PSD Viewer Apps and Alternatives

PSD stands for Photoshop Document and was created to store an image that has support for layers, transparency, alpha channels or color spaces.

PSD files include ICC profiles, clipping paths, and duotone settings, unlike other formats (GIF or EPS) which provide only predictable functionality content.

As per the file format's namesake, the default application for opening PSD files is Photoshop, but the users who do not want to install it can also choose one of the several image viewers that support this format (editing, however, is considerably restricted).

However, most of the available PSD viewers will also offer users the possibility to export the images to other graphics formats.

When an image is complete, Photoshop allows the user to flatten the layers, basically unifying them into one single piece, and thus convert the flat image into a .JPG, .GIF, .TIFF or other non-proprietary file formats so it can be shared.

Once the conversion is done, however, it cannot be converted back to PSD and the user can no longer work with the image's layers. It is important, therefore, so always save the .PSD file and not overwrite it during conversion. This allows for more future editing.