In the world of design and graphic arts, few companies are as influential as Adobe. Among its many programs Illustrator is one of the most powerful and used to make illustrations, logos, posters and others.
In its constant attempt to differentiate itself, Adobe creates exclusive formats for each of the programs it owns, such as the .PSS of PhotoShop . Illustrator is not far behind, and has its own extension identified as .AI which can only be read by this and other company software .
In this article we are going to show you what the Illustrator .AI extension is and how it works, so you know what to do when a file of this type comes into your hands and you have no trouble seeing the content inside.
Index:
What is it and what files with extension are used for. AI?
The .AI format is a vector image file created from the Adobe Illustrator program. This is an editable format, which means that when you open it you can make changes to it as if it were a Word document. This allows you to save a project in the source program and then edit it.
Like other editable files, this one is also portable, which means you can move it to a USB stick or disk without losing any of its main features. In addition, it can be read by any of the Illustrator versions, which will allow you to even edit on other computers with other versions of the software .
Another interesting feature of this type of program is that being a vector, you can reduce or increase its dimensions without losing the image quality . This makes it one of the best formats for saving graphic information currently available. In addition, this can be converted into basically all existing image formats such as PDF, PNG or JPGE .
How to open and edit .AI files on smartphones or computers?
So far, the best way to open such a file is to use Illustrator, although there are other vector editing programs that can read them, as well as several from the same Adobe company.
Here we will show you how to perform this procedure on the main operating systems:
On Windows PC
On a Windows computer you can open these types of files with amazing ease. What you have to do is download and install a recent version of Adobe Illustrator.
Once you have it, you just have to locate the .AI and right click on it, then go to the path «Open with»> »Adobe Illustrator «.
Once this is done, the software will start automatically and in doing so you will see the vector image inside the file, as well as you can use any of the available tools to edit it.
On Mac computers
In MacOS the process is the same as in the previous operating system. What you have to do is download and install some of the most recent versions of Illustrator, and in doing so, you simply have to locate the .AI file to double click on it and then wait for the program to open in order to see the content within the format . Similarly, you can use any of the software tools to apply changes to the file.
On Android mobile phones
Adobe recently launched a series of applications that try to emulate all the programs in its desktop package. These are not as powerful, but they still allow you to open your program files, such as the Illustrator .AI .
What you have to do in this case is to download the Adobe Illustrator Draw app in Google Play Store . Once installed, you simply have to enter it and touch “Open” and find the file you want to view. After that it should open without problems.
On iPhone devices with iOS
The same case occurs in iPhone as in Android. To open a file with an .AI extension you must download Adobe Illustrator Draw which is the version for iPhone and any other iOS device.
Once done, what you have to do is enter the application and locate the vector you want to open . As in the case of computers, from this app you can also make changes to the image in question.
Open .AI without Illustrator on any device
There is another way to view an .AI file on any device without the need to download Adobe Illustrator. The only detail in this case is that you will not be able to edit it and you will simply be able to see the image contained in it.
What you have to do is simply rename the file and change the .AI extension to.jpg or .PNG , so you can see it with the default image viewer on your device.
Autodesk SketchBook
This is a application for Android and iOS quite interesting that will allow you to open .AI files, as well as edit them to your liking with its different tools. You just have to download it and open the .AI format image so you can see what’s inside .
Adobe Photoshop Sketch
A mobile and slightly more limited version of Photoshop that will allow you to draw with tools such as pens, pencils and brushes of various textures and sizes. As expected, you can open any format compatible with Adobe programs, among which is the .AI as one of the main ones.
Zamzar.com
This is not a program, but a free website where you can convert between all formats. With it you can convert an AI image into JPGE and see the content inside easily without losing anything of the design.