XCF, short for '' eXperimental Computing Facility'', is the native image format of the GIMP image-editing program. It saves all of the data the program handles related to the image, including, among others, each layer, the current selection, channels, transparency, paths and guides. Prior to version 4 (GIMP 2.10.0, released on 2018-04-27), the saved image data are compressed only by a simple RLE algorithm, but GIMP supports compressed files, using

gzip gzip is a file format and a software application used for file compression and decompression. The program was created by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler as a free software replacement for the compress program used in early Unix systems, and in ...

, bzip2, or xz. The compressed files can be opened as normal image files. Since version 4, the image data can be compressed by zlib instead. The XCF file format is

backward compatible Backward compatibility (sometimes known as backwards compatibility) is a property of an operating system, product, or technology that allows for interoperability with an older legacy system, or with input designed for such a system, especially ...

(all versions of GIMP can open earlier versions' files) and in some cases,

forward compatible Forward compatibility or upward compatibility is a design characteristic that allows a system to accept input intended for a later version of itself. The concept can be applied to entire systems, electrical interfaces, telecommunication signals, ...

. For example, GIMP 2.0 can save text in text layers while GIMP 1.2 cannot. Text layers saved in GIMP 2.0 will open as ordinary image layers in GIMP 1.2. However, XCF files containing layer groups, a feature introduced in GIMP 2.7, cannot be opened with GIMP 2.6. Despite some use in other programs (see §software support), the use of XCF as a data interchange format is not recommended by the developers of GIMP, since the format reflects GIMP's internal data structures and there may be minor format changes in future versions. Instead, a collaborative effort between the developers of GIMP and

Krita Krita ( ) is a free and open-source raster graphics editor designed primarily for digital art and 2D animation. The software runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and ChromeOS, and features an OpenGL-accelerated canvas, colour management su ...

is underway to design a standardised raster file format called

OpenRaster OpenRaster is a file format proposed for the common exchange of layered images between raster graphics editors. It is meant as a replacement for later versions of the Adobe PSD format. OpenRaster is still in development and so far is supported b ...

(modelled on the OpenDocument format) for future use in both applications, and likely in others also. GIMP's ''Save'' dialog saves in the XCF format: starting with version 2.8, other formats with import/export support were moved to an ''Export'' dialog.

Software support

A partial list of image viewers and conversion software.

References

External links

Documentation of the XCF File Format
{{DEFAULTSORT:xcf (file format) Graphics file formats