Krita 5.3 and Krita 6.0 Released With New Text Engine and Wayland HDR Support

Following its beta release earlier this year, Krita has officially launched two parallel versions, 5.3 and 6.0, both derived from the same core codebase. The key distinction lies in the underlying framework, with Krita 5.3 built on Qt 5 and Krita 6.0 transitioning to Qt 6. Despite this technical difference, both versions deliver nearly the same feature set. Krita 6.0 is positioned as the forward-looking branch for future development, while Krita 5.3 remains the preferred option for production environments due to its stability and maturity.

One of the most significant changes in this release is the complete overhaul of the text system. Users can now edit text directly on the canvas with full keyboard and IME support, making the workflow much smoother. The update also introduces advanced capabilities such as text flowing within shapes, following paths, and full OpenType feature support, enhancing typography control for artists and designers.

In addition to text improvements, several tools have been refined and expanded. The fill tool now includes a gap-closing feature that helps handle imperfect line art more effectively, while the liquify mode in the transform tool has been optimized for better performance. A newly introduced comic panel editing tool allows users to easily split and merge vector elements, streamlining comic creation workflows.

Krita also brings enhancements to filters and overall performance. New filters like propagate colors and reset transparent have been added, while blending modes have been upgraded to support HDR workflows. The recorder docker now enables real-time recording, and further refinements have been made across brushes, assistants, and selection tools to improve usability and precision.

Support for file formats has also been extended. Krita now includes compatibility with Radiance RGBE HDR images, improved handling of JPEG-XL files, and enhanced PSD support, including the ability to load text layers and more advanced properties from Photoshop files.

With Krita 6.0, the application officially moves to Qt 6 and introduces native Wayland support for Linux users. This includes integration with the Wayland color management protocol, enabling features such as HDR painting, 10-bit color depth, and fractional scaling. However, it is important to note that Wayland color management is still in its early stages and requires a compatible compositor, such as a recent version of KWin. Due to the substantial transition from Qt 5 to Qt 6, Krita 6.0 is currently considered an early-access release and may present issues not found in the more stable 5.3 version.

Overall, Krita 5.3 continues to be the recommended choice for professional and production use, while Krita 6.0 is better suited for testing and exploring the next generation of features as development progresses. Both versions are now available for download on Windows (64-bit), Linux in formats such as AppImage, Flatpak, and Snap, and macOS starting from version 10.14.

For more information, visit the release announcement.