Open PSD File

PSD is a file extension used by Adobe Photoshop to store its graphics files. Adobe Photoshop is a de-facto standard in a raster image editing software. First version of Photoshop was developed in 1988 by Thomas and John Knoll. It was subsequently sold to Adobe Systems which owned it since then.

Besides editing raster images Adobe Photoshop also has limited support of vector graphics, text rendering and customization, 3d graphics and video. Adobe Photoshop supports different color models (CMYK, RGB, CIELAB, etc.), masks and alpha levels.

PSD file is based on a proprietary binary format owned by Adobe. In order to open PSD file you need to have a software compatible with it.

You can open PSD file either by using Adobe Photoshop or other graphics editing software which supports PSD format. Since PSD format is very popular in raster image editing many different software packages are able to open it. This includes software from Adobe like Adobe Illustrator, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Premiere Pro. Free desktop software like GIMP, Paint.NET, XnView, IrfanView are able to open PSD files.

If you don’t want to install a desktop software, you can upload PSD files to Google Drive and open them from there. Google Docs supports online viewing of PSD files.

If you need to open PSD file on a mobile device, you can download a free Adobe Photoshop Express app. Besides opening PSD files it has multiple raster editing features which could be very helpful on a mobile device.

Since PSD files do not contain macros and are not executable, they do not pose a security risk. It is safe to open PSD files downloaded from the internet.

Open PSD File on Windows OS

Try double clicking on a PSD file in Windows File Explorer.
If the PSD reading software is associated correctly then the file will open
If the file did not open you should install Adobe Photoshop software
To open PSD file in Adobe Photoshop you need to launch it and then select File->Open in the main menu
In the File Open dialog select PSD file and click "Open"

Below are image container file extensions similar to PSD: