Import and export formats
Choose between editable projects, flattened images and interchange formats.
Reviewed against the application source on 5 October 2026. Focale is in active development; available commands and published packages may differ by build.
Choose the right file
Keep .focale as the working project. Export a raster image for sharing, or PSD/PSB when exchanging layered content with another editor.
Changing an extension does not convert a file. Use the appropriate Save or Export command, and inspect the result when moving between applications.
Image formats
The desktop import and export pipelines expose the following raster formats. The exact options and metadata support depend on the selected codec.
| Format | Use in Focale | Important detail |
|---|---|---|
| PNG | Import / export | Lossless image interchange and transparency. |
| JPEG (.jpg, .jpeg) | Import / export | Lossy quality setting; no alpha channel. Choose a background for transparent content. |
| GIF | Import / export | Animated import creates frame layers; animated export uses document frame timing. |
| WebP | Import / export | Export is currently lossless; the quality slider does not control it. |
| AVIF | Import / export | Quality setting and transparency where supported by the encoder. |
| HEIF / HEIC | Import / export | Colour encoding remains lossy, including at quality 100. |
| JPEG XL (.jxl) | Import / export | No lossy quality slider is exposed by the current application. |
| OpenEXR (.exr) | Import / export | Bounded single-part scan-line support; tiled, deep, multipart and some compression modes are rejected. |
| TIFF (.tif, .tiff) | Import / export | Import can preserve supported native process samples and profiles. |
| BMP, QOI, TGA | Import / export | Alternative raster containers; check transparency in the receiving application. |
PSD and PSB
Focale imports and exports layered Photoshop documents. Supported text, shapes, masks, adjustments and effects remain editable where they map to Focale’s model.
Unsupported semantics can use stored raster previews or a merged preview instead of being guessed. This is not a guarantee of complete Photoshop feature compatibility. Retain the original file and compare the rendered result.
Camera RAW
Common camera RAW files open through a dedicated development workflow. Adjust exposure, colour, optics and local corrections, then commit the developed image to the editor.
RAW is import-only: exporting cannot recreate sensor data. Availability for a camera depends on RawKit and the underlying decoder; keep the original RAW file.
Colour and precision
A project can retain native colour modes, bit depth and supported ICC profiles. A flattened export has the capabilities of its selected encoder and processing path; check the options before treating it as a high-precision archive.
PNG and JPEG offer daily-export metadata and sRGB profile options. Metadata support is not universal across raster encoders. Prefer .focale when retaining editable colour information matters.