This update fixes some small bugs, including flickering issues with NVIDIA Fast VSync, and should further soothe the screen blanking issues being reported on some systems with buggy MPO (multiplane overlay) support.

Get the Update

There are two releases of Paint.NET:

• Microsoft Store release (recommended)
  • You can purchase it here. This helps fund development and is an alternative or supplement to sending in a donation. In addition, updates happen automatically in the background when you’re not using the app.
  • If you already have it installed, the update should happen automatically once Microsoft certifies the update, usually within the next day or so. To get the update immediately (once it’s certified), you can follow the instructions listed here.
• Classic Desktop release
  • Download the installer from the website. This is the recommended download if you don’t have Paint.NET installed. It can also be used to update the app.
  • If you already have it installed, you should be offered the update automatically within the next few days, but you can also get it immediately by going to ⚙ Settings -> Updates -> Check Now.
  • Offline Installers and Portable ZIPs are available over on GitHub.

Change Log

Changes since 5.1.1:

• Improved (reduced) CPU and GPU usage of the canvas, which leaves more CPU time for things like input processing. This was done by enabling VSync while also utilizing the DXGI Frame Latency Waitable Handle to minimize latency.
• Fixed some screen blanking issues for some systems that have buggy MPO (multiplane overlay) support.
• Fixed flickering and mouse trails for systems that have NVIDIA Fast VSync enabled (NVIDIA driver bug).
• Fixed a hang while making changes to the Transparency Checkerboard Brightness setting when certain legacy plugins are installed.
• Fixed a crash in the Levels adjustment UI if it was canceled or closed too quickly.
• Added a /diagnostics command-line parameter that shows the diagnostics info without having to start up the whole app.
• Added convenience constructors to most of Direct2D’s built-in effects (for GPU effect plugin authors).
• Added a PrimitiveBlendEffect for GPU effect plugins. This wraps ID2D1BlendTransform which is normally only available for use within the transform graph of a custom effect.
• Added ability for plugins to work with CMYK (PixelFormats.Cmyk32/64 and ColorCmyk32/64 structs)
• Updated the DDS FileType Plus plugin to v1.12.12.0 (thanks @null54!)

This update fixes some bugs across the app and should further soothe the screen blanking and visual artifacts on systems with buggy MPO (multiplane overlay) support.

Change Log

Changes since 5.1.1:

• Improved (reduced) CPU and GPU usage of the canvas, which leaves more CPU time for things like input processing. This was done by enabling VSync while also utilizing the DXGI Frame Latency Waitable Handle to minimize latency.
• Fixed some visual issues, such as screen blanking and flickering, for some systems that have buggy MPO (multiplane overlay) support.
• Fixed a hang while making changes to the Transparency Checkerboard Brightness setting when certain legacy plugins are installed.
• Fixed a crash in the Levels adjustment UI if it was canceled or closed too quickly.
• Added a /diagnostics command-line parameter that shows the diagnostics info without having to start up the whole app.
• Added convenience constructors to most of Direct2D’s built-in effects (for GPU effect plugin authors).
• Added a PrimitiveBlendEffect for GPU effect plugins. This wraps ID2D1BlendTransform which is normally only available for use within the transform graph of a custom effect.
• Added ability for plugins to work with CMYK (PixelFormats.Cmyk32/64 and ColorCmyk32/64 structs)
• Updated the DDS FileType Plus plugin to v1.12.12.0 (thanks @null54!)

Download and Install

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.

You can also download the installer here (for any supported CPU and OS), which is also where you can find downloads for offline installers, portable ZIPs, and deployable MSIs.

This is a small update that contains fixes for some bugs and that were discovered in 5.1, as well as a new Fill option in the Image -> Canvas Size dialog. It also has workarounds for some bugs in Sentinel One (antivirus) that were causing crashes in the installer and hangs during app startup.

