ImageNew

Image Workstation

Free online photo editor with layers and no upload. Develop RAW photos, mask, select, add text and export JPG, PNG, WebP, PDF or SVG in your browser.

Know your workflow

Supported files and how to use.

Check supported input/output details and follow the tool steps before exporting.

🧾

Technical specs

What the workstation accepts and produces.

Cost

Free, with no account and no watermark.

Privacy

Photos are decoded, edited and exported on your device; nothing is uploaded.

Input

JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP, HEIC, camera RAW and OpenRaster (.ora).

Layers

Raster, text, shape, adjustment and group layers with masks, clipping masks, effects, opacity and 16 blend modes.

Adjustments

White balance, exposure, tone, texture, clarity, dehaze, curves, colour mixer, grading, sharpening, noise reduction, vignette and grain.

Export

JPG, PNG, WebP, AVIF where supported, PDF, SVG and .ora; quality or target file size.

🧭

How to use

Check supported input/output details and follow the tool steps before exporting.

01

Open a photo (JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC or a camera RAW file) or an .ora project, or start a blank canvas from the start screen.

02

Adjust the look in the Control Panel's Adjust tab: white balance, exposure, tone curve, colour mixer, colour grading, sharpening and noise reduction, or pick a preset in the Presets tab.

03

Add layers, text, shapes and adjustment layers, group them, and set opacity, blend mode and effects in the Layer tab; Edit › Free transform scales, rotates or distorts a layer.

04

Select with the rectangle, ellipse, lasso, magic wand or Select subject, then turn the selection into a mask or paint with the brush and eraser.

05

Crop and straighten, resize, rotate or flip, and use Remove background, Blur faces or Upscale 2× when you need them.

06

Export as JPG, PNG, WebP, PDF or SVG with Export settings, or save the project as .ora to keep every layer editable.

Guide

Learn, decide, and apply.

Understand how to edit photos with layers and RAW in your browser, why it matters in repeat workflows, and when to use this tool with confidence.

✨

Why choose ToolBuddy's Image Workstation

  • Free, with no account and no watermark on your exports.
  • Photos are edited on your device and never uploaded, so it suits private and work images.
  • Non-destructive adjustments, layer masks and full undo, so you can always go back.
  • RAW develop, layers and on-device AI in one place instead of three separate apps.
  • Your work is autosaved on this device, and .ora projects open in GIMP and Krita too.
  • Fast previews on your device's graphics chip, with a fallback when it is unavailable.
🎯

What you can make with the Image Workstation

  • Develop RAW photos from your camera without installing software.
  • Cut out a subject or remove a background, then place it on a new one.
  • Build composites and posters from several photos with masks and blend modes.
  • Add captions, meme text, shapes or a tiled watermark.
  • Remove blemishes, dust spots and stray objects with the healing, clone and patch tools.
  • Blur faces in a photo before sharing it.
  • Apply the same look to a folder of photos with batch edit.
  • Shrink a photo to a target file size for an upload form.
About

About Image Workstation

Photo editor with layersEdit RAW photos onlineLayer masks and blend modes

A free photo editor with layers that runs in your browser

Most layered photo editors need a large download, an account or a subscription. The Image Workstation opens in a browser tab: open a photo or start a blank canvas, and you get a canvas with a tool row and a Layers and History dock, plus a Control Panel with Layer, Adjust and Presets tabs.

Photos are opened, edited and exported on your device and never uploaded. Previews are drawn on your graphics chip when it is available, with a fallback that gives the same result, and your work is saved in your browser as you go, so a closed tab does not lose it.

Develop RAW and everyday photos

Open camera RAW files from Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, Samsung and DNG cameras, as well as JPG, PNG, WebP and iPhone HEIC photos. The camera's built-in preview appears straight away while the RAW file is developed from its full 16-bit data, so pulling Highlights down brings back detail in a bright sky. Image › Lens correction fixes distortion, colour fringes, dark corners and converging lines, using your lens's profile when the photo names it. Wide-colour photos from recent phones stay in Display P3.

The Adjust tab has the controls photographers expect: white balance, exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites and blacks, texture, clarity and dehaze, a tone curve per channel, an eight-colour mixer, vibrance and saturation, colour grading for shadows, midtones and highlights, sharpening, noise reduction, vignette and grain. Adjust just part of a photo with the Masking panel: brush it in, use a linear or radial gradient, or mask by brightness, colour or the subject. Start from a built-in preset, save your own, copy a look to another photo, and press the backslash key to compare before and after.

Layers, masks and selections

Stack photos, text, shapes and adjustment layers, group them, and set each layer's opacity and one of 16 blend modes. Clip a layer to the one below, add a drop shadow, outer glow, colour overlay or stroke, and scale, rotate, skew or distort any layer with Free transform. Hide, lock, reorder or duplicate layers, and undo any step from the History tab.

