What File Format Do Paint.NET Color Palettes Use?

When exported or saved, custom color palettes in Paint.NET use the standard plain text file format with a .txt file extension. Rather than utilizing a complex proprietary binary format, Paint.NET saves palette data as human-readable text containing 32-bit hexadecimal color codes. This makes sharing, backing up, and manually editing color palettes straightforward across different systems and text editors.

Structure of a Paint.NET Palette File

A Paint.NET palette file contains up to 96 color entries formatted specifically in 8-digit hexadecimal notation representing the Alpha, Red, Green, and Blue (AARRGGBB) color channels.

The structure follows a few simple rules:

  • Hexadecimal Codes: Each color is written on a new line as an eight-character hex code (for example, FF000000 represents solid black, while FFFFFFFF represents solid white). The first two characters define the alpha (opacity) channel, followed by two characters each for red, green, and blue.
  • Comments: Lines starting with a semicolon (;) are treated as comments and are ignored by Paint.NET. The top of an exported palette file often includes auto-generated comments indicating that it is a Paint.NET palette file.
  • Palette Size: While a palette file can technically hold fewer colors, standard Paint.NET palettes contain 96 lines of color definitions corresponding to the 96 swatches displayed in the application's Colors window.

Where Palette Files Are Stored

Paint.NET stores these .txt files in a dedicated user directory on Windows:

Documents\paint.net User Files\Palettes

Any .txt file placed in this folder with valid hexadecimal color codes will automatically appear in Paint.NET's palette dropdown menu.

How to Export and Edit Palettes

To export a palette directly inside Paint.NET, open the Colors window, click the palette management icon (represented by a folder or notebook next to the palette dropdown), and select Save Current Palette as.... Enter a name, and Paint.NET creates the corresponding .txt file in your palettes folder.

Because the export format is plain text, you can open and edit these files with any basic text editor, such as Notepad or VS Code, allowing for quick bulk adjustments, palette generation through scripts, or easy color sharing between designers.