The reason for this issue is that Windows doesn’t support the codecs for these file types by default. Thankfully, that hasn’t stopped third-party developers from coming up with their own solutions. Therefore, there’s no way for Windows to open these files within Explorer in order to allow you to see what photo data is stored within. This can help you quickly identify a file visually instead of relying on remembering file names.īy default, Windows doesn’t have a utility to open these files, since PSD files are designed first and foremost for Photoshop. When browsing your files in Windows 10 File Explorer, you can switch to a handy “Icon” view, which displays a preview image for your files in addition to the file name. Instead, all you can see is a large, unhelpful icon designed by our friends at Adobe. While File Explorer will allow you to check out a preview of your JPEG or PNG files, anyone who works in Photoshop often will be unable to preview the PSD files, the file extension every Photoshop project saves in. There’s just one problem: not every file format that contains image data is compatible.