How to open CDR online and on PC – 7 ways

Some users who deal with images saved in not very common formats, such as CDR, are wondering how to open this file in the Windows operating system. There is a *.cdr file on your computer that needs to be opened for viewing.

The CDR format (CorelDRAW file format) was developed by Corel for use in its products: CorelDRAW, Corel PaintShop Pro, Corel WordPerfect, and so on. A CDR project file stores a vector graphic or bitmap.

Before performing operations with graphic files, it is necessary to take into account some nuances before opening the CDR extension in any application on a PC. Be aware that this extension also has several other data formats: Macintosh DVD/CD Master, Raw Audio CD, and Crash Data Retrieval files sent from sensors on the hardware.

These are completely different file types and extensions that are not related to graphic images. Therefore, you should understand what type of data you are facing on your device before opening a CDR file.

In our case, we need to get an answer to the question of how to open the CDR format on a computer or open the CDR file online when working with graphic data.

CDR is a proprietary format, and it is logical to use CorelDRAW to open it. But, the fact is that this is a paid application and for this reason, few will be able to use the services of this software. In most cases, the user needs to open a vector image for viewing in a program designed to work with graphic files.

We need to open CDR for free on a PC or using a web application on the Internet. Therefore, the user should find out how to open a CDR file other than Corel. For example, what program to open CDR or how to open CDR online.

In this article, you will learn about free programs that open CDRs, and also try to open CDRs online using a web application hosted on a website on the Internet.

Keep in mind that quite large files may not open on the online service. These limitations happen due to insufficient web application power on the remote server.

Inkscape – 1 way

Inkscape is a free vector graphics editor. This freeware application supports Windows, macOS, Linux operating systems.

Inkscape is used to create various types of illustrations and is an analogue of well-known paid products: Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW, Xara Xtreme. You can open a CDR file for free in Inkscape, without the help of expensive software.

Go through the steps:

1. Open the Inkscape program on your computer.
2. Enter the “File” menu.
3. In the context menu, click on “Open …”.
4. In the “Select a file to open” window, select the image with the extension “.cdr” that is on your PC.
5. In the main window, you will see that the program opens the CDR file in its window.

Inkscape has vector editing tools. You can save the picture in one of the supported graphic vector or raster formats, in another file type, such as PDF or HTML.

CDR Viewer – 2 way

Idea MK CDR Viewer is a free application specially designed to view CDR files on PC. The program has a simple interface and works in English.

Do the following:

1. After starting, in the CDR Viewer program menu, click on the “Open File” button.
2. In the “Open” window, select the CDR file on your PC.

Using the application, you can rotate the image 90 degrees to the right or left, zoom in or out on this graphic object.

It is possible to export an image to another graphic format in CDR Viewer. Proceed as follows:

1. Click on the “Save File” button.
2. In the Save window, select one of the supported bitmap formats:

• JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF, TIFF.

3. Save the file on your computer.

LibreOffice DRAW – 3 way

LibreOffice is a free office suite that is often used as an alternative to Microsoft Office. Along with other tools, the LibreOffice DRAW application is present here.

When a user is inquiring about which program to open a CDR file, he is usually looking for graphic programs, not office software. LibreOffice has a drawing tool – a vector graphics editor.

Do the following:

1. Launch the LibreOffice DRAW application on your computer.
2. Click on the “File” menu.
3. In the menu that opens, select “Open …”.
4. A vector image with the “.cdr” extension will open in the LibreOffice DRAW program window.

You can edit or save the image on your PC in one of the supported formats:

1. In the “File” menu, click on the “Export …” item.
2. In the Export window, select the save location and file type.

Now we will look at how to open a CDR file on a computer using popular programs designed to view graphic formats. Please note that such applications open only previews of vector images in a non-original size.

You can only see the contents of the picture without details. In some cases, this will be enough to get a general idea of ​​the given file.

XnView – 4 way

XnView is a popular free graphic file viewer. The program supports opening a large number of file types.

Using the application, you can open the CDR file in preview mode:

1. Start XnView.
2. From the “File” menu, select “Open…”.
3. In the “Open files” window, add the desired image.
4. A preview of the image will open in the program window.

IrfanView – 5 way

IrfanView is a free program for viewing graphics and playing multimedia files on a computer.

In the application, you can open a preview of the CDR file:

1. After starting the program, open the “File” menu.
2. Click on “Open…”.
3. In the “Open” window, select the file on your PC.
4. A preview of the image will appear in IrfanView.

Groupdocs.app service – 6 way

Groupdocs.app is an online service that helps the user to open a CDR file online for free. The Online Document Viewer supports opening this type of files.

Do the following:

1. Enter the CDR Viewer Online page at: https://products.groupdocs.app/en-us/viewer/cdr .
2. Click in a special area or drag a file from your computer there.
3. After uploading to the service, the site page will open to view the image.

You can resize the image, download the file to your computer in CDR format, as a ZIP archive with images in PNG format, save as PDF or print.

Service fviewer.com – 7 way

The online cloud file viewer fviewer.com allows you to open CDR online for free.

Do the following:

1. Go to the fviewer website at: https://www.fviewer.com/en/view-cdr .
2. On the CDR Viewer page, add a file from your computer to the Browse Local Files area, or use drag and drop to do so.
3. You can add a link to an image in the Internet Viewer area by pasting a URL in the field, and you can select either Low Resolution or High Resolution.
4. Click on the “View” button.
5. A new tab with a vector image will open on the service page.

If necessary, you can change the scale of the open image using the buttons in the upper right corner of the page.

Article Conclusions

For some users, when working with graphic files, you need to know how to open the CDR file format. A vector image has appeared on the computer, it needs to be opened for viewing.

CorelDRAW, which creates CDR files, is paid, so not all users can use this application to view the image. In such a situation, you can open the CDR format online or using free programs installed on your computer.