File format escape hatch for lapsed Adobe subscribers

The complaint users keep returning to isn't really about the subscription cost in isolation — it's about this: 'if I stop paying them today I can no longer open my files.' Years of PSD, PSB, and Lightroom catalog files become effectively locked the moment someone cancels. The files exist on their hard drive. The edits are in there. But without an active subscription, they can't access them.

This gap exists because Adobe's native formats — especially Lightroom's catalog structure and the layer/adjustment data inside PSDs — are complex enough that no lightweight viewer or converter handles them completely. There are partial tools, but a retoucher who cancels after ten years and needs to extract their full edit history, layer structure, and metadata in a portable format has no clean path today. The incumbent has no incentive to build this: an easy exit tool reduces subscriber lock-in, which is the whole point of the format complexity.

The specific situation that drives someone to look for this: they've decided to cancel or switch, or their subscription lapses unexpectedly, and they suddenly realize they can't open five years of client archives. They're not trying to keep using Photoshop. They just want their work back. They'll pay to get it.

This is a business because the need is acute, time-pressured, and tied to a specific life event (cancellation, job change, studio closure). It doesn't need to be a subscription itself — it can be a one-time conversion job or a per-catalog fee. The total addressable pool grows every year as more users accumulate years of locked files they haven't migrated. Agencies that used Adobe for client work and then switched vendors face this problem at scale — it's not just individuals.

What to build

Build a desktop application that ingests Lightroom Classic catalogs and PSD/PSB files, reconstructs the edit history and layer structure as accurately as possible, and exports to DNG with embedded XMP, TIFF with flattened or merged layers, and a human-readable JSON edit log — no Adobe subscription required to run it.

Where to start

Start with Lightroom Classic catalog migration specifically — the catalog format is better understood than PSD internals, the pain is more uniform (everyone has the same DAM problem), and wedding/portrait photographers with 50,000+ image catalogs have the most acute need and will pay immediately.

The hard part

Lightroom's catalog format and PSD's adjustment layer encoding are complex and partially undocumented, so some edit fidelity will be lost in conversion — and the first negative review from a user who loses a key edit will be used as evidence the product doesn't work, making early credibility extremely fragile.

How it makes money

Per-catalog conversion fee ($30–$80 depending on catalog size), or a flat one-time desktop license for users who want to run unlimited conversions themselves.