (PSD) using free software and also if it was possible to convert PSD files into another format such as JPEG.

Well, after doing a bit of research I have found what I was looking for and I thought there might be others who would like to know this information too.

Converting PSD Files To JPEG

I have found a free software tool that you can use to convert psd files to jpeg files – https://www.easy2convert.com/psd2jpg/. Just download this to your computer and then you can upload the file you want to convert and save the new format.

Here’s how to you do it:

1. Download the software

2. Open up the software and click on the +icon and locate the psd file that you would like to convert.

3. Now click on the folder icon and specify where you would like your new jpeg file saved and the name to save it as.

4. Now click the convert button and your psd file will be converted to a jpeg file. The quality is just the same as the original file.

Editing PSD Files Using Paint.net

If you would like to edit psd files in paint.net then this is how you can do this. Let me mention that psd files are usually saved with various different layers to one image. If that image is then flattened you won’t be able to edit specific layers. However, if the psd file was saved and not flattened then you will see the different layers when you open it up in paint.net.

This allows you to edit specific parts of the image which is handy.

However, it is not possible to edit text. If you wanted to edit any text then you would need to remove the old text (or layer if the text is in it’s own layer) and add new text. Bear in mind that the fonts available in paint.net will not be the same as those in photoshop.

1. You will need to download a plugin for paint.net before this software will recognise photoshop files. It’s called PSD Paint Plugin. You will download it as a zip file. Now unzip the file – I use 7-zip for this.

2. Once unzipped you will find 3 files inside:

• License
• PhotoShop.dll
• Readme

You need to copy the PhotoShop.dll file to your paint.net FileTypes file. Make sure that Paint.net is closed before you do this.

You will probably find this file in this location on your computer:

C:>Program Files>Paint.net>FileTypes

Paste the file in this location.

3. Now when you go into paint.net you will be able to open psd files. Here is a video of me demonstrating this.