Software Update: Paint.NET 4.2.3

Version 4.2.2 of Paint.NET has been released and shortly afterwards there is an immediate follower due to a missing dll file. This drawing and image editing program bridges the gap between the Paint supplied with Windows and expensive but very extensive programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Corel Photo Paint. Today, the program is also offered via the Windows Store offered, although a small fee is charged for that version. The changelog for this release can be found below.

New:

• AV1 (*.avif) images can now be opened (saving is not supported). Windows 10 v1809+ and Microsoft’s AV1 Codec are required (download: here)
• DirectDraw Surface (*.dds) support has been greatly improved due to bundling DDSFileTypePlus v1.9.6.0 plugin. All DX10/DX11 formats should now be supported (eg BC4, BC5, BC6H, BC7), and encoding (saving) will make use of the GPU to greatly improve performance. Note that it’s no longer necessary to use the “.dds2” file extension.
• 4-bit saving is now supported for PNG, BMP, and TIFF
• The palette selection menu will now indicate which palette is currently active

improved:

• The maximum image size is now 262.144 x 262.144 pixels, up from 65.535 x 65.535 pixels. This is mostly for accommodating very tall or very wide images.
• Startup performance has been improved for multi-core CPUs
• Startup performance has been improved when a lot of custom shapes are installed

Fixed:

• EXIF metadata of type Float and Double are now supported. This GeoTIFF metadata is preserved.
• Opening an image should no longer flicker due to the transparency checkerboard being drawn first
• TGA images that are 16-bit with 1-bit alpha with a zero’d out alpha channel are now treated as opaque. This allows images from 5CC Map Maker (for Close Combat modding) to work.
• JPEG XR’s file extensions (*.jxr, *.wdp, *.wmp) are now registered with Explorer
• Pasting images that use RGB pixel ordering should now work (this affects PaintTool SAI)
• Fixed a crash when manually typing in a very large number for the zoom level in the status bar
• Fixed in version 4.2.3: A missing DLL, vcomp140.dll, was preventing the bundled DDSFileTypePlus plugin from loading on some systems