Unfortunately for fans of Google's Picasa photo editor, it was discontinued in the mid-2010s. Luckily, there is no shortage of easy-to-use and capable replacements that can more than adequately handle various image editing tasks.
In this article, we'll talk about one of the most appropriate alternatives to Picasa that you can download and install today: none other than NCH Software's very own PhotoPad Photo Editing Software. It comes with its own set of powerful image editing features, all wrapped up in an easy-to-use user interface that will allow you to enhance photos in no time.
Why Did Picasa Get Discontinued?
Google decided to discontinue or retire its Picasa photo editor in 2016 as part of an overall effort to focus entirely on a single photos service. The official stated reason for discontinuing Picasa was that Google wanted to focus its efforts to push forward a similar service that it was also offering to its users, Google Photos.
The move was meant to make Photos their only photos service, and its biggest difference from Picasa - and many other photo editing programs, for that matter - was that it is web-based. With that said, many still wanted the best Picasa alternative one way or another, and that’s
PhotoPad - A Worthy Alternative
There are a few reasons why PhotoPad can be considered one of the best Picasa replacement programs available for download and installation on any modern computer.
The main set of PhotoPad photo editing features includes the ability to modify image size, canvas size, and orientation of existing images, as well as enhance photo quality, fix image colors, and remove any visible blemishes.
PhotoPad also comes loaded with a wide selection of specific photo editing tools, such as blur, sharpening, and noise reduction tools, toggles for adjusting exposure, brightness, contrast, and color balance, and tools to customize image aspect ratio, resolution, and overall sizes.
One unique feature of PhotoPad is its utilization of machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to achieve what is called "Super Resolution," which lets users resize images in the best possible way without losing any of the original image quality.
PhotoPad supports all the most popular image formats available, so the vast majority of users will not run into any compatibility issues if they want to use it as their own preferred Picasa alternative. Some of the support image formats include JPG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, and BMP.
Many people currently consider PhotoPad their go-to image editing resource, especially since it also offers a few useful bonus features, like the ability to take screenshots of a computer's desktop directly, as well as the ability to edit or replace green screen photo backgrounds. These extras truly take it to the next level and make it more than just a simple tool for editing photos.
Wrap-up
Searching for the best Picasa alternative doesn’t have to be complicated or take too much time to accomplish, especially if you’ve got options like PhotoPad photo editing software at your disposal. You can download and try it for free today to realize its potential.
Quick questions
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What is the best replacement for Picasa?
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Since Picasa was a free software program from Google, the best replacement would also have to be something that you can download and try for free. In that sense, PhotoPad fulfills that particular requirement.
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Is there a best free alternative to Picasa for Windows 10?
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Among the many photo editing programs available for Windows 10, PhotoPad is one of the most powerful and intuitive options you can get. It’s also available for older versions of Windows like Windows 7, as well as newer versions like Windows 11.
