: Can GIMP open PSD files without any loss of information? I'm a programmer for a website. Because the site looked kind of naff, we paid a graphics designer to do us a new design. He has just

@Samaraweera207

I realise this is a very old question, but the answers need an update because GIMP is continually being developed.

The most recent stable version of GIMP 2.8 can open and export basic PSDs. However there isn't full support and its highly unlikely that it will ever have full support, because PSD is a proprietary format developed by Adobe. For full support, you would need to use Photoshop. GIMP's native file format is XCF. Use that format for full compatibility with GIMP.

What isn't currently supported in PSDs opened in GIMP:


Photoshop Layer Styles/Effects
Adjustment layers
Smart Objects
CMYK image mode
Bit depths greater than 8bit per channel
Editable text layers (text is rasterized)


The development version (GIMP 2.9) does support higher bit depths, but it's an unstable build.

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@Steve758

No, it can't. There are some features, like adjustment layers and layer styles, that GIMP doesn't have and thus doesn't support. Some other features are in GIMP (like group layers), but are not properly supported. If you don't want to use Photoshop CC (which of course supports PSD files best), you might consider trying out Krita (www.krita.org). It appears one of the rare professionally developed open source graphics software.

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@Cooney243

No, especially layer effects are not translated correctly. There is most likely always a loss of information!

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