Open Procreate files in Affinity, layers included

How to open a Procreate file in Affinity

Affinity can't open .procreate files, in Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer or the newer free Affinity app. It can open layered PSDs. Convert the .procreate file to a PSD with toPSD in your browser, then open the PSD in Affinity with File > Open. Layers, groups, masks and blend modes arrive as Affinity layers.

Last updated October 12, 2026

Step by step

Convert the file to PSD

Drop the .procreate file on the toPSD converter and select Download layered PSD. The file is converted on your computer and never uploaded.

Open the PSD in Affinity

In Affinity, choose File > Open and pick the PSD. Each Procreate layer becomes a pixel layer in the Layers panel, inside its group.

Keep the color profile

If Affinity asks what to do with the embedded profile, keep it. Procreate canvases are often Display P3, and keeping the profile stops the colors from going dull.

Save as an Affinity file

Save your working copy in Affinity's own format. Export to PSD again only if you need to send the file to someone using Photoshop.

Why Affinity can’t open the file

Affinity reads a long list of formats, and Affinity Photo’s own format list includes PSD, PSB, TIFF, PDF, SVG and the main camera raw formats. Procreate’s .procreate format is not on it, and the free Affinity app released by Canva has not added it either. Inside a .procreate file the layers are stored as compressed tiles in Procreate’s own layout, which only Procreate and a handful of converters know how to read.

So the answer to “can Affinity open Procreate files” is no, but “can Affinity open the layers from a Procreate file” is yes, through a PSD.

Two ways to get the PSD

If the artist has the iPad, Procreate exports a PSD from Actions > Share > PSD. The Procreate Handbook says that export keeps layers, layer names, opacity, visibility and blend modes.

If you only have the .procreate file, because it came from a client, a shared drive or an old backup, drop it on the toPSD converter. It reads the layer data in your browser and writes a layered PSD without uploading anything. The first PSD is free with a free account.

What arrives in Affinity

The PSD from toPSD contains:

Every layer with its Procreate name, in the same order, as a pixel layer.
Groups, with hidden groups and hidden layers still hidden.
Each layer’s opacity and blend mode. All 26 Procreate blend modes are mapped to their PSD equivalents.
Clipping masks and layer masks.
The canvas’s color profile, including Display P3.
The background color as a bottom layer named Background, unless it was hidden in Procreate.

We have verified these PSDs in Photoshop and GIMP. We have not opened one in Affinity ourselves yet, so treat the next section as a checklist rather than a test result.

What to check after opening

Affinity reads PSD files well, and its documentation describes importing them with structure and layers preserved. A few places are still worth a look:

Clipped layers. Affinity has its own clipping behavior (dragging a layer onto another). Check that layers which were clipped in Procreate still only show over the layer below them.
Hue, Saturation, Color and Luminosity blend modes. These are calculated differently in every app, so a layer using one of them can look slightly different from the iPad.
Colors. If the whole image looks pale, the profile was dropped or converted. Reopen the file and keep the embedded profile when asked. The Procreate PSD problems page covers this in detail, and the fixes apply to Affinity too.

On a Mac or on Windows

Affinity runs on both, and so does toPSD. Mac users who first want to see the file before converting it can follow opening a Procreate file on a Mac. If the final destination is Photoshop rather than Affinity, see Procreate to Photoshop; the PSD is the same.

Questions

Can Affinity open .procreate files?

No. The supported format lists for Affinity Photo 2 and the free Affinity app include PSD, PDF, SVG, TIFF and other common formats, but not Procreate's. A .procreate file has to become a PSD first, either exported from Procreate on an iPad or converted from the file with toPSD.

Which Affinity app should I use?

Any of them. Affinity Photo is the pixel editor, so it fits painted layers best. Affinity Designer and the free Affinity app also open PSDs and show the layers. Since late 2025, the Affinity app from Canva is free on Mac and Windows and includes pixel, vector and layout tools in one program.

Will the layers be editable?

Yes. toPSD writes each Procreate layer as a normal pixel layer with its name, opacity, visibility and blend mode, plus the groups, clipping masks and layer masks. Affinity reads those as its own pixel layers, groups and masks. Text layers from Procreate arrive as pixels, not editable text.

Can I turn the artwork into vectors in Affinity Designer?

Not automatically. Procreate art is pixels, and the PSD keeps it as pixels. Affinity Designer can place the PSD or the flat PNG and you can draw vector shapes over it, but there is no built-in trace tool, so the vector version is a separate job.