Comparison of image viewers

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Name URL DE File formats View functions Edit functions Price
ACDSee [1] W BMP, EMF, GIF, JPEG, PCX, PIC, PICT, PNG, PSD, PSP, SGI, TGA, TIFF, WMF, XBM, various camera formats among others Fullscreen, slideshow, zoom, view inside ZIP archives Exposure, color, red eye, sharpness, noise, resize, crop, (lossless JPEG) rotate, effects $39.99
Adobe Bridge [2] W M Displays all file types supported by Adobe Creative Suite 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, etc...)

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

$0 1
ALSee [3] W ANI, BMP, CAL, EPS, FAX, GIF, IMG, JBG, JPE, JPEG, JPG, MAC, PBM, PCD, PCX, PCT, PGM, PNG, PPM, PSD, RAS, TGA, TIFF, WMF Thumbnails, zoom, slideshow, preview, fullscreen, EXIF information Resize, rotate, adjust colors, adjust levels, word balloons, picture frames, special FX, batch processing, batch renaming, save selections, add text, picture overlays $0
Brava Reader [4] W TIFF, PDF, CSF Zoom/Pan/Magnify View, Scrollable paging, Orient, Handles Large Files, Print w/Watermarks & Banners None (view/print only) $0
Brava Desktop [5] W TIFF, PDF, ISO, CALS, PNG, JPEG, GIF, JEDMICS, CGM, WMF, EMF, PCX, DWG, DWF, PLT and many more document, image and CAD drawing formats. Zoom/Pan/Magnify View, Scrollable paging, Orient, Handles Large Files, Print w/Watermarks & Banners Annotation & Redaction, Save To TIFF/PDF/CSF $29-345
CocoViewX [6] M PNG, JPEG, GIF Slideshow, fullscreen Rotate, greyscale, HTML galleries $0
CPC View [7] W TIFF, CALS, JEDMICS, PNM, CPC Zoom, annotate, thumbnails, anti-aliasing Rotate $29.95
CyberShot Viewer (included with some Sony CyberShot cameras) W JPEG, TIFF, MPEG1 Zoom, annotate, thumbnails, anti-aliasing Rotate Included as camera software with some Sony CyberShot cameras
Digikam [8] K Desktop Environment (KDE) Compatible JPEG, EXIF, RAW etc.. Fit to window, zoom, Slideshow+Effects Rotate, crop, vertical/horizontal flip, lossless JPEG operations (rotate, flip), Plugins, Batch operations GNU GPL
Elgorithms MagicTracer [9] W PNG, JPEG, GIF, BMP, TIF, ICO, CUR, PCX, TGA, RAS, WMF, EMF, JPEG 2000, JPC, PNM Fit to window, zoom Color editing, filters, color management, color-depth maganagement, rotate, crop, resize $49.95
ExifPro Image Viewer [10] W JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIF, NEF, CRW, CR2, ORF, RAF, DNG, PSD, CATALOG Preview pane, dedicated viewer window, magnifier tool, thumbnail mode, detailed mode, image preview mode, EXIF info Batch resize, copy, move, transfer, rename, slide show, HTML page generator, send e-mail, rotate, crop, adjust colors/brightness/levels, build a catalog of images, print, print thumbnails, export EXIF info, show histogram $20
Eye of GNOME GNOME Desktop Environment Compatible PNG, GIF, JPG, BMP, PNM, RAS, TIFF, ICO, XPM, SVG Fit to window, zoom, print, full-screen, slideshow, image collection, image information... Rotate, delete, flip, save as GNU GPL
EyeBrowse [11] W PNG, JPG, BMP, TGA, TIFF, PCX, WMF, EMF, DIB, GIF, ICO Fit to window, zoom, file tree, file selector, print with print preview, keyboard control, hotkeys, screen captures... Image manipulation (blur, resize, crop, sharpen, rotate, negative, vertical/horizontal flip, grayscale, brightness & contrast), batch file management, undo/redo actions $0/$20
