Software:Comparison of image viewers

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This article presents a comparison of image viewers and image organizers which can be used for image viewing.

Functionality overview and licensing

Name View functions Other functions License
ACDSee Thumbnails (user-defined sizes), fullscreen, slideshow, zoom, fit, view Exif info, view inside ZIP archives, ... Resize, crop, rotate, flip, JPEG lossless rotate/mirror, face recognition, adjust exposure and colors etc., filters (sharpen, blur, average, emboss), red eye removal, batch rename, edit Exif info Proprietary
Adobe Bridge Thumbnails, slideshow, filmstrip, preview, versions with alternates Stand Alone: rotate, rename, delete, move, copy, batch rename, add/Edit metadata, camera raw image adjustments: crop, resize, exposure, contrast, white balance, curves

Via Photoshop: contact sheet, merge to HDR, PDF presentation, photomerge, Web picture gallery

Proprietary
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Library organization, RAW and JPEG editing, slideshow tools, print layout and preferences, web gallery creation and uploading Proprietary
Aperture Proprietary
CDisplay Fit to window, zoom, print, full-screen, slideshow, image collection, image information... Rotate, flip, save as, used for reading comics and manga. Proprietary
Darktable Lighttable (contact sheet), darkroom (image editing), map, tethering Non-destructive RAW photo editing (like Adobe Lightroom) as well as common image formats GPL-3.0-or-later
digiKam Fit to window, zoom, pan, light table, slideshow with effects, OpenGL viewer Rotate, crop, vertical/horizontal flip, lossless JPEG operations (90° steps), color management, 16bit color depth, Light Table, Exif, IPTC, XMP, GPS metadata, adjust colors/brightness/levels, elaborate Black and White conversion, automatic lens correction, anti-vignetting, sharpening tools, vibrance, many filters, face recognition, Batch operations, export to archive, HTML, flickr, gallery2, picasaweb, smugmug, iPod, Facebook, 23hq, flash. GPL-2.0-or-later
Eye of GNOME Fit to window, zoom, flip, rotate, full-screen, slideshow, image collection, image information Delete, print, save, rename, set wallpaper GPL-2.0-or-later
FastPictureViewer Borderless full-screen kiosk mode, Fit-to-window, 1:1, 50% to 6400% magnifier, multicore-enabled, GPU-based panning/zooming, black & white preview and lost shadows/highlights view. File renaming, single-click background copy/move to preset location, single-click rating/labeling (writes Adobe XMP sidecar files and/or embeds XMP metadata within JPEG/TIFF/HD Photo/JPEG XR), Windows rating, color management including custom target profile selection, Unicode support, Exif shooting data (shutter speed, f-stop, ISO speed, exposure compensation) and real-time, seamless R,G,B histogram in translucent floating window. IPTC metadata editor in the registered version. Proprietary
FastStone Image Viewer All major formats, thumbnail view (6 predefined sizes), full screen, magnifier, slideshow. Uses second monitor for fullscreen preview. Popups image gallery, detailed image informations, editing options at the image border in fullscreen modus. Many editing features: rotate, move, rename, 150+ transitional effects, crop, resize, clone, heal, convert format, color adjust, sharpen, drop shadow effects, scanner support, histogram. JPEG lossless rotate/flip/crop. Proprietary
F-Spot Full-screen, slideshow, zoom, multiple sizes of thumbnails. Export: HTML, Flickr, Gallery Project, Picasa, Facebook (via extension) and O.r.i.g.i.n.a.l Tags, rotate in single degree increments, hue, contrast, white balance, colour, sharpen, soft focus, crop, auto red-eye reduction. Files stored at /user/Pictures/Photos/[year]/[month]/[day] MIT
Geeqie Full-screen, slideshow, zoom, color spectrum, 14 sizes of thumbnails Rotate, move, rename, hue, contrast, find/remove duplicates GPL-2.0-or-later
Gonvisor Fit to window, zoom, print, full-screen, slideshow, image collection, image information, view images in compressed ZIP, RAR, or 7z files. Rotate, flip, save as, used for reading comics and manga Proprietary
GraphicConverter Full-screen, slideshow Rotate, move, rename Proprietary
gThumb Full-screen, slideshow, zoom, color spectrum, three sizes of thumbnails Rotate, move, rename, hue, contrast GPL-2.0-or-later
Gwenview Fullscreen, slideshow, zoom, rotate, adjust gamma/contrast/brightness, disk navigator, file tree, thumbnails, extended thumbnails, bookmarks... Add border, filter, effects, resize, rename, raw image converter, recompress, edit color. Share using 23, Dropbox, Facebook, Flickr, Google drive, Google photos/Picasaweb, Imageshack, Imgur, Piwigo, Rajce.net, remote storage, SmugMug, Yandex.Fotki, Zooomr GPL-2.0-only or GPL-3.0-only
iPhoto Thumbnails, fullscreen, slideshow, camera information, search, tags, organize by event or album, auto organize by date during first import Lossless JPEG rotate, cropping (custom and template), brightness/contrast adjustment, red-eye reduction, retouch, color enhancement, B&W and sepia conversion, export to multiple formats & sizes Proprietary
IrfanView Thumbnails (18 pre-defined sizes from 50×50–800×800 pixels), fullscreen, slideshow, zoom, fit (several options), view IPTC and Exif info, hex view, histogram (also RGB); Format detection with offer to rename, set wallpaper, EXE/SCR creation, Burn slideshow to CD; directory tree

