GIMP is a full-featured raster image editor that installs cleanly on both Windows 11 and Windows 10, giving you a layer-based workflow, a large filter library, and support for dozens of file formats without a subscription. If you haven't set it up yet, the GIMP download page and the installation walkthrough cover getting the program running in a few minutes.
Every serious edit in GIMP starts with layers. You can stack unlimited raster layers, organize them into collapsible layer groups, adjust opacity per layer, and switch between more than twenty blend modes such as Multiply, Screen, and Overlay. Layer groups are especially useful once a project grows past a dozen layers, since you can hide, move, or apply a mask to an entire group at once instead of touching each layer individually.
Layer masks let you hide or reveal parts of a layer non-destructively, painting in grayscale to control transparency. GIMP pairs this with a strong set of selection tools — rectangle, ellipse, lasso, fuzzy select, and the scriptable Select by Color — plus the Foreground Select tool for pulling subjects out of busy backgrounds. Selections and masks work together well: you can convert a selection into a mask, refine the edges with feathering, and paint corrections directly.
GIMP supports ICC color profiles for both display and printing, so you can soft-proof an image against a target profile before sending it to print or the web. Working in 8-, 16-, or 32-bit precision, plus linear or perceptual gamma, gives photographers more headroom when correcting exposure than an 8-bit-only workflow would allow.
The Colors menu covers the essentials — Curves, Levels, Hue-Saturation, Color Balance, Threshold — while the Filters menu adds artistic effects, distortions, noise reduction, sharpening, and rendering tools like fractal and pattern generators. Many filters run through GEGL, GIMP's image processing engine, which supports on-canvas previews so you can see the effect before committing to it.
The text tool renders scalable, editable text boxes with control over font, kerning, line spacing, and per-character color, and each text layer stays editable until you flatten the image. It's suitable for posters, memes, and simple layout work, though it isn't a substitute for dedicated desktop publishing software.
GIMP's native format is XCF, which preserves layers, masks, and paths between sessions. Beyond that, it opens and exports PNG, JPEG, TIFF, and WebP directly, reads and writes many PSD files (Photoshop-specific features like smart objects may not survive the round trip), and supports HEIF for modern camera and phone photos. RAW camera files from most DSLR and mirrorless cameras can be opened through the bundled darktable or UFRaw plug-in path, letting you develop a RAW file before it lands on the GIMP canvas.
Exporting is separate from saving: "Export As" writes a flattened or format-appropriate version of your file (PNG, JPG, and so on), while "Save" and "Save As" keep your working XCF file with all layers intact.
Script-Fu (based on Scheme) and Python-Fu let you automate repetitive tasks — batch-resizing hundreds of photos, applying a watermark, or generating export variants — directly from the Script-Fu console or as installed scripts that appear in the menus. A wide community plug-in ecosystem extends GIMP further, from resynthesizer-based content-aware fill tools to specialized export formats.
GIMP runs comfortably on modest Windows hardware; 4 GB of RAM is a practical minimum for everyday photo editing, and 8 GB or more makes large multi-layer files feel smoother. It's tested against current Windows 11 builds and remains fully supported on Windows 10. Graphics tablets from Wacom and similar brands work through standard Windows drivers, and GIMP recognizes pressure sensitivity for paint tools once the driver is installed.
If you work with large images, raising the tile cache size in Edit > Preferences > System Resources lets GIMP keep more of the image in RAM instead of swapping to disk, which speeds up filter previews noticeably. Some GEGL-based filters can use GPU acceleration when your graphics drivers are current, so keeping Windows and your GPU driver updated is worth doing before a big editing session. Working at a lower zoom level while applying heavy filters, and closing unused layers' visibility, also reduces redraw time on lower-end machines.
Compared with a subscription editor like Adobe Photoshop, GIMP covers the vast majority of everyday photo retouching, compositing, and digital painting tasks at no cost, with a comparable layer and filter model. Photoshop still leads in areas like advanced typography, some AI-assisted features, and tighter integration with other Adobe apps, so professional studios with existing Adobe workflows may still prefer it. For hobbyists, students, and small businesses, GIMP's feature set is usually more than enough, and pairing it with the photo editing guide or drawing guide on this site will get you productive quickly.
Yes, GIMP can open and export PSD files, preserving layers and basic layer properties in most cases. Highly Photoshop-specific features such as smart objects or certain adjustment layers may not convert perfectly, so it's worth checking complex files after import.
Directly, no — but GIMP integrates with RAW processors like darktable or UFRaw, which open the RAW file, let you adjust exposure and white balance, and then hand the developed image to GIMP for further editing.
Yes; GIMP 3 adds a non-destructive editing foundation, improved color management, and interface refinements on top of what GIMP 2.10 offers. See the dedicated GIMP 3 and GIMP 2.10 pages for a version-by-version comparison, and the toolbox overview for how individual tools evolved.