FastStone Image Viewer Pro [12] W loading of: PNG, JPEG, BMP, JPEG 2000, GIF, PCX, TIFF, WMF, ICO, CUR, TGA, saving to: JPEG, JPEG2000, TIFF, GIF, PCX, BMP, PNG, TGA Full-screen, slideshow, multiple sizes of thumbnails, EXIF, etc Rotate, move, rename, 150+ transitional effects, lossless JPEG transitions, drop shadow effects, scanner support, histogram, ... $34.95
Firehand Ember [13] W $60
FlexSnap [14] W TIFF, JPEG, BMP, PNG, PCX, NCR, PCL, [[DCX, DIB, ASCII, CALS, EPS Preview, EXIF, FileNet, GIF,, AFP, DICOM, MS Word, [[MS Excel, PDF, and more High speed viewing, format detection, anti-aliasing, flip X & Y, fit to height/width, image rotation, scrolling, thumbnails, aspect ratio correction, pan button, resize, multiple page support annotation (any format), merge annotation, insert bitmaps, brightness, contrast, gamma correction, draw freehand or use standard shapes, redact, resize, add sticky notes, crop, paste, merge and more per license
FuturixImager [15] W 60 types - including JPEG, PNG, TIFF, JPEG 2000, RAW, DNG, SVG... Full-screen, slideshow, zoom, histogram, metadata view, view-as-wallpaper... Effects/filters, pencil, flood fill, eraser; JPEG lossless rotation; printing, scanning; screen capture... $0
F-Spot [16] X GNOME Desktop Environment Compatible CR2, CRW, DNG, GIF, JPEG, MRW, NEF, ORF, PEF, PNG, PPM, RAF, RAW, SRF, SVG, TIFF Full-screen, slideshow, zoom, multiple sizes of thumbnails. Export: HTML, Flickr, Gallery Project, and O.r.i.g.i.n.a.l Tags, rotate, move, rename, hue, contrast, crop, resize GNU GPL
GQView [17] X GNOME Desktop Environment Compatible See note Full-screen, slideshow, zoom, color spectrum, three sizes of thumbnails Rotate, move, rename, hue, contrast, GNU GPL
GraphicConverter [18] M 190 types read, 79 types saved Full-screen, slideshow, etc Rotate, move, rename... $35
gThumb [19] X GNOME Desktop Environment Compatible See note Full-screen, slideshow, zoom, color spectrum, three sizes of thumbnails Rotate, move, rename, hue, contrast, GNU GPL
Gwenview [20] K Desktop Environment (KDE) Compatible PNG, JPEG, MNG, GIF, XCF etc. fullscreen, slideshow, zoom, rotate, in- decrease gamma/contrast/brightness, disk navigator, file tree, thumbnails, extended thumbnails, bookmarks... add border, filter, effects, resize, rename, raw image converter, recompress, edit color... GNU GPL
Image Browser Arctic [21] W 11 types slideshow, bookmarks encryption $0
Imaging Express [22] W 30 types - including TIFF, PDF, JPEG, BMP, PCX, DCX, GIF, PNG, TGA... Fit/Zoom/Pan image, anti-aliasing, smoothing, auto fit, auto paging, rotate, flip, negative, image information Crop, auto border crop, deskew, despeckle, cut, erase, append/move/delete pages, rotate, flip, negative, annotate (highlight, text, sticky note, freehand, color line and shape, stamp), convert format, printing, scanning... $0 /$39
IMatch [23] W over 50 types including RAW $59.95
imgSeek [24] X M W 12 types Search similar images, Fullscreen, slideshow, zoom, thumbnails, disk navigator tree, tag treeview. Export: HTML Rotate, move, rename, hue, contrast, etc GNU GPL
