Corel PaintShop Pro is a layer-based photo editor and graphics program for Windows. It covers the full path from organizing and correcting photos to retouching portraits, building composites, adding text and vector shapes, and designing cards, banners and social media images. PaintShop Pro is paid software sold as a one-time license rather than a subscription, with a free trial. It comes in a standard edition and an Ultimate edition that adds a bundle of extra applications.
Workspaces for different kinds of editing
The Photography workspace is touch-ready and built around quick edits, with a Split View that shows the original and the edited photo side by side. Essentials and Complete are further workspaces to suit different editing needs.
The Manage workspace handles the photo library. Here you preview images, review their metadata, add keyword tags and ratings, and group pictures into catalogs. You can then find a specific shot by search.
RAW files and camera corrections
Corel PaintShop Pro opens RAW files from over 800 camera models. AfterShot Lab, built into the program, handles RAW development without a separate application. Its adjustments are non-destructive, so you can recover detail or correct white balance and still change those settings later.
Lens Correction removes distortion, vignetting and chromatic aberration, and Straighten levels a tilted horizon.
Merging several shots
HDR merge blends multiple exposures of the same scene into one High Dynamic Range photo. Focus Stacking blends the sharp parts of photos shot at different focus distances into one picture with greater depth of field.
Corrections and adjustments
For fast fixes, One Step Photo Fix applies automatic color correction and sharpening in one action. Smart Photo Fix shows the proposed changes as adjustable settings. Manual controls include levels, curves, white balance, hue and saturation, vibrancy, sharpening and noise removal.
AI-assisted tools
AI Upsampling enlarges a photo while keeping it sharp, AI Artifact Removal cleans up JPEG compression damage, and AI Denoise removes noise from high-ISO shots. AI Background Replacement detects the subject and swaps the background for another image. AI Portrait Mode blurs the background behind a person, and AI Style Transfer repaints a photo in the look of an artwork.
Selections, retouching and object removal
Auto Selection detects an object after you drag a box around it. The Smart Selection brush finds edges as you paint over the target. Refine Brush then cleans the selection border down to individual strands of hair.
Content-aware tools fill gaps with surrounding detail. Object Remover erases distractions. Magic Move shifts an object to a new spot and fills the area it left. Magic Fill completes empty regions. SmartClone merges an element from one photo into another.
Portrait work uses dedicated makeover tools that remove blemishes and red-eye, whiten teeth, smooth wrinkles and even out skin tone.
Layers, masks and compositing
PaintShop Pro works with layers, so each element of a composite or collage stays separate and editable. Masks hide or reveal parts of a layer, which is how one photo can fade gradually into another.
Instant Effects provide categories such as film styles, black and white, retro and artistic. You can stack these effects. The wider library adds lighting, border, sketch and painting filters.
Text, vector shapes and design templates
Beyond photo editing, Corel PaintShop Pro includes graphic design tools. Text can follow a path or wrap inside a shape, and can clip a photo into the letters. Vector tools draw shapes and illustrations that stay sharp at any size. The Frame Tool turns preset shapes or vector text into clipping frames that you fill with images, patterns or colors.
Painting and drawing use built-in brushes, gradients, patterns and picture tubes, and the program works with pressure-sensitive tablets. New from Template opens ready layouts for collages, cards, social media posts and banners.
Scripts and batch processing
A script records a series of edits on one photo and replays it on any other image. Batch processing applies a set of changes, such as resizing, adding a watermark or framing, to a whole group of files in one run.
File support and plugins
PaintShop Pro imports a long list of formats, including JPEG, PNG, TIFF, WebP, PSD, PDF, SVG and AI files, and opens HEIC photos from iPhones. PSD import and export lets work move to and from Photoshop. The program accepts third-party plugins, including Photoshop-compatible filters.
Standard and Ultimate editions
Both editions share the same photo editor. PaintShop Pro Ultimate adds a set of extra software and content:
- Sea-to-Sky workspace – a touch-ready workspace with tools aimed at drone and underwater photos.
- Painter Essentials – a beginner digital painting and sketching program.
- PhotoMirage Express – turns a still photo into an animation.
- Highlight Reel – picks the best imported photos and videos and assembles them into a movie set to music.
- MultiCam Capture Lite – records the screen and a webcam at the same time.
- Creative content – extra fonts, brushes, textures and royalty-free backgrounds.
