Photo editors that run in the browser

The full editor

Photopea is the reason this category exists. It opens PSD files with their layers intact, supports masks, adjustment layers and smart objects, and lays its panels out close enough to Photoshop that people who know one know the other.

It is free, ad-supported, and needs a connection to load — installing gives it a window of its own, which matters more than it sounds for a tool you keep open for an hour.

Editors that never upload your file

Squoosh compresses images entirely in your browser and lets you compare codecs side by side. Nothing leaves the device, which is the difference between using it on a holiday photo and using it on a screenshot of something internal. It also works with no connection.

That local-processing property is worth checking on any image tool: a page that uploads your file to compress it is a page that has your file.

Adjustments and quick edits

Polarr covers colour grading and filters, and keeps working offline. Pixlr E is the lighter, faster option when you want to crop, resize and be done.

remove.bg does one thing — cutting a subject out of its background — and does it well enough that it replaced a manual selection step for a lot of people.

What the browser cannot do yet

Very large files strain the tab: a 200-megapixel composite will make any of these struggle where a desktop editor would not. Colour management is weaker, and if you need a specific ICC profile honoured exactly, this is not the place.

For everything short of that — and that is most work — the trade is a good one: no install, no licence, no version to update.

Frequently asked