A new project file format is in the works for GIMP, as the existing one can’t handle larger, complex projects.
Since 1997, the famed FOSS image editor has used the binary .xcf format to save projects so layers, effects and anything else can be edited and adjusted again – which doesn’t happen in a flat file export to JPEG or PNG.
But, writing in a recent development update, the team has said it’s finding “more and more limitations” in the current format.
And with major new features, like animation and multi-page documents, on GIMP’s near-term roadmap, it’s begun working on a new project file format that will use a “zipped XML” structure (commonly used by other software, including office suites).
The new project type will support faster saving as, being a fancy ‘zip’ files, only the bits that change in an edit need to be saved, not the entire thing. Potentially, that could finally bring the most long of long-requested features to GIMP users: auto-saving!
It’s too soon to know exact technical details or what the file extension will be – let’s hope it’s not .gimp – as everything is “still being designed and implemented”, per the blog post.
XCF is sticking around, though
Once GIMP’s new file format is in place, new projects, that use the editor’s newest features, will use the new project format by default.
But XCF support will continue to be a part of GIMP to ensure backwards compatibility. Google’s first logo was made in GIMP in 1998 as an XCF, and that ancient file can still open in modern GIMP, without issue – which the team says it’s ‘proud’ of.
GIMP already handles more than XCF. Besides opening and saving to to common image formats, it can open and export to Adobe Photoshop .psd and OpenRaster .ora.
Having learnt how to work with the project files used by other software, it’s only right it cycle back to improve its own. With modernity a ceaseless treadmill, a nearly-30 years old format is bound to look a little creaky.