According to abbreviationfinder, PSD is the default file format and the only format that supports most Adobe Photoshop features, in addition to the Large Document Format (PSB). Given the great integration possibilities between Adobe products and other Adobe applications such as Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Premiere, Adobe After Effects and Adobe GoLive, they can directly import PSD files and keep many of the features of Photoshop.
Characteristics
When saving a PSD file for use in an earlier version of Adobe Photoshop or Adobe ImageReady, you can set a preference to maximize file compatibility.
To maximize compatibility with older versions of Photoshop and with other applications (Photoshop):
- Do one of the following:
- In Windows, select Edit> Preferences> File Handling.
- In Mac OS, select Photoshop> Preferences> File Handling.
- Select Always from the Maximize PSD File Compatibility menu. This saves a composite (flattened) image along with the layers of the document.
To avoid the problem of large file sizes, you can reduce the size of the files by disabling the option Maximize compatibility of PSD files. From the Maximize PSD File Compatibility menu, select Ask to have the program ask you if you want to maximize compatibility when saving or never to save the document without maximizing compatibility.
Use
PSD is widely used, as support duotones, cut path and channels. In addition, PSD has a unique feature, it supports layers while all other formats paste them when exporting. Any program that supports PSD can reflect the layer information. Saving files as layered images is quite convenient because this allows you to easily modify different parts of the image later.