32 languages (version 4.28/4.30)

Add Text, crop, cut/copy selected area, paste-Into selected area, paste from print screen, resize/resample, rotate, flip vertically/horizontally, JPEG lossless transformations, color adjustments, change color depth, greyscale, red-eye reduction, sharpen, effects/filters, own and 8bf (Photoshop) plugins compatibility, edit IPTC info, move, copy, delete, rename, convert, batch conversion, batch renaming/resizing/cropping, panorama creation, send email, also via IrfanView Thumbnails/Plugins: contact sheet creation, thumbnail creation, web gallery creation, face detection Shareware, free for non-commercial use
KPhotoAlbum Zoom, rotate, metadata, Exif, thumbnails (customize size), slideshow, categories As Available per KIPI plugins GPL-2.0-or-later
Microsoft Photos fullscreen, slideshow, fit, zoom, print Proprietary
Phase One Media Pro Thumbnails, slideshow, zoom, print, light table, library organization, best practice DAM Rotate, rename, delete, batch rename, add/edit metadata (IPTC, EXIF, Custom), free reader app to distribute catalogs Proprietary
Apple Photos Proprietary
Picasa Zoom, lossless rotate, histogram, camera information, Thumbnails (fully adjustable), Slide Show (Full Screen w/zoom), Magnifier, Search, Search for faces Crop, straighten, redeye, color tweaking, retouch, tuning, add text, numerous effects, batch edit, batch rename, video rendering, HTML gallery creation, photo browser application creator, screensaver, face recognition, keyword tagging, geo-tagging, photo collage, original file preservation, reorganize storage Proprietary
Preview Zoom, rotate, metadata Crop, straighten, color tweaking, profile assignment Proprietary
Shotwell Thumbnails, fullscreen, slideshow, zoom, print, camera information, events Auto enhance, rotate, mirror, flip, red eye reduction, crop, exposure, saturation, tint, temperature, shadows, revert to original, rename, straighten, change time/date, publish to Facebook, Picasa Web Albums, Flickr LGPL-2.1-or-later
STDU Viewer Fullscreen, fit to window, zoom, print rotate, brightness, contrast, gamma setting Proprietary
Windows Photo Gallery Fullscreen, slideshow, fit, zoom, print Panorama stitching, adjust brightness, contrast, color saturation/hue, filters, stitching, rotate, straightening and skew, face recognition Proprietary
Windows Photo Viewer Fullscreen, slideshow, fit, zoom, print Rotate, lossy JPEG rotate, annotate TIFF images Proprietary
XnView and XnViewMP Thumbnails (user-defined sizes), fullscreen, slideshow, zoom, fit, view IPTC and Exif info Resize, crop, rotate, flip, JPEG lossless rotate/flip/crop, adjust exposure and colors etc., filters (sharpen, blur, average, emboss), batch convert, batch rename, edit IPTC info Proprietary
Xv View as ASCII or hex, magnify, determine pixel values Crop, pad, resize, rotate, flip, brightness, contrast, gamma, saturation, hue, colormap, reduce colors, dither, convert, and more Proprietary
Zoner Photo Studio Thumbnails (user-defined sizes), fullscreen, histogram, slideshow with transition effects, auto rotation, JPEG lossless rotate, pan, zoom, fit, IPTC and Exif info, GPS support, full Unicode support, free version does not support color profiles Resize, crop, rotate, flip, JPEG lossless rotate/mirror, adjust exposure, colors, contrast, saturation, hue, white balance, levels, curves, gamma correction, filters (sharpen, blur, soften, edge, emboss, average, grayscale, ...), .8bf (Photoshop) plugins compatibility, color management, batch operations, image conversions with reduced/dithered colors, batch rename, red eye removal, edit ITPC, XMP and Exif info, time creation offset, merge to HDR, PDF presentation, panorama creation, lens correction, anti-vignetting, web picture gallery, DNG/RAW image converter, TWAIN scanners support, send pictures via e-mail, 3D pictures, dynamic calendar generation, support for WIC codecs (RAW processing) Proprietary
Name View functions Other functions License

