In Windows 95–98, Windows 2000 and Windows Me, Paint can open JPEG, GIF and 48-bit ( 16-bpp) TIF images and save images in JPEG and GIF formats when appropriate graphics filters are installed. Later versions of Paint do not support this feature. This functionality only works correctly if the color depth of images is 16-bits per pixel (bpp) or higher. Microsoft shipped an updated version of Paint with Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0, which allows saving and loading a custom set of color wells as color palette (.pal) files. Microsoft had deprecated the MSP format, and Paintbrush could only read MSP files. This version was later superseded by Paintbrush in Windows 3.0, with a redesigned user interface, true color support, and support for the BMP and PCX file formats.

Aside from 'pencil' and 'shape' tools and a brush that draws in 24 'brush shapes and patterns', the toolset also contained two features unique for the time: one the ability to draw Bézier curves and the other that forces lines to be drawn on three angles to create an isometric three-quarter perspective. It was a licensed version of ZSoft Corporation's PC Paintbrush that shipped with 24 tools and can read and write files only in the proprietary 'MSP' format drawn in monochrome graphics. The first version of Paint was programmed by Dan McCabe and introduced with the first version of Windows, Windows 1.0, in November 1985 as a competitor to Macintosh's MacPaint.

Microsoft eventually reversed course and announced an updated version of Paint in Windows 11, with Paint 3D being deprecated. However, Paint continued to be included with Windows 10.

Microsoft had envisioned Paint 3D as a replacement. In July 2017, Microsoft added Paint to the list of deprecated features of Windows 10 and announced that it would become a free standalone application in Microsoft Store. For its simplicity and wide availability, it rapidly became one of the most used Windows applications, introducing many to painting on a computer for the first time. The program can be in color mode or two-color black-and-white, but there is no grayscale mode. The program opens, modifies and saves image files in Windows bitmap (BMP), JPEG, GIF, PNG, and single-page TIFF formats. Microsoft Paint is a simple raster graphics editor that has been included with all versions of Microsoft Windows. IA-32, x86-64, and ARM (historically Itanium, DEC Alpha, MIPS, and PowerPC)

Microsoft paint 2d