Get the Update

There are two releases of Paint.NET:

• Microsoft Store release (recommended)
  • You can purchase it here. This helps fund development and is an alternative or supplement to sending in a donation. In addition, updates happen automatically in the background when you’re not using the app.
  • If you already have it installed, the update should happen automatically once Microsoft certifies the update, usually within the next day or so. To get the update immediately (once it’s certified), you can follow the instructions listed here.
• Classic Desktop release
  • Download the installer from the website. This is the recommended download if you don’t have Paint.NET installed. It can also be used to update the app.
  • If you already have it installed, you should be offered the update automatically within the next few days, but you can also get it immediately by going to ⚙ Settings -> Updates -> Check Now.
  • Offline Installers and Portable ZIPs are available over on GitHub.

Change Log

Changes since 5.1:

• Added the ability to choose the fill color when expanding the image with Image->Canvas Size
• Fixed the ability to paste images with transparency from Firefox
• Fixed the ability to paste certain types of images with transparency from Microsoft Office applications
• Changed Edit->Cut and Edit->Crop to Selection to completely zero out pixels outside of the selected area, which could otherwise be a privacy issue.
• Fixed the inability to load an image with a bad ICC color profile. The color profile will now be ignored and the image will be treated as if it had an sRGB color profile.
• Fixed the titlebar text being drawn in the active text color when the window is not active when using Light or Blue themes
• Reverted the removal of the Settings checkbox that lets you disable overscroll
• Fixed a crash in the Levels adjustment UI due to a rounding error
• Fixed a race condition in resource loading that sometimes caused the zoom level in the status bar to display as “ScaleFactor.Percentage.Format”
• Fixed some graphical corruption, hang, or crash issues caused by Nahimic A-Volute malware
• Worked around a crash (“0xc000007b”) in the installer caused by Sentinel One antivirus.
• Worked around a hang at app startup if Sentinel One antivirus.
• Fixed many cases of screen blanking, rendering glitches, and crashes on systems with certain NVIDIA GeForce GPUs, and certain displays with support for overlays and/or VRR (FreeSync, GSYNC). This appears to be a bug in NVIDIA’s driver.
• Fixed effects calling Dispose() on the IServiceProvider when they shouldn’t have been. This affected plugins like CodeLab and Plugin Browser.
• Updated the bundled AVIF FileType to version 3.11.0.0 (thanks @null54!)

This fix will hopefully further soothe the issues some have been reporting with blanking screens and GPU crashes.

After a multi-day investigation involving performance profiling and discussions with some subject matter experts (DirectX Discord Server), I believe what’s happening is a result of multi-plane outputs (MPOs, aka overlays) intersecting with VRR (variable refresh rate, FreeSync, GSYNC) and PDN’s use of multiple on-screen flip-model swapchains. Each swapchain was rendering unthrottled, and they were not synchronized.

The solution, I’m hoping, is that I’ve applied VSync to everything except the canvas. Only the canvas is latency sensitive enough to warrant using an unthrottled framerate (akin to NVIDIA’s “Fast VSync”).

The screen blanking issue appears to be a bug in NVIDIA’s GPU driver, but may also be a bug in the firmware of some displays. I have not yet been able to test this on an AMD GPU to see if it happens there, but I’m planning to do that next.

Change Log

Changes since 5.1.1 Beta (build 9102):

• Improved (hopefully fixed) the screen blanking issue that is happening mostly on systems with NVIDIA GeForce GPUs on displays with high refresh rates and/or VRR support (GSYNC/FreeSync)

Download and Install

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.

You can also download the installer here (for any supported CPU and OS), which is also where you can find downloads for offline installers, portable ZIPs, and deployable MSIs.

This beta build has some more fixes, particularly for systems with NVIDIA GSYNC enabled.

Change Log

Changes since 5.1.1 Beta (build 9098):

• Fixed Edit->Cut and Edit->Crop to Selection not zeroing out transparent pixels, which could be a privacy issue.
• Fixed swapchain valid rect propagation, which may fix some cases of flickering or trails that have been reported.
• Fixed some crashes and blanking screen issues related to GSYNC/FreeSync/VRR on some NVIDIA GPUs. The NVAPI profile was not being created which caused VRR to still be active for the app. This also appears to be a bug in NVIDIA’s GPU driver.

Download and Install

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.

You can also download the installer here (for any supported CPU and OS), which is also where you can find downloads for offline installers, portable ZIPs, and deployable MSIs.