Picasa 3.9 Build 141.303 for Windows

Picasa 3.9 Build 141.303 is Google's former image organiser and image viewer for Windows. It became popular for sorting and lightly editing large photo collections, and some people still download Picasa for Windows today, but Google discontinued Picasa on March 15, 2016, and the program has received no updates since, so read about its status before relying on it.

What is Picasa?

Picasa started at Lifescape in 2002, with a first release in 2004, and was later developed by Google. It scanned the folders on your computer, gathered every picture into one library and let you browse them quickly and make simple edits, since it also works as a basic raster graphics editor. For many families it was the program that turned a chaotic folder of camera files into an organised photo album. After Google ended the project in March 2016, Picasa became a closed chapter: the desktop program can still open local folders, but nothing that depended on Google's online services should be counted on. The last stable build in the list, 3.9 141.259, dates from October 13, 2015. The version listed here, 3.9 Build 141.303, belongs to the same final 3.9 line.

Can I still install Picasa?

Google no longer develops it, but the community site Picasa Resources hosts a guide on how to install a previous version of Picasa, together with the Picasa 3 release notes. The original home page is picasa.google.com. The installer is about 13.04 MB according to catalogue data.

Is it safe to use?

Software that no longer receives updates cannot get security fixes. Picasa works mostly with local files, which limits the risk, but you should download the installer only from sources linked above, scan it with an antivirus and avoid bundles from download portals. Do not rely on any online features that depended on Google services.

Will my photos be affected?

Before you point any photo organiser at your archive, back up the photo folders. Test Picasa on a copy of a small folder first and check how your pictures look after edits. If you plan to move to another program, export edited images as new files, because another viewer may not understand Picasa's own records.

Who still uses it?

Picasa remains in use among people who organised their photos with it years ago and are used to its photo library, and among those who want a simple offline viewer on an older PC. If that describes you, keep using it on a computer that is backed up, but start planning a move: a program without updates may stop working after a future Windows change. Export your collections as folders of files, so the organisation survives even without Picasa.

Is it free?

Yes, Picasa was always freeware.

What should I use instead?

For viewing and organising, Photo Image Viewer and Photoscape in our listings are simple choices. For more serious editing, see GIMP or Adobe Lightroom Classic.

Pros and cons

• Pro: fast, familiar photo library.
• Pro: simple fixes for beginners.
• Pro: free.
• Con: discontinued, no security updates.
• Con: online features no longer supported.