Litesum

Layer-based image editing

A layer-based editor with the workflow you already know.

Litesum Photo is a non-destructive raster and vector editor for Windows: layers, masks, selections, retouching, adjustments, paths and type, with a GPU compositor and a CPU backend that must produce the same pixels. It follows the conventions professional editors have established: the shortcuts, the panels, the way tools behave. It does so with its own code, its own interface and its own file format.

Explore the appsWhat it can do
Coming soonComing soon · Windows
Native format
.lphoto
Interchange
PSD, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, WebP, OpenEXR, camera RAW
Panels
Layers · Channels · Paths · Comps · History · Actions · Swatches
Shortcut profiles
Photoshop Compatible · Litesum Default · Custom

What it does

What you can do with Photo.

  • Layers, groups and all 26 blend modes

    Pixel, group, adjustment, fill, shape, text and Smart Object layers; opacity and fill opacity; clipping masks; Blend If with split handles; knockout; layer comps.

  • Masks and selections that stay editable

    Raster and vector masks, Quick Mask, marquee, lasso, Quick Select, Colour Range, Refine Edge, and selections saved as stored alpha channels.

  • Retouching that solves rather than smears

    Healing Brush, Spot Healing, Clone Stamp, Content-Aware Fill, Content-Aware Scale, Liquify, Puppet Warp and Perspective Warp.

  • Adjustments as re-editable layers

    Levels, Curves, Hue/Saturation, Colour Balance, Selective Colour, Gradient Map, Colour Lookup and more, each destructively or as an adjustment layer with a live preview.

  • Styles, filters, paths, type and colour

    Ten layer styles; blur, sharpen, noise, distort, stylise and render filters that stay editable as Smart Filters; Bézier paths and shape layers; point and paragraph text with OpenType features; ICC colour management with soft proofing and 16- and 32-bit documents.

  • Several documents open, and recovery after a crash

    Documents in tabs, switched with Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab. Crash-safe autosave: a snapshot taken on the interface thread, written off it, renamed atomically, with recovery decided by a lock rather than a guess.

What it is built on

Three decisions that shape everything else.

  • A document engine that never bakes

    Every edit is a command in a log, so undo is exact and the history is a list of named steps. Adjustment layers stay editable. Smart Objects store their transform rather than applying it: scaling one to 10% and back measured zero difference.

  • Runs with or without a graphics card, and the answers are identical

    The compositor runs on Vulkan 1.2. A CPU backend is not a degraded mode but the reference the GPU must match. The test suite requires both to produce byte-identical results for every kernel, and passes unchanged on a machine with no Vulkan at all.

  • Documents bigger than memory

    Pixels live in tiles that move between graphics memory, system memory and disk as needed, so a document's size is not limited by either.

The full inventory

Every tool, under the name the application uses.

Layers and compositing

  • Pixel, group, adjustment, fill (solid, gradient, pattern), shape, text and Smart Object layers
  • All 26 blend modes, including the non-separable Hue, Saturation, Colour and Luminosity
  • Opacity and fill opacity, clipping masks, Blend If with split handles, knockout
  • Merge Visible, duplicate, drag to reorder, layer comps

Masks and selections

  • Raster layer masks, vector masks, filter masks, clipping masks and Quick Mask
  • Rectangular and Elliptical Marquee, Lasso, Quick Select, Colour Range, Focus Area, from layer transparency, from path
  • Select ▸ Modify: Feather, Expand, Contract, Border, Smooth, Grow, Similar, with an exact distance transform
  • Refine Edge, Transform Selection, save and load selections as alpha channels

Tools

  • Move, Crop, Brush, Eraser, Gradient, Paint Bucket, Eyedropper
  • Clone Stamp, Pattern Stamp, Healing Brush, Spot Healing, Red Eye
  • Dodge, Burn, Sponge, Smudge, Shape, Pen, Edit Path, Type
  • Stylus pressure, tilt and rotation; every tool has an options bar

Adjustments

  • Levels, Curves, Brightness/Contrast, Hue/Saturation, Vibrance, Black & White, Photo Filter, Selective Colour, Shadows/Highlights
  • Colour Balance, Colour Lookup (.cube), Invert, Threshold, Posterise, Gradient Map, Auto Tone, Auto Contrast, Auto Colour
  • Each available destructively and as a re-editable adjustment layer, with live preview and presets

