Microsoft Paint on Windows 11 now supports the .paint file format, which is used by the “Project” feature. Like Photoshop’s .PSD, Paint’s .paint keeps your work in an editable state instead of flattening it like PNG/JPG. This is a neat new feature rolling out alongside the Opacity slider for brushes, etc.

In our tests, Windows Latest observed that Paint’s Project feature is simpler compared to Photoshop.

While Photoshop has a lot of features to save the “state,” Paint just has layers, canvas, transparency and basic tools. In the case of Photoshop, you can store features like smart objects, masks, blending, colour profiles, and more.

Of course, I don’t expect Microsoft to turn Paint into a Photoshop-killer, but it’s hell bend on improving the classic canvas.

As you can see in the above screenshot, you can open Paint’s menu, select “Save as project” to store the current editable state of your painting. The format is called “Microsoft Paint Project File (.paint).

You’ll still be able to export it to PNG/JPG/AVIF/HEIC, etc., to share widely.

If you’re a beginner who has never used Photoshop, you might ask me what the purpose of creating a Project and saving its state is. Well, you can use .paint when you want to pause and continue editing later (move layers, tweak brush work, etc). Or you can share .paint with your friends, and let them take over your art.

But there’s more to the update than just Project.

Windows Latest tested another feature called “Opacity slider,” which is a great new addition for those who want to do soft shading or highlights in Paint. The idea of the Opacity slider is similar to what we have in Photoshop. It lets you control how see-through your brush or pencil strokes are.

For example, if you select a Brush with your favourite colour, then if you increase the Opacity slider to 100%, that colour would be darker or solid. But when you decrease the Opacity to let’s say 40%, you can finally paint colours that you can see through.

This is perfect for shading, let’s say, a grass or the shadow of a tree.

Paint was last updated early this year with the Copilot hub that brings all AI features in one place.

How to try Paint’s new Project (.paint) feature and Opacity slider on Windows 11

If you’re in the Windows Insider Program, you can try Paint’s new Project feature, which is enabled in version v11.2508.361.0 or newer.

Or you can safely download the Paint update from our cloud storage. I extracted it from a Windows Insider machine in the Dev Channel, and it has the new Project feature as well as the new Opacity slider. But remember that there can be rough edges since it’s a beta release.

You could be asked to sign up for “Windows AI Labs” to try some of the new features in Paint. To do it, open Settings and look for the above banner. It’s still rolling out via a server-side update and may not show up.

If you ever wish to go back to a stable release, just remove the Paint app and reinstall it from the Microsoft Store.

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