Clip Studio Paint sometimes can't open a .clip file after a crash, a power cut or a sync
problem, and its support can only say that corrupted files can't be repaired. Most of the
drawing is usually still in the file. This page reads what survived and gives it back as a
layered Photoshop file (PSD), a full-size PNG and every layer as a PNG.
What can be recovered
A .clip file holds the layers' pixels in 256 × 256 pixel tiles and the list of layers (names,
folders, blend modes, opacity) in a small database that Clip Studio writes last.
- The database survived (the damage is somewhere in the pixels): every layer comes back with its name, folder, blend mode, opacity and mask. Tiles that were overwritten are left transparent and the result page says how many.
- The database is gone (typical when Clip Studio crashed while saving): the tiles of each layer are put back together by finding the arrangement in which their edges continue into each other. The layers come back in the order they were made, as Recovered layer 1 and up. When the file still holds Clip Studio's own picture of the whole canvas, that is recovered too, and it gives the exact canvas size.
What lived only in the database can't come back without it: layer names, folders, blend modes, the paper colour, and vector and text layers (Clip Studio draws those from settings stored there).
How to use it
- Upload the
.clipfile that won't open (not a copy saved from another program). - Check the picture and the list of layers on the result page.
- Download the layered PSD and open it in Clip Studio (File → Open), Photoshop or Krita.
Check Clip Studio's backups first: Documents/CELSYS/CLIPStudioPaintData/DocumentBackup and
the recovery data in the same backup folder. Healthy files can be converted with the
Clip Studio to PSD converter.
More about what this tool reads and writes: Corrupted Art File Rescue (Clip Studio, Procreate, PSD).