Layer styles, filters and retouching

  • Ten layer styles: Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, Outer Glow, Inner Glow, Bevel & Emboss, Satin, Colour, Gradient and Pattern Overlay, Stroke
  • Blur, sharpen, noise, distort, stylise and render filters, a Filter Gallery, and re-editable Smart Filters on Smart Objects
  • Content-Aware Fill, Content-Aware Scale, Liquify, Puppet Warp, Perspective Warp, Free Transform
  • Healing solves the gradient domain rather than cloning; Spot Healing is the same solver with no guide

Vector and type

  • Bézier paths, shape layers, custom shapes, path booleans, stroke path, a Paths panel
  • Point text, paragraph text, type on a path, warp text, OpenType features, tracking, named text styles
  • Font fallback through the operating system

Colour, depth and RAW

  • ICC colour management, per-monitor display profile, Assign and Convert to Profile, soft proofing with gamut warning, Export for Press (CMYK)
  • 8-, 16- and 32-bit float documents; scene-linear and display-referred; nothing is tone-mapped without being asked
  • Camera RAW opens as a Smart Object with its settings stored, never baked (Litesum Develop)
  • HDR Merge and Photomerge under File ▸ Automate, each with its limits stated in the dialog

Reliability and automation

  • Crash-safe autosave, recovery decided by a lock rather than a guess, a transaction journal, atomic save
  • History panel, Actions panel with a recorder, Batch, and a command-line tool driving the same commands
  • Shortcut profiles: Photoshop Compatible, Litesum Default, Custom

Files

What it opens and what it saves.

Camera RAW is read-only by design: settings are stored with the document and never baked into the pixels. RAW depends on a build that includes LibRaw, which is checked against the shipped installer before launch.
FormatOpensSavesNotes
.lphotoYesYesNative. Chunked, checksummed per chunk, compressed per tile.
PSDYes, layer-awareYes, with limits8-bit RGB only; PSB is not supported. Export writes the layers; Smart Objects are written as ordinary pixel layers, and any layer kind the writer has no PSD record for is left out and named in the export warning, adjustment layers being the kind you will meet.
PNG8 and 16-bit, alpha, ICCYes—
JPEG8-bit, ICCYesFlattened onto white on export.
TIFF8 and 16-bitYesPlus CMYK through Export for Press.
WebPYesYesAn animated WebP opens as its first frame only.
OpenEXRHalf and floatYesScene-referred.
Camera RAWARW, CR2, CR3, NEF, DNG, RAF, ORF, RW2, PEF, SRW, SRF, SR2NeverOpens through Litesum Develop as a Smart Object.

Requirements

What you need to run it.

Operating system
Windows, 64-bit.
Graphics
A graphics card is not required. Vulkan is used where the machine has it; a machine with no usable Vulkan gets the CPU backend and a working editor, not an error, and the two produce identical results.
Installer
Installs into your own user folder and never asks for administrator permission.

Membership

Litesum Photo is included in Litesum Complete.

Planned at £9.99 per month for every released Litesum application, 6 launching together, on 2 computers, cancellable from your account page. Everything you open, edit or export stays on your own computer. It is never uploaded, never used for training and never held behind a subscription.

Explore the appsAbout membership

Coming soon · Windows

Questions

About Photo.

Does it need a graphics card?

No. The compositor runs on Vulkan 1.2 when a card is present, and a CPU backend produces byte-identical results when one is not. The test suite requires both to agree.

Can I open my Photoshop files?

8-bit RGB PSD files open with their layers, groups, masks and layer styles, and Photo writes PSD back with its layers: Smart Objects become ordinary pixel layers, and any layer it cannot carry is named in the export warning, which explains that adjustment layers have no PSD record; the composite stays correct. Large-document PSB is not supported. Photoshop is named here only to say which file format is meant.

What happens to my documents if my membership ends?

Your files and programs stay right where they are, ready whenever you’re ready to resubscribe. Or simply uninstall. The decision is always yours.

The rest of the suite

The other five, on the same membership.