Free PSD – In-Depth Overviews, Expert Advice & More

If you’ve seen files with .psd extension format but don’t know what they are, you’ve landed on the right page. A PSD or Photoshop Document is a native file format of Adobe Photoshop. It is mostly used by designers and artists for the creation and storing of image data.

What are PSD files Used for?

The reason why PSD files are industry-standard for artists is that they can store numerous layers and objects in high resolution. As a matter of fact, it can easily support 30,000 pixels in height and width giving an exceptional range for color spread and image depth.

All these features make them common files for digital design work. Moreover, photographers also use these files for post-processing tasks such as editing, retouching, and composition.

Advantages and Disadvantages of PSD files.

Like all other files, PSD files also come with some pros and cons. They’re the only image files that can be edited across multiple layers. You can also easily manipulate them individually without having to redo the entire work.

They’re also very easy to import to other platforms such as Adobe Illustrator or Premiere Pro. On the downside, you’re only likely to use PSD files if you’re an Adobe Creative Cloud user. They are not supported by operating systems without this software.

How to Open a PSD file?

For both Windows and macOS, you will need additional software such as Creative Cloud to open and edit PSD files. For macOS, you can open the file by default in the preview app. However, to edit it you will require Photoshop in both cases.

What is Photoshop?

If you’re a novice in the graphic design world, Photoshop is a raster graphics editor published by Adobe Inc. You can use it to edit and compose raster images in multiple layers and supports masks, alpha compositing, and several color models including RGB, CMYK, CIELAB, spot color, and duotone.