How to Open PSD File on Mac Without Photoshop

The default format for saving an image in Photoshop is PSD, which stands for “Photoshop document.” This PSD file stores in their original quality all of your images, layers, and functions like color correction, etc. Even if you Open PSD File on Mac Without Photoshop or PC, you can preview, open, and change PSD files. But you should try these alternatives to Photoshop. Those programs can make such big changes to a photo made with Adobe Photoshop license or trial software.

Photoshop is the most popular photo editing software in the world, but not every computer should be able to run it. If you want to view or edit some text or colors that changed by accident, you’ll have to try other Photoshop alternatives. In the same way that WMA is owned by Microsoft but can be played on most music players, PSD is owned by Adobe but can be opened (and sometimes edited) by other programs as well. So let’s look at them.

How to Open PSD File on Mac Without Photoshop

GIMP

GIMP should be your first stop when trying to open and edit a PSD file for free. Not only is it the best free alternative to Photoshop, but it’s available across Windows, Mac, and Linux, so you can learn it once and use it on all of your systems.

1. Go to File > Open.
2. Find and select the PSD file.
3. Click Open

The great thing about GIMP is that it can work with each layer of a PSD file. The problem is that some layers can’t be read by GIMP or need to be rasterized before GIMP can use them. If you want to open the file again in Photoshop, saving over the PSD could make it impossible to do so.

Paint.NET

Paint.NET knows exactly what it wants to be: one of the best Microsoft Paint alternatives around, without being as bloated or intimidating to learn as GIMP or Adobe Photoshop. It’s right smack in the middle.

1. Download the PSD plugin.
2. Extract the ZIP file’s contents.
3. Copy the PhotoShop.dll file.
4. Navigate to the Paint.NET installation folder (the default location is C:/Program Files/paint.net).
5. Paste the PhotoShop.dll file into the FileTypes subfolder.
6. Launch Paint.NET.

Photopea Online Editor

1. Go to File > Open.
2. Find and select the PSD file.
3. Click Open.

And the cool thing is that Photopea can read individual layers, which is a level of feature you might not expect from a free web app. It’s great, though, allowing you to edit your PSDs without charge no matter where you are. Just hop on with any computer.

Google Drive

It may seem weird to use Google Drive as a file viewer, but you absolutely can—and it works rather well. Like many other file types, PSDs are viewable through Google Drive on the web.

1. Visit the Google Drive page.
2. Click My Drive and select File upload.
3. Find and select the PSD file.
4. Click Open.
5. Double-click the file to view it.

Convertio

This last option is not a way to view, open, or edit PSD files. It’s simply a way to convert PSD files into other formats like PNG and JPG. If that’s the entire reason why you wanted to open PSDs in the first place, then you might as well skip the middle steps.

1. Click Choose Files.
2. Navigate and select your PSD file.
3. Select a new file format.
4. Click Convert.
5. Once the conversion is done, click Download.

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