First, check out the post for the first 5.0 alpha build to read about all the latest changes, additions, and fixes. There’s a lot!

We’re now at the beta stage for this release, which means 5.0 is feature complete, translations are complete, and all that’s left is to squash any outstanding bugs. If you find any bugs it is very important for you to report them! Do not assume that a bug has already been noticed or will be fixed.

This build is available via the built-in updater as long as you have opted-in to pre-release updates. From within Settings -> Updates, enable “Also check for pre-release (beta) versions of paint.net” and then click on the Check Now button. You can also use the links below to download an offline installer or portable ZIP.

Changes

Here’s what’s been fixed or changed since the previous build (5.0 beta build 8378):

• Fixed some spurious dabs that would appear when drawing short, quick brush strokes with a pen or tablet
• Fixed an animation glitch in the Layers window that caused layers to be in the wrong location
• Fixed compatibility with a Ed Harvey’s Color -> Flip Rotate effect plugin
• Updated translations

Downloads

Download the installer here (for any supported CPU and OS). Offline installers, portable ZIPs, and deployable MSIs are available over on GitHub.

System Requirements

• Windows 10 v1809+ or Windows 11
  • NOTE: Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 SP1 are no longer supported.
• 64-bit CPU and 64-bit version of Windows
  • Both Intel/AMD x64 and ARM64 are natively supported.
  • NOTE: 32-bit x86 is no longer supported.
• Optional:
  • A pen or drawing tablet that supports Windows Ink
• Recommended:
  • A CPU that supports AVX2, which includes most CPUs released since 2013.
    • Note that AVX2 is not required, but it helps performance, especially at app startup.
  • A discrete GPU such as an NVIDIA GeForce, AMD Radeon, or Intel Arc
    • or an AMD Radeon APU (a type of integrated GPU)
    • or an Intel Iris Plus or Iris Xe integrated GPU
  • The GPU must support Direct3D 11. Otherwise the CPU will be used for rendering, which will have poor performance.
  • An Intel CPU with an Intel “HD” or “UHD” iGPU works fine but will probably not show much, if any, performance improvement over previous versions of Paint.NET (which used the CPU for most rendering). The default quality used across the app (e.g. in distortion effects, and the Move Selected Pixels tool) will be automatically lowered to compensate.