Paint.NET is a completely free image editor for Windows PCs. It is both simple to use and highly capable. It is sufficiently powerful that many users do not feel the need to purchase a commercial editing program. Paint.NET is useful for editing both photos and illustrations.

Outstanding features of Paint.NET include layers and unlimited levels of undo. The number of actions available to undo or redo is only limited by the amount of available disk space. There are powerful tools for cloning, selecting, creating Bezier curves and splines, and creating color gradients. A basic text editor is included.

Paint.NET includes the standard suite of special effects. Distortion, noise, tiling, removing red eyes, recoloring, embossing, sharpening, and blurring are all built into the program. A zooming tool is provided. There are many additional plug-ins you can install if you need more special effects.

A full range of color adjustments is supported. You can finely adjust an image's hue, saturation, levels, curves, brightness, and contrast.

Paint.NET makes use of a tabbed document interface to make working on multiple images easy. A live thumbnail of each image tab is displayed, making it simple to switch to the correct image. Additional enhancements to the interface are available on Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

Official updates are free and almost effortless to install. It only requires two mouse clicks to upgrade to the latest version.

A large and supportive online community provides resources for users. There are many user created plug-ins and tutorials. The official forums are an excellent place to seek help and inspiration.

Paint.NET began life as a replacement for the Microsoft Paint program. The original program was created as an undergraduate project guided by Microsoft. Some of the original programmers still help keep Paint.NET up-to-date.