Make selections with the rectangle, ellipse, lasso and magic wand tools, pick everything of one colour with Colour range, or let Select subject find the person in a photo. Feather, expand, contract or smooth a selection, turn it into a layer mask, and paint the mask with the brush, eraser, gradient or paint bucket, so edits stay non-destructive.

Retouching, on-device AI and quick fixes

The spot healing brush removes blemishes and dust in one stroke, the healing brush and clone stamp copy clean texture from a spot you Alt-click, and the patch tool replaces a whole selected area. Dodge and burn lighten or darken a tonal range, and the blur and sharpen brushes soften or crisp up detail where you paint.

Remove background cuts out the subject, Select subject builds a selection from it, and Upscale 2× doubles a small image with an AI model that restores detail. Each model downloads from ToolBuddy once, after you agree, and then runs on your device.

The Filter menu adds Gaussian blur, unsharp mask, high pass, noise and motion blur with a live preview. Blur faces hides faces for privacy, Extract palette lists the main colours as hex values, the Crop tool straightens and crops to common aspect ratios, and Image size, Rotate and Flip handle the rest. Add captions in meme style or a tiled watermark across the whole image.

Export, batch edit and save projects

Export as JPG, PNG or WebP, and as AVIF where your browser supports it, with a quality setting or a target file size for upload forms. You can also export a PDF page or an SVG trace, and choose to keep the camera details of a JPG without its location.

Batch edit applies your adjustments or a preset, and an optional watermark, to many photos at once and downloads them as one ZIP. Save the project as an OpenRaster (.ora) file to keep every layer editable; GIMP and Krita open it too.

When another image tool fits better

For a quick crop, rotation or filter on a single photo, the Photo Editor is simpler. To shrink many images at once, use the Image Compressor; to change dimensions in bulk, the Image Resizer; and to cut out backgrounds for a whole folder, the Background Remover. To put several images into one document, use Image to PDF.

FAQ

Common questions.

Have more questions? Reach out via our contact page and we will respond within 24 hours.

Is the Image Workstation free?

Yes. Every tool, including RAW develop, layers, the AI tools and batch edit, is free to use with no account, and exports carry no watermark.

Are my photos uploaded?

No. Photos are opened, edited and exported in your browser and never leave your device. The optional AI tools download their model from ToolBuddy once, after you agree, and then run on your device too.

Which files can I open?

JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP, HEIC and HEIF, camera RAW files (DNG, CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, RAF, ORF, RW2, PEF, SRW and more), and OpenRaster (.ora) projects from this editor, GIMP or Krita, and layered Photoshop (.psd) files (8-bit RGB).

How big can an image be?

It depends on your device's memory: up to 100 megapixels on a desktop with plenty of memory, and 24 to 36 megapixels on phones. The editor tells you if a file is too large instead of slowing your device down.

Which formats can I export?

JPG, PNG, WebP and, where your browser supports it, AVIF, with a quality setting or a target file size. You can also export a PDF page, an SVG trace, or save an .ora project with every layer.

Does it have AI tools?

Yes: Select subject, Select sky, the Object selection tool, Remove (content-aware fill), Refine edge, Lens blur, AI denoise, Remove background and Upscale 2×. Each runs on your device after a one-time model download that you approve; AI denoise is fastest in browsers with WebGPU, and Upscale works on images up to 2 megapixels.

Are my edits non-destructive?

Adjustments stay editable on each layer, masks hide pixels without deleting them, and text and shape layers stay editable until you rasterize, rotate or flip them. Every step can be undone with Edit › Undo or ⌘Z / Ctrl+Z, and the History tab lists them all.

Is my work saved if I close the tab?

Yes. The open document is saved on this device as you work, and the start screen offers to restore it. Closing the document from the File menu deletes the saved copy. To keep a copy elsewhere, save it as an .ora project.

Can it replace Photoshop or Lightroom?

For many everyday jobs, yes: layers with groups, clipping masks and effects, free transform with perspective, healing, clone and patch tools, selections you can feather, expand or pick by colour, 16-bit RAW develop with highlight recovery, clarity, texture and dehaze, lens correction with lens profiles, filters, presets and batch edit. Local adjustments with brush, gradient, luminance, colour and subject masks are built in, and Photoshop PSD files open and save; it does not have a Lightroom-style photo catalog.

Does it work on phones and tablets?

Yes. On a tablet the canvas and Control Panel sit side by side; on a phone they stack, with the tools in a row you can scroll and the Export button always in reach. Large RAW files are best edited on a computer.