PSD

Adobe Photoshop Document

image/vnd.adobe.photoshop Released 1990 · by Adobe Systems

The image/vnd.adobe.photoshop MIME type is the officially registered IANA identifier for Adobe Photoshop Document (PSD) and Large Document Format (PSB) files. It is the native file format for Adobe Photoshop and the industry standard for storing complex digital artwork, containing support for multiple image layers, layer masks, adjustment layers, vector paths, text, and embedded ICC color profiles.

Graphics & Layered Images Transparency Animation ✦ HDR Production Ready

Technical Specifications

MIME Type

image/vnd.adobe.photoshop

Extensions

.psd.psb.pdd

Container

Adobe Photoshop Document (PSD/PSB)

Compression

Uncompressed & RLE (Run-Length Encoding) & ZIP

Algorithms

RLEZIP (with or without prediction)None

Color Depth

1-bit (Bitmap), 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit (Float/HDR)

Metadata

EXIF XMP ICC

Capabilities

Transparency

Animation

Progressive Loading

Alpha Channel

HDR Support

Official Specification

Aliases: image/psdimage/photoshopimage/x-photoshopapplication/x-photoshop

Magic Bytes & HTTP Headers

File Signature (Magic Bytes)

38 42 50 53

ASCII: 8BPS

HTTP Headers

Content-Type: image/vnd.adobe.photoshop

HTML Accept Attribute

accept="image/vnd.adobe.photoshop, .psd, .psb"

Browser Support Matrix

Browser	Status	Min Version
Chrome	Not Supported	—
Firefox	Not Supported	—
Safari	Not Supported	—
Edge	Not Supported	—
Internet Explorer	Not Supported	Legacy

Advantages & Limitations

Advantages

The undisputed global standard for layered raster graphics and non-destructive image editing
Supports incredibly complex compositions combining raster data, vector shapes, live text, and adjustment layers
Full support for advanced color spaces (CMYK, Lab, multi-channel) and 32-bit floating-point HDR workflows

Limitations

Proprietary format: while the specification is published, complete feature-parity is rarely achieved by third-party software (e.g., smart objects and complex layer styles often break)
Files can reach enormous sizes (gigabytes) due to the preservation of unflattened, high-resolution layer data
Zero support for native rendering in web browsers or standard mobile image viewers

Developer Code Snippets

import magic
# Libmagic will typically output the official 'image/vnd.adobe.photoshop' for valid PSD/PSB files
print(magic.from_file('artwork.psd', mime=True))

const FileType = require('file-type');
const type = await FileType.fromFile('artwork.psd');
console.log(type.mime); // Outputs 'image/vnd.adobe.photoshop'

import "net/http"
// Custom magic byte validation for the 8BPS header:
// isPSD := bytes.HasPrefix(buf, []byte{0x38, 0x42, 0x50, 0x53})

$mime = mime_content_type('artwork.psd');
echo $mime; // Standard setups correctly resolve this to 'image/vnd.adobe.photoshop'

File Detection Steps

How to programmatically detect a image/vnd.adobe.photoshop file by reading its raw bytes:

1 Check the first 4 bytes for the standard Photoshop signature: 38 42 50 53 (8BPS)
2 Standardize backend MIME processing by mapping legacy aliases (image/psd, image/x-photoshop) to image/vnd.adobe.photoshop

Software Support

A

Adobe Photoshop

GIMP

K

Krita

A

Affinity Photo

ImageMagick

Conversion Tools

Share & Embed

Markdown Badge

[![PSD Format](https://freewebptojpg.com/mime/image/psd/badge.svg)](https://freewebptojpg.com/mime/image/psd)

Interactive iframe Widget

<iframe src="https://freewebptojpg.com/mime/image/psd/embed" width="100%" height="280" style="border:1px solid #cbd5e1;border-radius:8px;" title="PSD Specs"></iframe>

JSON API

All data on this page is available as a free, open JSON API. Use it in your project, documentation, or tooling.

GET https://freewebptojpg.com/mime/image/psd.json Open JSON

Free to use

No auth required

CORS enabled

Use from any domain

Cached 24h

Cache-Control headers set

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between image/vnd.adobe.photoshop and image/psd?

Structurally, they refer to the exact same file format (Adobe Photoshop Document). However, image/vnd.adobe.photoshop is the officially registered standard with IANA, whereas image/psd and image/photoshop are non-standard, unofficial aliases that were historically used before the official registration.

What is the magic byte for a PSD file?

All valid Adobe Photoshop files (both PSD and the large-format PSB) begin with the 4-byte signature 38 42 50 53 in hex, which translates to the ASCII string '8BPS' (8-Bit Photoshop).

Can I display image/vnd.adobe.photoshop files in a web browser?

No. Modern web browsers do not possess native decoders for the PSD format. To render a PSD on the web, you must either convert it to a standard format (like PNG, WebP, or JPEG) on the server, or use a specialized JavaScript library (like psd.js) to parse the file and draw the layers onto an HTML5 <canvas>.