Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for PCs that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plugins. It started development as an undergraduate college senior design project mentored by Microsoft, and is currently being maintained by some of the alumni that originally worked on it. Originally intended as a free replacement for the Microsoft Paint software that comes with Windows, it has grown into a powerful yet simple image and photo editor tool. It has been compared to other digital photo editing software packages such as Adobe Photoshop, Corel Paint Shop Pro, Microsoft Photo Editor, and The GIMP.
Download NowNew for version 3.5 is a revamped UI theme for Windows 7 and Vista users, inspired by Aero and making use of "glass". Other features include reduced memory usage, better stability, and better performance. See the Roadmap page for more details.
The following image was created with a combination of a transparency gradient, Sepia adjustment, Add Noise effect, and the new Soften Portrait effect in v3.10. The original picture was taken at the Classic Car Show in downtown Kirkland on July 22, 2007.
New for v3.10 is support for the DirectDraw Surface (DDS) file type, which is popular in game development and game modding. It is also used by the XNA Development Kit for the XBOX 360.
Paint.NET can be used to enhance and clean up your photographs. Using the Clone Stamp tool, the power lines that criss-crossed in front of the Space Needle were carefully removed. Other operations were performed that had the effect of smoothing out the image without blurring it, adding some "bloom" (glow), and increasing the contrast.
This 1920x1200 image is available here at deviantArt, and a low-resolution copy of the original photograph is available for comparison here (Copyright (C) 2005 Marie Sheneman).
Paint.NET v2.6 introduces the Curves adjustment, available from the Layers → Adjustment → Curves menu item, which is capable of some powerful and sophisticated editing. This screenshot was edited in Paint.NET in order to add the inset copy of the original image, a border shadow, and overlaid text with shadow.
Paint.NET v2.5 added full freedom to scale, rotate, move, and combine both selections and images. This screenshot includes two images from akinna's stock photography page on deviantArt: "cat1" (link) and "polaroid1" (link). Used with permission.
Work with TGA images, which are popular in the game development community and is also the format used for World of Warcraft screenshots.
Use the various features together to create stunning and original effects:
