How do I open a .clip file without Clip Studio Paint?

On this page you can see what is in it, at the size of the preview Clip Studio Paint saved. To work on the layers you need Clip Studio Paint; its free trial is enough to open a file and export it as a PNG or PSD.

Why is the picture smaller than the canvas?

The preview inside a .clip file is made by Clip Studio Paint when it saves, usually between a quarter and half of the canvas size, to keep the file quick to browse. The page shows both sizes so you can see how much smaller it is. It is enough to recognise the work, check a page or share a draft, but not for print.

Can it open multi-page comic projects (.cmc)?

A .cmc file is only the list of pages; each page is its own .clip file in the same folder. Open the page files here one at a time.

Is my comic or illustration sent anywhere?

No. The file is read by this browser tab on your own device, and nothing is sent anywhere.

Stays on your computer How this works

Free online CLIP file viewer: see Clip Studio Paint files without the app

Open a Clip Studio Paint .clip file on any computer or phone to see its picture, canvas size and layers, and save the picture as a PNG. The file is opened in your browser and is not uploaded.

Drop a .clip file here, or click to choose oneIt is opened by your browser, on this computer. Nothing is uploaded.

About the Clip Studio Paint file viewer

A .clip file is the working file of Clip Studio Paint (once called Manga Studio), the drawing program many comic, manga, webtoon and animation artists use on Windows, Mac, iPad, Android and Chromebooks. It holds every layer, panel border, ruler, vector line and text balloon, in a format only Clip Studio Paint reads. Sent one without the app, or finding old .clip files in a backup, there is no way to see what is in them: Windows, Macs, phones and image websites do not know the format, and Clip Studio Paint itself is a paid subscription after its trial.

Clip Studio Paint keeps a preview of the whole canvas inside every .clip file, along with a description of the canvas and its layers. This page reads both and shows them. It is free to use, with no account and no upload limit, and it runs entirely in your browser: nothing is uploaded, and once you have used it, it keeps working offline.

What this viewer shows, and what it does not

The preview of the whole canvas Clip Studio Paint saved in the file, usually between a quarter and half of the canvas size
Save that preview as a PNG
The canvas size in pixels and in the unit it was set up in (millimetres, centimetres or inches), and the resolution
Every layer and folder, top first, with its opacity and whether it is hidden, clipped or masked, and which are paper, adjustment, vector or text layers
For comic pages, the story name and author, when they were filled in

It does not draw the layers themselves, so the picture is never larger than the preview, and single layers cannot be saved. For that, the file needs Clip Studio Paint, which can export PNG, JPEG and PSD.

How to open a .clip file

Drop the .clip file on the box above, or click the box and choose it. Files from a phone or iPad can be copied over with a cloud drive, AirDrop or a cable.
The preview appears with the canvas details and the layer list.
Save the preview as a PNG if you need a picture to share.

Questions

How do I open a .clip file without Clip Studio Paint?: On this page you can see what is in it, at the size of the preview Clip Studio Paint saved. To work on the layers you need Clip Studio Paint; its free trial is enough to open a file and export it as a PNG or PSD.
Why is the picture smaller than the canvas?: The preview inside a .clip file is made by Clip Studio Paint when it saves, usually between a quarter and half of the canvas size, to keep the file quick to browse. The page shows both sizes so you can see how much smaller it is. It is enough to recognise the work, check a page or share a draft, but not for print.
Can it open multi-page comic projects (.cmc)?: A .cmc file is only the list of pages; each page is its own .clip file in the same folder. Open the page files here one at a time.
Is my comic or illustration sent anywhere?: No. The file is read by this browser tab on your own device, and nothing is sent anywhere.

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