The short answer
Go to Photopea in your browser and open the file there. It is free, needs no account, keeps every layer, and runs entirely on your own machine, so the artwork is never uploaded anywhere. That covers almost everyone who has been sent a PSD and does not own Photoshop.
If you would rather have a desktop application, GIMP is free, opens PSD layers, and runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, and BSD. If you only need to look at the artwork or put it in a document, do not install anything: convert the PSD to PNG and be done in a few seconds.
You only genuinely need Photoshop when layer styles, smart objects, and editable text must survive exactly as the designer left them. Everything else on this page is an explanation of why.
What you are actually opening
A PSD is not a picture. It is a Photoshop project: a stack of layers, masks, adjustment layers, smart objects, and text that is still editable, plus the instructions for combining them into the image you see. The flattened result is only one of the things the file contains, which is why a PSD of a simple-looking composite can run to hundreds of megabytes.
That distinction decides which tool you need. If you want to see the artwork, almost anything will do once the file is flattened. If you want to change it, you need software that understands the layer stack, and the software that understands it best is the software that wrote it. For the format itself, see what a PSD file is.
What each editor can actually do with a PSD
Opening the file is the easy part. What matters is which parts of the project stay editable afterwards, because a PSD is a stack of layers, masks, live effects, smart objects, and text, and each editor reconstructs a different amount of it.
| Capability | Photoshop | Photopea | GIMP | Affinity Photo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Layer stack and groups | Native | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Layer masks | Native | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Adjustment layers stay live | Native | Yes | Partly | Yes |
| Layer styles stay editable | Native | Yes | Rasterised | Mostly |
| Smart objects | Native | Yes | Flattened | Partly |
| Text stays editable | Native | Yes | Often rasterised | Usually |
| 16 and 32-bit colour | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CMYK for print | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Saves back to PSD | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Runs on | Win, macOS | Any browser | Win, macOS, Linux, BSD | Win, macOS, iPad |
| Cost | Subscription | Free tier | Free, GPL | One-off purchase |
The row that decides most cases is text. If the designer left editable text and you need to change the wording, GIMP will usually hand you a flat picture of that text instead, while Photopea and Affinity keep it live. If all you need is to export the artwork or pull one layer out, that row does not matter at all.
Two things nothing on this list will do: Preview on macOS and Photos on Windows do not open PSD at all, and a converter opens it only by flattening it. Both are covered further down.
Photopea: the no-install answer
Photopea is an image editor that runs in a browser, and it opens PSD files with the layer stack intact. Its interface is deliberately close to Photoshop's, which means the layer panel, the tool palette, and most keyboard shortcuts are where a Photoshop user expects them.
The detail worth knowing is privacy. Photopea states that it runs completely on your device and does not upload your files to the internet, to the point that you can disconnect from the network and keep working offline. For a client's layered artwork, that is a materially different proposition from a service that processes your file on a server.
The trade is that it is a browser application. Very large PSDs are limited by what the tab can hold in memory, and the free tier is ad-supported. For opening a PSD once to pull out a layer, none of that matters.
GIMP: the free desktop answer
GIMP, the GNU Image Manipulation Program, is free software under the GNU General Public License, and it opens PSD files including their layers. The current stable release is 3.2.4, published on 17 April 2026.
It runs almost everywhere: Windows 10.0.20348 or newer, macOS 11 Big Sur or newer on both Intel and Apple Silicon, and Linux via AppImage, Flatpak, or Snap for x86_64 and ARM64. It also runs on Solaris and the BSD family, which is more than most commercial editors manage.
Its PSD support is reconstruction rather than native reading, so the ordinary layer stack, masks, and groups come across reliably while some Photoshop-specific constructs do not. Layer styles and certain adjustment layers may be rasterised or dropped, so check the layer panel against the original before you rely on it.
Photoshop: the reference implementation
PSD is Adobe's own format, so Photoshop is the only software guaranteed to read every part of it exactly as written. Smart objects stay smart, layer styles stay live, text stays editable, and nothing is reconstructed by inference.
The cost is a subscription, which is the reason this page exists at all. For a single PSD from a designer, paying a monthly fee to look inside it is a poor trade, and Photopea or GIMP will very likely do what you need.
If you work with layered artwork daily, and particularly if you exchange files with people who do, the reference implementation removes a category of problem. Everything else on this list is interpreting a format it did not design.
Which one should you use
Open it once, right now, no install: Photopea. Free, no account, keeps layers, and your file never leaves the machine.
Edit layered files regularly without paying a subscription: GIMP if free matters most, Affinity Photo if you would rather buy a polished tool once than accept GIMP's interface.
Exchange PSDs professionally: Photoshop, because it is the only tool that never reconstructs anything.
Only need to see or send the image: skip the editors entirely and convert the PSD to PNG or JPG.
PSD limits worth knowing
PSD has a hard ceiling: 2 GB of file data and 30,000 by 30,000 pixels. That is a deliberate design constraint for compatibility with other software rather than an oversight, and it cannot be raised.
When a document exceeds it, Photoshop uses PSB, the Large Document Format, which lifts the ceiling to 300,000 by 300,000 pixels and a file size limit measured in exabytes. If someone sends you a PSB rather than a PSD, this is why, and support for it outside Adobe software is noticeably thinner.
If a PSD refuses to open anywhere, size is worth checking before assuming corruption. A file that hit the 2 GB wall mid-save is a different problem from a file that is simply large.
When you should just flatten it
Most people who receive a PSD do not need the layers at all. They need to see the artwork, put it in a document, or send it to someone. For that, an editor is the wrong tool and a conversion is the right one.
Convert to PNG when the artwork has transparency or sharp edges, since PNG is lossless and keeps a full alpha channel. Convert to JPG when it is photographic and the file needs to be small. Either way the layers are gone from the export, which is exactly why the PSD stays the master and the export is treated as a copy.
What you cannot do is go backwards. A PNG cannot be turned back into a layered project, so never delete the PSD because you have an export. See what a PNG file is for what the flattened copy actually gives you.
Only need to see the artwork?
Flatten the PSD to PNG or JPG in your browser. No install, no account, and your file never leaves your device.
Convert a PSD