AFDESIGN File

What are AFDESIGN files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening an AFDESIGN file or are you simply curious about its contents? We're here to explain the properties of these files and provide you with software that can open or handle your AFDESIGN files.

What is an AFDESIGN file?

An .AFDESIGN file is an Affinity Design Document file.

Affinity Design Document files end with the .afdesign extension. They are the native working format of Serif's Affinity Designer application, used for creating and editing graphic designs. These files store all editable elements in a project - vector shapes, text, layers, artboards, effects, masks, embedded or linked raster images - so the design can be reopened and changed later.

Affinity Designer saves your work as a single .afdesign file whenever you choose Save. You can include the document's edit history, so you can roll back to earlier states even after closing and reopening the file. This makes .afdesign files ideal for ongoing design work, but they may be quite large if history is saved.

Files with this extension begin with specific binary signatures. They include identifiable ASCII strings like "NSRP", "PROT", "THMB", "Prot", "DOC.DAT", "IEND", "IHDR", and "PHYS" at various offsets. For example, bytes at offset 64 may spell "Prot" and at 72 "#Fil", among others, which helps software recognize them as Affinity Designer documents.

How to open AFDESIGN files

Important: Different programs may use files with the AFDESIGN file extension for different purposes, so unless you are sure which format your AFDESIGN file is, you may need to try a few different programs.

While we have not verified the apps ourselves yet, our users have suggested two different AFDESIGN openers which you will find listed below.

Last updated: August 17, 2026

Various apps that use files with this extension

These apps are known to open certain types of AFDESIGN files. Remember, different programs may use AFDESIGN files for different purposes, so you may need to try out a few of them to be able to open your specific file.

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File.org helps thousands of users every day, and we would love to hear from you if you have additional information about AFDESIGN file formats, example files, or compatible programs. Please use the links below or email us at submit@file.org to discuss further.