2 file types use the .can file extension.

What is a CAN file?

Fax document saved from a Canon fax machine or all-in-one printer/copier/scanner/fax device; may be generated by Canon Navigator, the software included with Canon fax machines.

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Category: Raster Image Files

Canvas Painting

A CAN file may also be a digital painting created using NVIDIA Canvas. It contains one image that is comprised of simple brushstrokes and another image that is a realistic landscape. Canvas uses AI to generate the realistic landscape from the brushstrokes.

Users whose Windows computers use an NVIDIA RTX GPU can install NVIDIA Canvas and use it to create digital landscape paintings. To create a painting, users "paint" a series of simple brushstrokes on a canvas. Each brushstroke corresponds to a landscape element, such as the sky, clouds, plants, or water bodies.

Canvas then uses its AI to transform these brushstrokes into a coherent, realistic-looking landscape. Users can select from several landscape styles, to create many different types of landscapes (e.g. deserts, coastal landscapes, etc.)

Paintings created using Canvas are saved as CAN files. Each CAN file contains a record of all the painting's brushstrokes and layers and the most recent landscaping style applied to the painting.

You can open a CAN file in NVIDIA Canvas (Windows). To do so, select the Open icon that appears in Canvas's menu bar. Then, navigate to and open your CAN file.

You can also open a CAN file in Adobe Photoshop (Windows, Mac). When you do, Photoshop loads the AI-generated landscape image the file contains as a Background layer, and the brushstrokes the file contains as one or more additional layers.

You can use NVIDIA Canvas to convert CAN files to the following formats:

Programs that open CAN files

Updated: June 20, 2022