Does Photopea work offline?

Short answer

Yes, with one condition: Photopea must have been loaded at least once while online. After that the editor runs entirely in your browser and keeps working with no connection — opening, editing and saving PSD, XCF and Sketch files locally. Install it as an app and it opens in its own window like Photoshop would. Your images never leave your device: Photopea does the processing on your machine, not on a server.

The one condition

Photopea needs a first online visit. That visit is what stores the editor in your browser — and the editor is large, because it implements layers, masks, filters and PSD parsing entirely in JavaScript and WebAssembly. Once that is cached, the connection becomes optional.

This is why people report contradictory experiences. Someone who installed it a week ago and opens it on a plane finds it works perfectly; someone who tries to open it for the first time with no connection gets nothing. Same app, different cache state.

Mentioned here: 🖼️ Photopea, 🗜️ Squoosh, ✏️ Penpot

Installing Photopea as a desktop app

Open photopea.com in Chrome or Edge and click the install icon at the right of the address bar. You get a standalone window with no tabs and no address bar, plus an icon in your dock, taskbar or Start menu.

On Safari 17 and later, use File → Add to Dock. The result is the same: a windowed editor that opens without launching a browser first.

After installing, open it once while connected. Then test it with your connection switched off — better to find out at your desk than on a train.

Your files stay on your machine

Photopea processes images locally. When you open a PSD, the file is read by code running in your browser, not uploaded for server-side processing. That is a genuine privacy property, not a marketing claim — it is also the reason the app can work offline at all.

The exceptions are explicit and visible: opening a file from a URL, or using a feature that fetches an external resource. Those need a connection, and they are opt-in.

Frequently asked

Is Photopea free?

The full editor is free and ad-supported. A paid tier removes the ads and raises the undo history; it does not unlock editing features. Offline use is available on both.

Can I edit PSD files offline?

Yes. PSD, XCF, Sketch and standard image formats all open from your local disk with no connection, once the editor has been cached.