A major update to the open source graphics app Krita is available to download.

Krita 5.1.0 comes packed with a “ton of smaller improvements and technical polish”, according to the development team who diligently beaver away on making the digital painting tool.

They add that the latest version also comes with “…updates to usability across the board, improved file format handling, and a whole lot of changes to the selection and fill tools.”

Krita 5.1.0 now supports WebP images properly; is able to handle layer TIFF images from Photoshop, as well as fill layers and colour labels in PSD files; and introduces support for the new JPEG-XL image file format (which boasts wide color gamuts and HDR).

The Krita 5.1.0 release also makes major changes to layer handling, courtesy of a Google Summer of Code contributor. The community-led contribution means it’s now possible to copy, cut, paste, and clear when multiple layers are selected.

Elsewhere, the layer docker in Krita gets some minor UI tweaks, such as showing a button to open a context menu if right-click is unavailable; and you can now paint on selection masks with blending modes.

Those using Krita on touch-enabled devices (that includes me) will appreciate that touch gestures (dragging fingers to pan, zoom, rotate) are configurable, i.e. you can choose which gesture does what action.

Krita 5.1.0 Feature Video

Want even more detail? You can watch the excellent release video embedded above to get an overview of all of what’s new and notable in Krita 5.1.

Prefer the written word? Why not swot up on the Krita 5.1.0 official release notes, which offers a comprehensive catalog of changes big and small.

Get Krita

Krita is free, open source software available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. You can download Krita from official project website. It’s also available via a variety of other official and not-so-official sources, including most Linux distro’s package archive.