Paint.NET 5.1 is a new version of the popular free image editor for windows. As a minor release, it comes with a few new features, but some very important ones, such as improved color management compatibility, which ensures that images with integrated color profiles can now be displayed perfectly in the application.

Adobe’s Photoshop rules the commercial market, and Gimp leads the pack of free applications with the most advanced features as well as a great open source reference. Paint.NET doesn’t go that far, though It is much lighter and easier to use. In pugilistic terms, he is unbeatable pound for pound in our humble opinion.

Paint.NET 5.1, available

The new version comes two years after the release of the major version 5.0. It has been in beta since August and has just been released in its final version. You already know this software is exclusive to 64-bit Windows (Windows 11 and Windows 10 from 21H2) and requires a GPU with Direct3D and Microsoft .NET support included with the app. It is available as an application from the Microsoft Store (for 9.99 euros), but also as a standard application for Windows, which is completely free. And it has a portable version.

Paint.NET 5.1 is a major update that includes full color management support; important optimizations to improve performancememory usage and input latency; new blur effects and updates to Microsoft .NET version 9 which it needs to work. If you don’t know, the app was born as a clone of the classic Windows Paint that has been around since 1985.

Improved color management support It’s practically automatic: when you load an image that has a built-in color profile, it will be displayed according to that profile. Of course, users can switch to different ICC color profiles through a new dialog under Image > Color Profile. This version includes built-in options for SRGB, Adobe RGB, Display P3 and ProPhoto RGB, with more expected to be added in the future. Users can also import their own ICC/ICM files and export the current color profile to a file.

It is the most important part of the version, although it also contains two new blur effectsnew canvas configuration section and performance optimization in memory and latency. Otherwise, Paint.NET is an excellent editor, lighter and easier to use than the giants in the sector, but rich in features. And in addition, say that it has a large community of users, a fairly active online forum with a large number of tutorials, and extensive compatibility with other plugins.