About this release
Affinity Photo is a full professional raster editor that arrived as the credible one time purchase alternative to the subscription incumbent. It has the toolset a serious retoucher expects, layers and masks, adjustment and live filter layers, a full selection and compositing set, and it built a following by being fast and by not asking for a monthly payment to keep working.
It is organised into personas, focused modes for different jobs that share one document. The Photo persona is the main editing surface, the Develop persona is a full raw processor for bringing a camera file in with exposure, tone and lens correction, the Liquify persona handles push and pull warping, and there is a dedicated tone mapping persona for HDR work. Switching persona changes the tools without ever leaving the file.
Under all of it is a tiled rendering engine that keeps huge documents responsive, so a poster sized file with a deep layer stack pans and zooms without the stalls that bog down other editors. It handles focus stacking, panorama stitching, frequency separation and a proper non destructive workflow. The build here is the full version with every persona and filter unlocked.
What it does
- Full layer stack with masks, adjustment layers and live filter layers
- Raw development persona with exposure, tone and lens correction
- Fast tiled engine that stays smooth on very large documents
- Complete selection, refine and compositing toolset
- Frequency separation and full retouching tools
- Focus stacking and panorama stitching
- HDR merge with a dedicated tone mapping persona
- Liquify persona for push and pull warping
- Wide file format support including layered PSD round trip
- Non destructive workflow with unlimited history
Changes in this version
- Faster rendering on documents with heavy live filter stacks
- Improved raw engine with new camera and lens profiles
- Reworked selection refinement for cleaner edges on hair
- Better PSD compatibility when exchanging files with other editors
- Smaller memory footprint on very large layered documents
What the package contains
- Affinity Photo offline installer
- Bundled brush, texture and macro libraries
- Default raw profiles for common cameras and lenses
- All interface languages
- Readme with the install order written out step by step
Installation notes
Follow these in order. Most reports of a failed install come from skipping a step rather than from the package itself.
- Disconnect from the network before you start.
- Extract the archive to any folder you like.
- Run the installer as administrator and complete the wizard.
- Apply the included activation step before first launch.
- Launch once, then reconnect to the network.
- Turn off the built in update check to keep the activation state.
System requirements
| Operating system | Windows 10 version 22H2 or Windows 11 |
| Processor | Intel or AMD 64-bit processor with SSE 4.2 |
| Memory | 8 GB minimum, 16 GB recommended |
| Graphics | GPU with 2 GB VRAM and hardware acceleration support |
| Storage | 3 GB free during install |
| Display | 1920 by 1080 or larger |
Things worth knowing
- It reads and writes layered PSD, but very exotic PSD features from the other editor can flatten on round trip, check important files.
- Turn on hardware acceleration in settings for the smoothest experience on large documents.
- Turn off automatic updating to keep the current version and activation state.
Questions about this title
Is this a real alternative to the big editor?
Can it open my PSD files?
What are personas?
Does it handle very large files?
What people are saying
A real editor I bought once. Layers, masks, raw, all there. Do not miss the monthly bill at all.
Poster sized comp with thirty layers still pans smoothly. That tiled engine is no joke.
Round trips PSDs with the studio fine for normal work. Checked the tricky ones like it says.
Listing information
This entry is catalogued under Photo Editing and carries the tags below. Language coverage is Multilingual, 18 interface languages, and the supported platform list is Windows 10, Windows 11. Version 2.6.5.3782 is the current catalogued build, last checked 5 days ago, and the entry has been in the index since it was added 2 years ago.