How to open .EPS files (Encapsulated PostScript) on Android, Windows and Linux

Stock image sites, sign makers and old logo packs still hand out vector art as EPS. You download vector-logo.eps, and your photo app says the format isn’t supported, Windows shows a blank icon, and Word refuses to insert it.

Folders shows the preview picture that most EPS files carry inside them, on Android, Windows and Linux, along with what the file says about itself. It doesn’t run the PostScript code, so for full-quality output you’ll want Ghostscript or a design program, both covered below.

What is an .EPS file?

PostScript is the page description language Adobe introduced in the 1980s to drive laser printers and typesetting machines. A PostScript file is really a small program: the printer runs it, and the page is what comes out. To show one on screen, a computer needs a PostScript interpreter.

EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) is a restricted kind of PostScript file holding a single drawing, meant to be placed inside other documents. It declares a bounding box so a layout program knows how big the drawing is. Because layout programs couldn’t run PostScript just to show it on screen, EPS files usually carry a separate, low-resolution preview picture for that job:

• a TIFF or Windows Metafile (WMF) preview in a binary header at the start of the file;
• or, in EPSI files, a simple bitmap written as plain text inside the PostScript comments, so it survives systems that mangle binary data.

Extension	What it is
.eps	Encapsulated PostScript: one drawing, usually vector art, sometimes with a picture inside
.epsf	The same format under a longer extension
.epsi	Encapsulated PostScript Interchange: EPS with a text-only bitmap preview
.ps	A full PostScript document, often several pages, typically made by “print to file” or by scientific and Linux software

EPS is fading in favour of PDF and SVG. Microsoft Office, for example, stopped accepting EPS images for security reasons. But Illustrator still saves EPS, and huge libraries of clip art and logos use it.

How to open an .EPS file with Folders

On Android

1. Download Folders from the download section and install it (Android 7.0 or newer).
2. Open it and tap Allow access for All files access.
3. Find the file, or type .eps (or .ps) into the search box at the top of a folder.
4. Tap it.

From a browser, email or chat app, use Open with → Folders.

On Windows and Linux

1. Install Folders on Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit), or on Linux with the package that suits your distribution.
2. Double-click the file in Folders.
3. On Windows, File Explorer’s right-click menu also works: Open with → Folders. The installer registers Folders there for EPS, EPSF, EPSI and PS.

What you can do with it in Folders

• See the preview. Folders looks for every kind of preview an EPS file can hold: a TIFF preview, an EPSI bitmap, a Photoshop thumbnail, or the thumbnail Illustrator writes into the file’s metadata. It shows the largest one it finds.
• Details lists the file’s name, size and date, plus what its PostScript header records, such as the title, the program that created it and the size of the artwork.
• Share the file with a printer, a colleague or another app.

When a file has no preview Folders can show, you see No preview to show. That’s normal for plain .ps files sent to a printer, and for EPS files whose only preview is a Windows Metafile.

Keep in mind what the preview is: a small picture saved for recognising the file, not the real artwork. It can look soft or blocky even when the vector drawing behind it is perfectly sharp. Folders doesn’t interpret PostScript, so it can’t draw a file that has no preview, convert it or edit it.

Other ways to open .EPS files

• Ghostscript (free, Windows and Linux): the standard PostScript interpreter. Its ps2pdf command turns PS into PDF, and with -dEPSCrop it crops an EPS to its drawing.
• Okular and Evince on Linux open .ps files directly, using Ghostscript behind the scenes.
• Inkscape (free) imports EPS and PS as editable vector shapes once Ghostscript is installed.
• Adobe Illustrator opens EPS for editing; Photoshop opens it as a picture at the size you choose.

Problems opening an .EPS file?

• It looks blurry or pixelated. You’re seeing the preview, not the artwork. Render the file with Ghostscript or open it in Inkscape or Illustrator for the sharp version.
• There’s no preview. Plain PostScript documents and some exported EPS files were saved without one. Convert the file to PDF with Ghostscript, then open the PDF in Folders’ PDF viewer.
• Office won’t insert it. Convert it to SVG, PDF or PNG first, with Inkscape or Ghostscript.
• You meant a PowerShell script. .ps1 files are Windows PowerShell scripts, not PostScript. They’re plain text; see how to open .ps1 files.

Questions people ask

Can I open an EPS file on Android? Yes, Folders shows its preview on the phone. For the full-resolution artwork, convert it to PDF on a computer first.

How do I convert EPS to PDF, PNG or SVG? Ghostscript converts to PDF and PNG; Inkscape opens EPS and saves it as SVG, PDF or PNG; Illustrator does all three. Folders doesn’t convert EPS.

Is an EPS file safe? PostScript is a programming language, and interpreters have had security holes over the years, which is why Office blocks EPS. Folders only reads the stored preview and the header text; it doesn’t run the PostScript. If you use Ghostscript, keep it up to date.

EPS vs AI vs SVG: which should I use? EPS for old print workflows that ask for it, AI if you and your designer both use Illustrator, SVG for the web and for sharing with any modern app.

Related guides: how to open Adobe Illustrator .ai files and how to open SVG files. See also all 382 file types Folders opens.