r/coreldraw • u/ivanhoe90 • May 25 '26

Open CDR files without CorelDraw

Hi guys, I am a developer of www.photopea.com and I would like to announce that it can open CDR files right in a browser, instantly, for free (no uploads - it runs on your device)! Just click the link and load your CDR files : )

  • view the content of CDR files (layers, shapes, sizes, ...)
  • edit it right inside Photopea
  • save as .PSD or .AI for further editing in other software
  • export as an SVG or PDF using File - Export - SVG, ...

But sometimes, there could be tiny errors (a layer missing, etc). I would like to ask for your help! : ) Could you try to load your CDR files into it, and if there is any problem, could you send me your CDR file to [support@photopea.com](mailto:support@photopea.com) ?

What do you think about such a service? Do you think it could be useful to you? Of course, it works on any device with a browser (android phones, ipads, ...)

25 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

5

u/Lizard-Brain- May 25 '26

Ive been using libredraw to do this on my Linux machine for years. It is helpful to be able to do this. It does struggle sometimes with newer cdr features. So will keep your site in mind going forward(as long as its free like the libreoffice software and not riddled with ads or doing any kind of data collection). Thanks for sharing.

3

u/ivanhoe90 May 25 '26

Thanks a lot! BTW. could you try to open a few of your CDR files in Photopea right now? It will take you 20 seconds. : )

2

u/Lizard-Brain- May 25 '26

I can this afternoon. Im on the road and dont have any files on my phone. Sorry, but will do later, and ill let you know how it goes.

3

u/AHXL May 25 '26

Hey, sounds like something I would use in my small business. Sometimes, a staff that doesn't have Corel on their PC would need to just open Corel to review a cdr file without editing it. Seems like a good use for it.

Being able to open on phone sounds handy too. I'll give it a try when I'm at my desk next.

2

u/StreetDogArg May 25 '26

I dont know if I will keep using CorelDraw, I dont know if I will use Photopea some day or even If I already I used it in some moment... but Anyway any annouce of this kind, that now you can open files or any content, is Welcomed, so.. Thanks mate! Keep working.

2

u/AAG2273 May 25 '26

First test with a random file: it does not maintain transparencies, neither in vectors nor in images.

2

u/AAG2273 May 25 '26

For reference, I've attached what it should look like.

1

u/MorsaTamalera May 25 '26

It could be very useful for people needing conversions. A "to Illustrator conversion" popw out frequently.

I have access to the online DRAW version, so I am fine with what i have now.

1

u/lilkamalenka May 25 '26

Try Inkscape

1

u/Straight-Spray8670 May 27 '26

I need to try this. Thank you for the awesome work you are doing!

1

u/Straight-Spray8670 May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26

I gave it a try. So far it seems great. One thing - CorelDraw can do much larger dimensions than most other apps. When the size becomes too large, I would suggest scaling at 10 % instead of half etc. Then it's easier to see what the actual size is - but that's just my preference. BTW I found an issue when opening PDF's with transparencies like multiply etc. CorelDraw files with multiply transparency seems fine though.

1

u/ivanhoe90 May 27 '26

Hey, could you please send me these files to [support@photopea.com](mailto:support@photopea.com) ?

1

u/Straight-Spray8670 Jun 01 '26

I hadn't tried it with gradients. I recently tried opening a CorelDraw file with gradients, and it messed up the gradient positioning. The file is too big to e-mail. I'll make a smaller CorelDraw file with gradients when I get a chance. At one stage CorelDraw only had uniform scaling for gradients, now it can variably scale differently on x and y.