Which photo edit apps can open a .psb large photoshop file?

[earlybird]

Hi,
 I have assumed that many apps will open a standard .psd Photoshop file but lately I have been wondering if the Photoshop large file format .psb files which I save in Photoshop for my layer stacked Canon 5DS R photos can be opened by competing applications.

 Thank you

 

[Schewe]

As far as I know, none. While the PSD format is publicly documented and in use by developers, I don't think Adobe has made PSB publicly available.

[earlybird]

Thank you for the info.

I feel like I am backing myself into a corner with my 5DS R sourced, Photoshop layer stacks that are saved as .psb.

I have been concerned that when my CS6 license will no longer install on contemporary hardware that I will be left with very few choices. I guess it's so.

[kirkt]

Affinity Photo (Mac only) and Photoline (Mac and PC) both open PSB files - at least in the 10 second test I just did.  I opened a 5DIII raw file in PS and duplicated the background layer around 10 times and saved it as PSB (~1.8 GB file, 16bit). 

Affinity Photo and Photoline both will also attempt to translate any Photoshop adjustment layers in the PSB file into the analogous adjustment layers in their particular image processing scheme (curves, levels, etc.).

In the more current versions of PS, there is a Preference in the "File Handling" section that permits the user to disable PSD and PSB compression - this makes for larger file sizes but significantly faster loads and saves when working with large files.  Adobe made a plug-in for disabling PSB compression (around CS5):

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/save-psd-psb-images-compression.html

Maybe this might also be useful for your workflow.


kirk

[earlybird]

Thank you very much for making a test and relaying this information. It is both helpful and reassuring to think that there will be options when I have to move beyond CS6.

Thank you.

[kirkt]

You're welcome.

kirk

[kirkt]

Affinity Photo (Mac only)

...

kirk

Well, things are looking up for PC users:

https://affinity.serif.com/blog/affinity-is-coming-to-windows/


It's always good to have options.

kirk