You don't need an expensive Adobe subscription to open Illustrator files. Here's are three free or low-cost alternative ways ...

Want to edit Adobe Illustrator Artwork i.e., AI files on Windows 11/10? Try these free software or use this online tool.

Though you can open this type of file in almost any Adobe application -- including Photoshop, InDesign, Acrobat and Flash -- the .ai file type is native to Adobe Illustrator.

The AI Host file AI.exe in Windows 11 is used to perform most local AI tasks For Microsoft Office desktop apps on Windows 11 computers. Full details here.

Open-source might not be the first thing you think of with Windows, but these free tools can seriously boost your productivity.

Microsoft is adding AI shortcuts to the File Explorer context menu. You’ll be able to right-click on files to get shortcuts to AI features.

Rather than running AI directly inside File Explorer, the system will gain a workflow where selected files are sent to separate apps to process the files and return the results.

Microsoft's revamp of the Windows 11 File Explorer context menu hid or removed many helpful features, sparking a boom in third-party tools to restore the old interface.