Supported file formats

Commonly used vendor-independent formats

Program Comic book PDF BMP JPEG PNG TIFF GIF PSD Other graphics file formats
ACDSee BMP JPEG PNG TIFF GIF PSD ACDSee reads 9 compression formats and writes to 2, reads 33 video formats, and supports 61 image formats and writes to 16, including EMF, PCX, PIC, PICT, PSD, PSP, SGI, TGA, WMF, XBM, various camera formats among others
Adobe Bridge Displays all file types supported by Adobe Creative Suite
Aperture PDF JPEG PNG TIFF GIF PSD PSD, OLY, Various video formats including: AVI, MOV, MPEG
CDisplay CBZ, CBR, CBT, CBA BMP JPEG PNG GIF
digiKam BMP JPEG PNG TIFF GIF JPEG 2000, PCX, WMF, PNM, PPM, XCF, XPM, PGX, MPEG, MPO, MPE, AVI, MOV, ASF, PGF, MP4
Eye of GNOME BMP JPEG PNG TIFF GIF PNM, RAS, ICO, XPM, SVG
F-Spot JPEG PNG TIFF GIF PPM, SVG
FastPictureViewer BMP JPEG PNG TIFF PSD HD Photo, HDP, WDP, JPEG XR
(+ RLE, DIB, ICO, MTIFF in the registered edition, as well as DjVu, TGA, PSD, HDR, DDS, EXR, J2K, PNM, PBM, PGM, PBM, LRPREV, JPS through additional WIC codecs from the optional FastPictureViewer Codec Pack or from 3rd parties)
FastStone Image Viewer BMP JPEG PNG TIFF GIF PSD loading of: JPEG 2000, PCX, WMF, ICO, CUR, TGA, CRW, FAX, JFIF, HEIC, WEBP saving to: BMP, GIF, JPEG, JPEG 2000, PCX, PNG, PPM, TGA, TIFF, PDF
Geeqie PDF BMP JPEG PNG TIFF GIF PSD ANI, APM, CUR, ICNS, ICO, JP2/JPC/JPX/J2K/JPF, JPS, MPO, PCX, PBM/PGM/PNM/PPM, QIF/QTIF (QuickTime Image Format), RAS (Sun Raster), SVG/SVGZ, TGA/TARGA, WBMP, WMF, XBM, XPM
Gonvisor CBZ, CBR, CBA, CB7 PDF BMP JPEG PNG GIF Opens images contained in rar, zip, ace and 7zip files.
GraphicConverter PDF BMP JPEG PNG TIFF GIF PSD 190 types read, 79 types saved
gThumb BMP JPEG PNG TIFF GIF
Gwenview BMP JPEG PNG TIFF GIF PSD MNG, SVG, XCF, RAW (NEF), etc.
iPhoto JPEG PNG GIF PSD RAW (All QuickTime supported images), PSD (Leopard), AVI (Leopard), MOV (Leopard)
IrfanView PDF BMP JPEG PNG TIFF GIF PSD ~70 types including : AIF, ANI/CUR, ASF, AU/SND, AVI, B3D, DIB, CAM (Casio JPG), CLP, DDS, Dicom/ACR, DJVU, ECW, EMF/WMF, EPS/PS, FITS, FlashPix (FPX), FSH, G3, HDR, ICO/ICL/EXE/DLL, IFF/LBM, IMG (GEM), JPEG 2000, JPM, KDC, LDF, LWF, MED, MID/RMI, MNG/JNG, MOV, MP3, MPG, MrSID, NLM/NOL/NGG, OGG, PBM/PGM/PPM, PCX/DCX, PhotoCD, PIC, PSD, PSP, RAS/SUN, RAW, Real Audio (RA), RLE, SFF, SFW, SGI/RGB, SWF (Flash/Shockwave), TGA, TTF, TXT, WAD, WAL, WAV, WBMP, WBZ/WBC, XBM, XPM, CAD formats. Partial support: MOV, QTIF, Mac PICT, FLI/FLC, SVG. Note that some modes don't display large animated GIF files entirely (for example the Slideshow mode).
KPhotoAlbum Photo formats supported by KDE; AVI, MPEG, RAW
Phase One Media Pro PDF JPEG PNG TIFF GIF PSD Supports over 100 file formats for images, videos and documents, including: PSD, IIQ, CR, EIP, DOC
Picasa BMP JPEG PNG TIFF GIF 8 types including TGA, RAW, and some movie formats
Preview PDF BMP JPEG PNG TIFF GIF All QuickTime images:
Shotwell JPEG PNG TIFF GIF RAW and some video formats
STDU Viewer PDF BMP JPEG PNG TIFF (multipage) GIF PSD TXT, EMF, WMF, DjVu, XPS
Windows Photo Viewer BMP JPEG PNG TIFF GIF WMF, EMF, ICO
XnView and XnViewMP PDF BMP JPEG (IPTC&Exif) PNG TIFF (multipage) GIF PSD reads over 500 formats,[1] including: FAX, EPS, WMF, DICOM, DPX; writes about 75 formats [2]
Xv BMP JPEG PNG (with patch) TIFF GIF PBM, PGM, PPM, XPM, Sun Rasterfile, Targa, RGB, PCX, FITS, PM, PostScript
Zoner Photo Studio BMP JPEG PNG TIFF GIF/aGIF PSD HDP/WDP, PSB, PSP/PSPIMAGE, DIB/RLE, J2K/JPC/JP2, PAM, PBM, PGM, PNM, PCD, PCX, WBMP/WBM, TGA, ICO, MAC, WPG, BMI, MDM, THN, DCM, stereo pictures: JPS, PNS, BMS.
Program Comic book PDF BMP JPEG PNG TIFF GIF PSD Other graphics file formats

