Opening and saving PSD files with PhotoCraft

PhotoCraft reads and writes real layered PSD and PSB files, written from Adobe’s public specification. In the project’s own tests, opening and re-saving keeps the render of 307 of the 309 files in the psd-tools test set. Here is what that looks like in practice.

Open a PSD

Use File › Open or drop the file on the window. We tested a 42 MB, 7-layer PSD: it opened in about 0.1 seconds on an M3 Pro MacBook Pro, with no import warnings.

Check the layers

Everything came through as editable layers: two type layers (one with a Drop Shadow layer style), a shape layer, three adjustment layers with masks, and the Background.

PhotoCraft also opens PSB (large documents), 16- and 32-bit files, and CMYK and Lab documents. Anything it doesn’t model yet is carried through when you save rather than being dropped.

Save without losing layers

• File › Save writes the PSD back with its layers.
• Saving to JPEG, PNG or WebP flattens the image. PhotoCraft warns you with a notice listing what was lost:

Keep a PSD (or the native .pcraft file) as your working copy and export flat files from it.

Sharing files with Photoshop users

PSD support is good but not perfect yet. The project reports that some files saved by PhotoCraft are refused by Photoshop, and a few effects re-render differently. Before you send work to a Photoshop user:

1. Save a copy and reopen it in PhotoCraft to check layers and type.
2. If possible, have them open it before a deadline depends on it.
3. Report any file that fails on GitHub Issues, with the file if you can share it.

Other formats

Besides PSD/PSB, PhotoCraft handles layered TIFF, OpenRaster (for Krita and GIMP), Paint.NET files (read), SVG (as shape layers), Affinity documents (read only), and flat PNG, JPEG, WebP, GIF, BMP, OpenEXR and more.

Next: drive PhotoCraft from the command line and AI agents.