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!)
Paint.NET Blog 
Glad you’re updating the blog with notices for releases. Thank you.
Also love the “Notes about unsupported hardware” section on the GitHub page. Basically it reads as a passive aggressive, “I’m not blocking install on your PC yet, but abandon all hope if your PC doesn’t meet the following requirements:
1. a quad core or better CPU that’s Intel Haswell/AMD Zen (no one bought Excavator) or newer
2. a SATA 2.5 inch SSD
3. a GPU that’s Radeon HD 5000/Nvidia GeForce GTX 400 or newer (or Intel Ivy Bridge IGP or newer, but you should have that if you’re using a Haswell CPU)”
I laughed imagining someone stubbornly trying to keep what is now a 15 year old PC running and trying to use Paint.NET on it.😆 At this point it would just be cheaper to go on eBay and find an eight year old second hand office PC that some bulk reseller was trying to flip for a quick sale.
@KWERBOOM, not everybody can afford new PC, you know? Nothing to be laughing at. I’m using Paint.NET with my trusty 2012 rMBP and I’m grateful that mr. Rick Brewser supports it. This machine is equipped with GT 650M and still is a beast, it can play YouTube @ 2K. Those who can afford latest and greatest are free to buy Adobe (which sucks) or Affinity products. I also use older 4-something version of Paint.NET with my resque ASUS X58L from 2009 (minimal spec with Intel T3200 64-Bit CPU and 3 GB of RAM, not sure about GPU though), which was truly built to last!
If you’re using that ASUS X58L because your goal in life is to keep hardware going as long as possible, then thumbs up👍, all the more power to you. If you’re doing it because your feeling trapped on older hardware, you could go do some research at a website like the Low End Gaming Subreddit and ask around for better options from people who know the entry level far better than me. This isn’t like 20 years ago when a person absolutely had to spend $1500 just to get a good machine. There’s plenty of better options below $1000 and, depending on requirements, even below $500.
As for the 2012 rMBP, Macs aren’t my in my wheelhouse. I do understand that there are specific reasons to keep Intel Macs alive and also that Macs are a bit of premium product that makes getting something used at a reasonable price complicated.
It’s not a passive aggressive statement. I can only reasonably support hardware so far back, and I don’t even have the physical hardware necessary for testing and optimizing there. I cannot make any promises about how PDN works on systems that old. If someone e-mails me with a problem on that sort of hardware, I can point them to this. I have to draw a line in the sand somewhere, and I need to focus on the types of systems that the vast majority of users are actually running PDN on.
Older GPUs have old drivers, and there is all sorts of problems that come out of that. PDN is using some very modern DirectX functionality these days, and a 15 year old iGPU often just can’t cope with that. Even if the hardware itself could, its drivers haven’t been updated since the mid-2010s and even the manufacturer doesn’t support it. I cannot handle testing and optimizing and fixing for stuff that old, I cannot fill my garage with the hardware I’d need to do so.
Case in point: https://forums.getpaint.net/topic/131973-paintnet-51-thumbnails-of-opened-file-replaced-by-random-color-vertical-lines-solved-ancient-unsupported-cpugpu/ . They had a 15 year old AMD CPU with an iGPU that cannot handle either DXGI Flip Model or Windows.UI.Composition or something. Should I go and acquire something similar on eBay and burn a day or two trying to make it work? For the sake of 1 system? No. It’s clearly just an old AF system that doesn’t handle modern DirectX and Windows Composition functionality. It’s just not something I can feasibly support.
It’s also my way of giving folks the information they need to make sure that their PDN experience is optimal. If it’s too slow on your system, check to make sure you’re not below these listed requirements. It gives clearer guidance on what they should focus on upgrading if and when they’re up for it.
But some people are fine with it running slow. It doesn’t matter for their use of the app, or for how often they use it, or whatever. So as long as it works for them I don’t have a strong reason to actively block installation on these systems. That doesn’t mean I’m going to test and optimize for their type of system.
I didn’t mean for my statement to be taken as Paint.NET needing to be more extensively tested on older hardware. I was just reacting the “Notes about unsupported hardware” section.
It’s been a crazy season for computer hardware. All the high end guys that are planning to drop $5000 easy are chomping at the bit waiting till just after CES 2025 for the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and RTX 5090 to be released. On the flip side, budget system owners with little cash to upgrade an older machine or put together a new (or new second hand) entry level system that won’t break the bank have been scooping up every deal between Black Friday and CES 2025 because there won’t be a better time than now. Before downloading the upgrade for my copy of Paint.Net, I’d just been on a YouTube channel where the advice being given was not to buy any replacement system older than a Coffee Lake prebuilt on eBay and I seeing the “Notes about unsupported hardware” section with hardware that was far older was a bit jarring. That section read like a how not to purchase a new used machine off eBay.