GIMP retires nearly-30-year-old XCF default as Adobe, Apple and Facetune reshape daily image workflows

GIMP replaces XCF default with a zipped XML container

After nearly thirty years of XCF as the default project file, GIMP's developers have begun a redesigned structure built around zipped XML, surfaced in the project's official 2026-08 development update. The binary format, in service since 1997, is straining under very large or complex projects, and the new structure is being lined up with features planned for GIMP 3.6, including multi-page documents and animation tools. Maintainer Jehan has been driving the redesign.

For practitioners, the immediate question is project portability: anything saved in the new format needs to round-trip cleanly through the existing XCF pipeline during the transition, and teams that archive GIMP project files for clients should plan a migration window rather than waiting for the 3.6 release.

Adobe puts AI upscaling inside Photoshop and Lightroom

Adobe has shipped Firefly Upscale Image, an AI-powered upscaler embedded directly in Photoshop and Lightroom. The pitch is the familiar one — rescue a file that was never shot at the requested resolution for a large-format print — but the differentiator is placement: the upscale step no longer forces a detour to a third-party tool, so skin texture, fabric and fine product detail stay inside the same colour-managed workflow from RAW to export. For studios, that removes a hand-off and a versioning risk; for freelancers, it compresses the time between a client's "can you make it bigger?" and a deliverable they can sign off on.

Read together with the GIMP format change, the day is defined less by any single novelty than by AI image work migrating into the tools creators already use.

Apple Intelligence frames a hybrid photo-editing pipeline

Apple previewed a new generation of Apple Intelligence that routes image editing and creation between iPhones, iPads and Macs and Apple's servers through Private Cloud Compute. The system is positioned to choose where a given task runs, balancing on-device responsiveness with the heavier compute that advanced image tools need, and Apple says it is rolling the new generation out over the coming weeks. For image editors shipping presets, LUTs and tutorial content, the practical implication is that any AI-assisted step they recommend now has to be specified as on-device versus cloud-routed, because behaviour and latency will diverge between the two paths.

Facetune moves the mobile editor into the browser

Facetune, until now an iOS and Android app, has launched a web-based photo editor that runs on Windows, Mac, Chromebook, tablets and phones without an install. The browser version focuses on a core set of tools rather than the full mobile toolset, with categories such as portrait Looks on the surface, while the mobile apps retain the complete feature list. That split — browser for quick turnaround, app for depth — is the same shape many studios already use, and it makes Facetune a more realistic option for client review sessions where installing an app is a non-starter.

What practitioners should do next

Treat 2026-08-18 as the trigger for a format audit: confirm which GIMP project files you hold are still XCF and which of your presets, plug-ins or scripts depend on XCF parsing, so the eventual 3.6 migration is a planned event rather than a deadline surprise. On the AI side, retest any preset that assumes an external upscaler inside the new Firefly Upscale Image pipeline in Photoshop and Lightroom, and label Apple Intelligence recipes as on-device or Private Cloud Compute so collaborators know which path a result came from.

For browser-first delivery, validate that your hand-off files look the same after a Facetune web pass as they do in the mobile app before offering either to clients as the default.