Read PSD files without Photoshop

Photoshop is a very expensive piece of software and there are times in which you would want to check the content of the PSD file as a normal user.

Designers of course have access to Photoshop and the PSD file format is used just like you would use DOCX for Word to exchange information natively from user to user using the same software.

Because of the price that you need to pay to have access to Photoshop if you only require to read PSD files once in a while there are better methods available to you.

I’ll list 2 methods under here which might come in handy.

1. ImageGlass

ImageGlass is a software package that can be used to replace your image viewer. Is it a very good piece of software as an image viewer but also has support for PSD files. This way if you have configured ImageGlass to be the default image viewer in it’s settings you can just double-click the PSD file and view the contents.

2. Affinity

Affinity is a very powerful piece of software and does the same as what Photoshop does. This is not just a program to view PSD files but the software has full editing support for it as well. Affinity is just like Photoshop a full blown editor for photo’s or design in general.

If you are only looking into PSD files I’d suggest to get Affinity Photo but take a look at what Affinity offers and check what fits you best. Because of the one time buy price model it is a far better investment (from my point of view at least) than Photoshop.

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