PSD Layer Extractor
Extract every layer of a Photoshop PSD as its own transparent PNG, numbered in stacking order and zipped. Works even on files with no flattened preview. Nothing is uploaded.
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- ProcessingOn your device
- Uploaded to a serverNothing
- InternetNot needed
Don't take our word for it. Turn off your Wi‑Fi, then use this tool. It will work exactly the same, which is only possible because your file never goes anywhere.
Worth knowing
Each layer is exported as its own pixels. Layer effects such as drop shadows and strokes are applied by Photoshop at composite time, so they are not part of the layer's own image.
Adjustment layers have no pixels of their own and are skipped — there is nothing to export.
The pieces, not the picture
Sometimes what you need out of a PSD is not the finished image but the parts it was assembled from: the logo on its own, the product cut out from its background, the button in each of its states. Doing that by hand means opening Photoshop, hiding everything else and exporting, once per layer.
This does the whole file in one pass. Every layer comes out as its own transparent PNG, numbered in stacking order, zipped together.
It works when the other tools cannot
A PSD saved without Maximise Compatibility has no flattened preview inside it, so converting it to a single image would mean rebuilding one from the layers — guessing at blend modes and masks, and getting them subtly wrong. Those files are refused elsewhere on this site for exactly that reason.
Layer extraction has no such problem. Each layer already carries its own pixels, so nothing has to be composited and nothing has to be guessed. It is the tool that still works on a file the others have to turn away.
How the files are named
Numbered first, then the layer's own name. The number matters more than it looks: it is the only place the stacking order survives, and without it a folder of PNGs sorts alphabetically into meaningless order.
- Layers inside a group are named Group/Layer, so you can see where each sat.
- Characters a filesystem cannot take are replaced — layer names come from a person, not a computer, and routinely contain slashes and colons.
- Hidden layers are included and marked. The version that was switched off is usually the one you were looking for, and dropping it silently would look like the file was incomplete.
What a layer's own pixels do not include
Layer effects — drop shadows, strokes, glows, bevels — are applied by Photoshop when it composites the document, not stored in the layer's own image. So an exported layer is the shape itself without its shadow.
Adjustment layers have no pixels at all; they are instructions that modify what is beneath them, so there is nothing to export and they are skipped. If you want the finished look rather than the components, PSD to PNG gives you exactly what Photoshop shows.
Questions people ask
Does this work on a file with no flattened preview?
Yes. Layer extraction needs no compositing at all, because every layer already carries its own pixels. It is the one tool here that works when PSD to PNG has to refuse.
What about layers I had hidden?
They are included and marked as hidden in the filename. Someone taking a PSD apart usually wants the alternative version that was switched off, and dropping it silently would look like the file was incomplete.
How are the files named?
Numbered in stacking order, then the layer's own name with anything a filesystem cannot take replaced. The number matters: it is the only place the layer order survives.
Are groups preserved?
As part of the name. A layer inside a group comes out as “Group-Layer”, so you can see where it sat without a folder structure a zip might not preserve.