What is PSD File Format

If you’ve ever wondered what is a PSD file then you’re in the right place. In this tutorial, you’ll learn exactly what a PSD file is.



Step # 1 – What does PSD mean?
You may have come across a PSD file once or twice while browsing through Windows Explorer, and frankly if you don’t have Photoshop these files will be quite useless to you. However, if you do, it is very important you know what they are and how to utilize them. PSD stands for “Adobe Photoshop Document File” and can only be edited within Adobe Photoshop.
A PSD file on the computer

Step # 2 – Why is PSD useful?
PSD Files allow you to save all of the settings within the Photoshop image, including each individual layer. This is extremely useful for re-editing images; the best example of this is where you have an image with a certain text that you’d like to change. This can be difficult to do without at least slightly altering the background of the image, but if you have a PSD you can just edit the text layer.
The layers of a Photoshop document

Step # 3 – How to save PSDs
By default, whenever you save an image in Photoshop, it will save as PSD unless you specify another image format. If for whatever reason it isn’t set as the default, you can select .PSD from the drop down box underneath the file name box when saving the image.
You won’t be able to save an image as a PSD using another image editing software, such as Microsoft Paint, as PSD is only used in Photoshop. Also, you can’t convert from another format to PSD without using Photoshop, and there wouldn’t really be a point as once an image has been saved as a JPEG for example, there won’t be any layering.
Choosing the format as PSD

Step # 4 – Converting out of PSD
You can convert a PSD to a JPEG, or any other image format, either with Photoshop or an online tool. However, you’ll lose any layers that were previously saved on that PSD and converting back to a PSD won’t bring them back, so make sure you keep a backup of the PSD if you wish to do any more editing with the layers intact.
Now you know the answer to the question What is PSD!
An exported JPEG from the original PSD