Download GIMP 2.99.6

Version 2.99.6 of the open source photo editing program GIMP has been released, a development version that will eventually lead to version 3.0. The name GIMP is an abbreviation for “GNU Image Manipulation Program.” The software is available for various operating systems, including Windows, FreeBSD, Linux, macOS and Solaris. However, due to a lack of manpower, the development of the macOS version is lagging somewhat behind. In version 3.0, it will transition to GTK3, xcf files can now be larger than 4GB and can use multicore processors more efficiently. The release notes for this release can be found below.

Development version: GIMP 2.99.6 Released

GIMP 2.99 releases are development snapshots. There are known bugs, sometimes crashes and definitely unfinished features; that’s why it’s not yet a final release. Use at your own risk!

GIMP 2.99.6 contains quite a few visible and interesting improvements, yet the biggest changes are hidden from the public eye into the quite steadily evolving API (Application Programming Interface for plug-in developers).

Many of the third-party plug-ins already ported for GIMP 2.99.2 or 2.99.4 will end up broken, and there is a high chance they will break again in further development releases until we stabilize the API. We apologize for this, though this is the price of making plugins for a program in-development. We figured it’s better to do this now rather than ending up stuck with a bad interface for the years to come (as stability will be ensured once GIMP 3 will be out).

Release highlights:

• Off canvas guides
• Template selector in Canvas Size dialog
• Pinch gesture on canvas for zooming
• Improved Paint Select (experimental) tool
• Better handling of gAMA and/or cHRM chunks of PNG
• API evolution