Paint 3D, once touted as a modernized replacement for the classic Microsoft Paint app, is ironically being discontinued just seven years after its launch. Some users opening the app have found a banner below the toolbar that reads: “Paint 3D will no longer be available in the Microsoft Store starting November 4, 2024, and will no longer receive future updates.”
Microsoft developed the Paint 3D app with a focus on 3D modeling, but it also introduced layers, transparency effects, background removal, PNG support, and more. However, Windows Central reports that users were outraged when the company tried to replace the classic Microsoft Paint app with the new 3D-focused version; this forced Microsoft to make both versions available on Windows 10 and 11.
Although Paint 3D has more features than classic Paint, many users prefer the latter due to its simplicity, ease of use, and speed of launch. In 2023, Microsoft gave the classic Paint app some major upgrades. These included layers, transparency, and automatic background removal – features that were previously exclusive to Paint 3D.
Aside from this major update, Microsoft Paint also gained an AI superpower with the Cocreator feature, which is only available to Microsoft Copilot users. While the classic Paint app received all these upgrades, Paint 3D didn’t seem to get much attention from its developers. Moreover, the newer app’s 3D features didn’t really become a mainstream hit.
For these reasons, it probably made sense for Microsoft to combine the most in-demand features of Paint 3D with Microsoft Paint and simply discontinue the former. After all, it only came out in 2017, while the original Microsoft Paint was released in 1985 – almost forty years ago. Microsoft Paint itself was a licensed version of PC Paintbrush developed by ZSoft Corporation and bundled by Microsoft with Windows 1.0.
Because of its age, simplicity, ease of use, and nostalgia, many users are still in love with Microsoft Paint. The company has continuously updated and added more features to this simple raster graphics editor. While it can’t match the power and feature set of more advanced apps like GIMP and Adobe Photoshop, the fact that it comes free with Windows and is suitable for most users makes it an important app in the Microsoft ecosystem. Without Microsoft Paint, Windows wouldn’t be Windows.
