Paint.NET 5.1 unveils color management support, new and improved effects

Rick Brewster and dotPDN LLC has released Paint.NET 5.1, the first major point release in the Paint.NET 5.x series. It comes just under two years after Paint.NET 5.0 first saw the light of day.

The major highlight is support for color management -- ensuring images with embedded color profiles can now be displayed correctly in Paint.NET. The feature is effectively automatic -- when an image containing an embedded color profile is loaded into Paint.NET 5.1, it’ll display according to the embedded profile. Users can then switch to different ICC color profiles via the new Image > Color Profile… dialog.

Paint.NET 5.1 ships with built-in options for SRGB, Adobe RGB, Display P3 and ProPhoto RGB, with more to follow in future releases. Users can also import their own ICC/ICM files, plus export the current color profile to a file.

The new release also unveils two new blur effects: Sketch Blur is based on the previously released Media Sketch plugin released alongside Paint.NET 5.0, and is accompanied by a simple Square Blur filter.

A third blur effect -- Median Blur -- is actually a rewrite of the previous Noise > Median effect, using the computer’s GPU to render the effect and improve performance. Other tools updated to make use of the GPU include various lighting tools (Auto-Level, Curves and Levels) as well as Oil Painting, Reduce Noise, Surface Blur and Outline effects.

There’s a new Canvas settings section allowing for customization to the canvas, while the update is rounded off by two major performance improvements to memory usage and input latency. Users can get more detail on these and all the other updates as well as a full changelog via the program’s blog.

Paint.NET 5.1 is available now as a freeware download for 64-bit PCs running Windows 11 or Windows 10 21H2 or later. Hardware requirements include a 64-bit CPU and GPU capable of supporting Direct3D 11. A portable build is also available.