Need a free or cheap alternative to Photoshop

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SableGear's avatar
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EDIT: A housemate has offered me his copy of PS 2015, so for now my problems are solved. Do pitch in with your advice though, I still really appreciate it!

Hey DA! My ancient copy of PS Elements 5 (yeah, ancient) finally decided it doesn't want to be compatible with Windows anymore. I've tried un/re-installing and running in compatibility and admin modes, nothing seems to work. Unfortunately I have a lot of unfinished projects that are in .psd files that I now no longer have access to. I was wondering if you guys could help me out, so I'm going to pose a series of questions:

0) I'm not optimistic but, is there somehow a fix for PSE 5 that'll work for Win10?

1) Is there a cheap or free alternative to Photoshop that can read .psd files? If so, can someone direct me to a safe download?

2) If not, is there a more generic file type that I can convert my .psd's to (with the aim of preserving layers, etc) that will work with free software? (will probably use the PS CC free trial to do the conversion)

3) If no to 1 and 2, is there a safe way to get a cracked copy of a more recent version of PS? (Yes, questionably legal, I know)

4) If that's too objectionable, is there a way to get PS cheaper on a student licence? (this I can potentially do through a roommate)

Cheap or free is preferable, I'm on a tight budget and I can't justify paying for a subscription to a program I only use intermittently. I'm no longer a student so I can't get a student licence through my alma mater

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ZeroDevil's avatar
I use GIMP, like Porcelainparasite said.

It has nearly every feature Photoshop has (and has a few that photoshop doesn't have), and it's open-source. It also has an online community who are just as good as any tech support, and are completely free to ask questions to.

No registration keys, no money involved, and since it's open-source, you can use it for personal or professional use, no strings attached.