Camera raw formats

Program ARW
Sony
CR2
Canon
DNG
Adobe
NEF
Nikon
ORF
Olympus
PEF
Pentax
RAF
Fujifilm
SRW
Samsung
X3F
Sigma
Others Notes
ACDSee ARW CR2 DNG NEF ORF PEF RAF SRW X3F cRAW, CRW, DCR, ERF, HDR, MRW, RAW, RWL, sRAW [1]
Aperture ARW CR2 DNG NEF ORF PEF RAF SRW X3F CRW, MOS, RAW, FFF, 3FR [2]
digiKam ARW CR2 DNG NEF ORF PEF RAF SRW X3F Several [3][4]
F-Spot ARW? CR2 DNG NEF ORF PEF RAF SRW? X3F?

CRW, MRW, RAW, SRF

FastPictureViewer
(registered edition)
ARW CR2 DNG NEF ORF PEF RAF SRW X3F NRW, RW2, SR2, SRF, RWZ etc. [5]
FastStone Image Viewer ARW CR2 DNG NEF ORF PEF RAF SRW X3F CR3, CRW, NRW, RWL, MRW, SR2, SRF, RW2 [6]
Geeqie ARW CR2 DNG NEF ORF PEF RAF SRW X3F

3FR, CRW, DCR, ERF, K25, KDC, MEF, MOS, MRW, PTX, R3D, RAW, SR2, SRF

IrfanView ARW CR2 DNG NEF ORF PEF RAF SRW X3F CRW, EEF, DCR, MRW, NRW, RW2, SRF [7]
Phase One Media Pro ARW? CR2? DNG NEF ORF? PEF? RAF SRW X3F?

