GIMP 3.3.2 Preview: New Project Format, PSD Overhaul, and Native File Dialogs

GIMP’s team has published a progress report ahead of the first 3.3.2 development release, and the headline change is a new project file format meant to replace the aging binary XCF format that has anchored the editor since 1997. The replacement adopts a zipped-XML structure, which lets GIMP rewrite only the changed portions of a file rather than the whole thing—unlocking faster saves and making long-requested auto-saving practical. XCF isn’t being dropped: older files will still load in perpetuity, but new features will only be saved in the new format once it’s finalized, and it’s being designed to accommodate the multi-page and animation work slated for GIMP 3.6.

Photoshop interoperability got an unusually large amount of attention this cycle. Contributors added PSD Descriptor import support, letting GIMP read the largely undocumented modern format Adobe has used since the public spec last updated in 2019. That work makes imported text layers editable, maps adjustment layers and layer styles to GEGL equivalents, and brings in solid-color shapes as vector layers. A new PSD-metadata export path also means paths and layer data can survive round-trips through TIFF and JPEG. Non-destructive editing expanded too, now covering layer masks, an editable Gradient Tool that lives in the filter stack, and dialog-free filters on non-raster layers.

On the interface side, GIMP is porting its file choosers to GTK3’s native dialogs so Windows, macOS, and KDE users get their platform’s standard picker instead of the divisive GTK one. Rounding out the release are a new MyPaint spectral-blending mode that mimics physical pigment mixing, all 78 cursor icons redrawn as scalable SVGs, macOS pop-up dialog fixes, and a canvas-rendering fix that stops the transparency checkerboard from rotating with the view—a change that meaningfully improves painting and zoom performance.