CRW, MOS, RAW

Picasa ARW CR2 DNG NEF ORF PEF RAF SRW X3F 3FR, CRW, DCR, KDC, MRW, NRW, RAW, RW2, SRF, SR2 [8]
Shotwell ARW? CR2? DNG? NEF? ORF? PEF? RAF? SRW? X3F? Support "limited", export 8-bit only [9]
XnView and XnViewMP ARW CR2 DNG NEF ORF PEF RAF SRW X3F CRW, RWZ and more [10]
Zoner Photo Studio ARW CR2 DNG NEF ORF PEF RAF SRW X3F 3FR, CRW, ERF, KDC, MEF, MRW, RAW, RW2, RWZ, SR2, SRF [11]

Supported operating systems

Name Windows macOS Linux BSD
ACDSee Yes Yes No No
Adobe Bridge Yes Yes No No
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Yes Yes No No
Aperture No Yes No No
Apple Photos No Yes No No
CDisplay Yes No No No
digiKam Yes Yes Yes Yes
Eye of GNOME (aka Image Viewer) No No Yes Yes
FastPictureViewer Yes No No No
FastStone Image Viewer Yes No No No
F-Spot No No Yes No
Geeqie No Yes Yes Yes
Gonvisor Yes Yes No No
GraphicConverter No Yes No No
gThumb No No Yes Yes
Gwenview No No Yes Yes
iPhoto No Yes No No
IrfanView Yes No No No
KPhotoAlbum No No Yes Yes
Microsoft Photos Yes No No No
Phase One Media Pro Yes Yes No No
Picasa Yes Yes No No
Preview No Yes No No
Shotwell No No Yes Yes
STDU Viewer Yes No No No
Windows Photo Gallery Yes No No No
Windows Photo Viewer Yes No No No
XnView Yes No No No
XnViewMP Yes Yes Yes No
Xv No No Yes Yes
Zoner Photo Studio Yes No No No

Basic features

Program Fullscreen slideshow zoom
(styles)
cache decoded images thumbnails (sizes) thumbnail caching navigation views print sort
(schemes)
ACDSee Yes Yes Yes
1:1, fit width and/or height, lock
Yes
previous, next
Yes
user-defined
Yes
database
directory-tree, albums, calendar, favourites, search results Yes Yes
user-defined, name, date, size, type, ...
CDisplay Yes Yes Yes
1:1, fit over/under width/height, fullscreen, doublepage
Yes
Fixed, with scroll
Thumbnails(of current folder images or archive) No No
digiKam Yes Yes Yes
fit, in/out
Yes
previous, next
Yes
adjustable size
Yes Yes album-tree, tags, calendar, searches, map (geolocation) Yes Partial
tags, date, keywords, metadata; no user-defined order
Eye of GNOME Yes Yes Yes
+/-, 1:1, best fit
image collection pane, only one row Thumbnails(of current folder images) Yes No
F-Spot Yes Yes Yes Yes list, file-tree Yes
keywords
FastPictureViewer Yes Yes
Auto-advance mode
Yes
1:1, fit, 50%-6400% magnifier, click-and-hold zooming
Yes
dynamic, adaptive
Yes
96x96px, shown on navigation slider (Vista or later)
Yes
(uses OS-managed cache on Windows Vista or later)
Yes
Windowed or full-screen, back and forth navigation, bookmarks, navigation slider
No Yes Filenames, file creation/modification date, Exif date taken, GPS timestamp
FastStone Image Viewer Yes Yes Yes
1:1, 2%-5000% magnifier, click-and-hold zooming, fit width and/or height, lock
No Yes
6 predefined sizes
Yes
database
dir-tree, back and forth navigation, bookmarks Yes Yes
user-defined, name, date, file size, image size, type
Geeqie Yes Yes Yes
fit, 1:1, in/out
Yes
previous, next
Yes
24x24 - 256x256
Yes
as png-files centrally or in sub-dir
list, dir-tree, collection Yes Yes
collections, keywords, directory
gThumb Yes Yes
random, forward, reverse
Yes
fit, 1:1, remember, fit-if-larger, in/out
Yes
48x48 - 256x256, 9 sizes
Partial Newer versions cache in a central directory list, icon, subfolders, categories, catalog Yes Yes
catalogs, categories
Gwenview Yes Yes Yes
fit, 1:1, fit-if-larger, zoom to 1600%
Yes
adjustable size
Yes Yes
fullscreen thumbnails, dir-tree
Yes Yes
name, size, date
IrfanView Yes Yes Yes
1:1, fit width and/or height, lock
No Yes
18 predefined sizes: 50×50–800×800
No dir-tree, search results Yes Yes
name, date, file size, image width/height, type, user-defined
KPhotoAlbum Yes Yes Yes
fit, in/out, presets
Yes views search results by date
Phase One Media Pro Yes Yes Yes
Fit to viewing area/height/width, 1:1, zoom to 1600%
Yes Yes
Yes, user-defined
Yes
Database
Yes Catalog-sets, date, filetypes, events, author, people, by search, by keywords and all metadata Yes Yes
name, date, size, user-defined
Picasa Partial
only in slideshow mode
Yes Partial
no view window, fit to viewing area, 1:1, zoom to 400%
No Yes
user defined
Yes
database
directory-tree, albums, timeline Yes Partial
name, date, size, user-defined
Shotwell Yes Yes Yes No Yes
fixed size
Yes Thumbs, Events (dates), tags Yes Yes
Title, Exposure Date
STDU Viewer Yes No
Yes
fit to width, fit to height, fit to size
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
Windows Photo Viewer Yes Yes Yes
1:1, fit, in/out
Yes No No No Yes No
XnView and XnViewMP Yes Yes Yes
1:1, fit width and/or height, lock
Yes
previous, next
Yes
user-defined
Yes
database
dir-tree, favourites, categories Yes Partial
name, date, size, type, etc.; no user-defined order
xv No Yes No Yes
fixed size
Yes
in subdirectory (.xvpics)
Yes Partial
name
Zoner Photo Studio Yes Yes Yes
1:1, fit width and/or height, lock
Yes
in Viewer, previous and next
Yes
user-defined
Yes
database
dir-tree, albums, CD compilations, media archive, search results, web albums Yes
contact sheet, templates, calendars, paper saver
Yes
name, date, size, type, etc.; user-defined order
Program Fullscreen slideshow zoom (styles) cache decoded images thumbnails (sizes) thumbnail caching navigation views print sort (schemes)

Additional features

Program search (criteria) selection (styles) metadata adjust image (functions) hotkeys color management (ICC) JPEG Lossless operations Unicode support other / special
ACDSee Yes Yes
individual, linear, block
Yes
Exif, IPTC
Yes
many
Yes Yes Yes
rotation only
Yes GPS Location, Scripts for batch/pre processing, automatic slideshow
CDisplay No No Yes Yes
Rotate, Filter
Yes
configurable
Yes No No Slider, automatic slideshow, mouse control
digiKam Yes
file name, comments, most Exif and meta data
Yes
linear, block, complex
Yes
Exif and IPTC
Yes
many editing function
Yes Yes Yes
by changing EXIF orientation and not in editor
Yes Geotagging, batch processing, detect duplicate/similar images, export to Internet/social media/HTML
Eye of GNOME No No Yes Yes
Rotate
Yes
unconfigurable
Yes
F-Spot Yes Export to HTML, Flickr, or O.r.i.g.i.n.a.l.
FastPictureViewer Yes
Filter the view by rating, file name...
Yes
Copy, move, delete, rate, label
Yes
Write XMP Rating/Label, IPTC metadata, Windows Rating, embedded or in sidecar files, shows shooting info (Exif) and realtime RGB histogram
No Yes Yes
(supports custom monitor profile, direct conversion from image colorspace to monitor colorspace, ICC v4)
n/a Yes, native Native 32 and 64-bit, Tethered shooting (MTP/PTP over USB), Multicore-aware, DirectX accelerated, HD Photo / JPEG XR support.
FastStone Image Viewer Yes
individual, linear
Yes
EXIF, JPEG comment
Yes
many
Yes Yes
lossless transitions
Yes full screen mode with all commands available via pop-up menu bars when approaching the mouse from the borders of the screen
Geeqie Yes
collections, keywords, filename, location, size, date, dimensions, comments, previous results
Yes
block, linear, complex
Yes Yes
rotate, brightness, contrast
Yes Yes find duplicates, sort manager, recent collections
Gonvisor No Yes
Delete, rename
No Yes
Yes Yes n/a Yes, native Made to easily read comics or manga can display two pages at time and view images in compressed ZIP, RAR, 7z, cbr, cba, cbz etc.
gThumb Yes
name, comment, date, category, folder, recursive-folder
Yes
linear, block, complex
Partial Yes
manipulate color, flip/rotate, etc.
Yes Yes bookmarks, comments, rename series, create index image, create HTML album
Gwenview Yes
tags
Yes
Exif, IPTC, XMP
Yes
Rotate, Red eye removal, saturation, color balance, levels and more
Yes Yes, rotation and flipping Yes batch processing, export to Internet/social media/HTML
IrfanView
& Thumbnails
Yes Yes
various options
Yes
EIF, IPTC, Comment
Yes
many features
Yes
many
Yes Opens and saves jpg2000 and jpgls photo files Yes, native can search for and replace pixel of a certain color (with some latitude) and replace all with a given color of pixels
KPhotoAlbum Yes
keywords, comments, title, any field from Exif metadata
Yes
linear, complex
Partial Yes
per KIPI plugins
Yes
configurable
Quick-tagging using keyboard tokens
Phase One Media Pro Yes
name, date, rating, file size, and many more.
Yes
individual, linear
Yes
EXIF, IPTC, and custom keywords
Yes
Rotate, Red eye removal, saturation, color balance, levels and more
Yes Yes Yes Find duplicates, hierarchical keywords, distributable catalog with free Media Pro reader, offline browsing of images
Picasa Yes
name, date, rating, faces
Yes
individual, linear
Partial
Keywords
Partial
basic
Yes Yes Yes
rotation only
Yes collages, Geotagging, Search for Faces, find duplicates
Shotwell No Yes
individual, linear, hide
Yes
Read IPTC, Exif, XMP
Yes
Exposure, Saturation, Tint, Shadows, Temperature, and more
Yes No No Yes Non-destructive editor, Auto Enhance Images, Duplicate, Upload, Favorite
STDU Viewer No No No No Yes No No Yes
Windows Photo Viewer No No Yes: Exif Yes
rotate, lossless JPEG rotate, annotate TIFF images
Yes Yes
rotate only
Yes
XnView and XnViewMP Yes
name, date, file size, image size, meta data, ...
Yes
individual, linear
Yes
IPTC, Exif, JPEG comment
Yes
many
Yes
configurable
Yes
Custom monitor profile supported
Yes Partial
Supported in XnViewMP
Supports Adobe Photoshop Filter 8BF plugins
xv No Partial
individual, all
Partial
view comments
Yes
many
Yes
Zoner Photo Studio Yes
name, date, file size, meta data
Yes
individual, linear
Yes
IPTC, Exif, XMP, JPEG comment
Yes
very many
Yes
configurable
Yes Yes Yes sign images, 16 bits per channel, GPS support, merge pictures to HDR, WIC codecs support
Program search (criteria) selection (styles) metadata adjust image (functions) hotkeys color management (ICC) JPEG Lossless operations Unicode support other / special

See also

Notes

  • iPhoto is part of iLife, which includes a DVD authoring package (iDVD), a video editor (iMovie), a music player (iTunes), a multimedia web publisher (iWeb), and an audio-sequencing program (GarageBand).
  • FastPictureViewer's DirectX hardware acceleration support depends on the actual video card installed and the amount of available video memory. The commercial version also supports previewing some camera RAW formats for which a WIC-enabled codec exists. Such RAW codecs are currently available from Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, Sony and for Adobe DNG.
  • Many applications on Mac OS X use either the Core Image or QuickTime APIs for image support. This enables reading and writing to a variety of formats, including JPEG, JPEG2000, Apple Icon Image format, TIFF, PNG, PDF, BMP and more.
  • SView5 may also run on Linux/x86 and MacOS/x86 using Mono.

References

  1. "[Windows Best free image viewer — IrfanView vs XnView vs FastStone vs Picasa vs Zoner | dotTech"]. October 8, 2013. https://dottech.org/129555/windows-review-top-best-free-image-viewer-program/. 
  2. "Supported formats". XnView.com. https://www.xnview.com/en/image_formats/.