imgv [25] W X M JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, BMP, PCX, TGA, PPM, PNM, PBM, PGM, XPM, XCF, LBM, IFF, MPEG Full-screen, thumbnails, slideshow, 4 at a time, zoom, rotate, flip, persistent zoom, add border, on-the-fly camera data, EXIF, website images, fit to window, transitional effects, image collections, image properties, multiple-directories, wallpaper, hand tool, search, filter, image browser, randomize, hide image, close image delete image, external editor, preferences GNU GPL


iPhoto [26] M PNG, JPEG, GIF, RAW (All QuickTime supported images) Thumbnails, fullscreen, slideshow Rotate, Cropping (custom and template), Brightness/Contrast, Red-eye, Retouch, Color Enhancement, B&W and Sepia Conversion... $0 2
IrfanView [27] W ~70 types including : AIF, ANI/CUR, ASF, AU/SND, AVI, B3D, BMP/DIB, CAM (Casio JPG), CLP, DDS, Dicom/ACR, DJVU, ECW, EMF/WMF, EPS/PS/PDF, FITS, FlashPix (FPX), FSH, G3, GIF, HDR, ICO/ICL/EXE/DLL, IFF/LBM, IMG (GEM), JPG2000, JPG, JPM, KDC, LDF, LWF, MED, MID/RMI, MNG/JNG, MOV, MP3, MPG, MrSID, NLM/NOL/NGG, OGG, PBM/PGM/PPM, PCX/DCX, PhotoCD, PIC, PNG, PSD, PSP, RAS/SUN, RAW, Real Audio (RA), RLE, SFF, SFW, SGI/RGB, SWF (Flash/Shockwave), TGA, TIF, TTF, TXT, WAD, WAL, WAV, WBMP, WBZ/WBC, XBM, XPM, CRW/CR2, DNG, NEF, ORF, RAF, MRW, DCR, SRF, X3F, CAD formats. Partial support: MOV, QTIF, Mac PICT, FLI/FLC, SVG. Fullscreen, thumbnails, zoom, slideshow, EXE/SCR creation, drag-and-drop, IPTC edit, EXIF view, Own and 8bf plugins compatibility, 2 languages (ENG/GER) Batch conversion, Batch rename $0
KSquirrel [28] K Desktop Environment (KDE) Compatible 41 types disk navigator, file tree, thumbnails, extended thumbnails, bookmarks, filters, fullscreen ... resize, rotate, colorize, convert, print ... GNU GPL
Kuickshow [29] K Desktop Environment (KDE) Compatible See note GNU GPL
KPhotoAlbum [30] K Desktop Environment (KDE) Compatible Photo formats supported by KDE; AVI, MPEG, RAW Zoom, Rotate, Metadata, EXIF, thumbnails (customize size), slideshow, Categories As Available per Kipi Plugins GNU GPL
KView [31] K Desktop Environment (KDE) Compatible 9 types, including PNG, JPEG Zoom, rotate, resize, greyscale GNU GPL
P3dO [32] W $25
Picasa [33] W X 8 types including PNG JPEG and some movie formats Zoom, lossless rotate, histogram, camera information Crop, straighten, redeye, colour tweaking, effects, batch edit, batch rename $0
PMView Pro [34] W Over 40 types including PNG JPEG TIFF Zoom, rotate, paging, EXIF information Crop, size, resolution, rotate, brightness, contrast, color, convert $49.95
Preview [35] M All QuickTime images: Zoom, rotate, metadata Crop, straighten, color tweaking, profile assignment $0
Shell Picture [36] W $30
ShowImg [37] K Desktop Environment (KDE) Compatible JPEG, PNG, GIF, XCF, PSD etc. fullscreen, slideshow, filters, search for similar images Batch rename, convert filetype GNU GPL
Vallen JPegger [38] W 2k $0
VeriPic [39] W Photo, video and audio formats supported by Windows including RAW Fullscreen, Slideshow, Zoom, Progressive Compression Portable Show (99% compression, 1% of original size), SQL Database (User Account protection), 250 per second thumbnail display, 10,000 per second search of photo DB, titles and notes as keywords, multi-user access, network access, tamperproof time clock audit trail, fingerprint background removal, calibration 1:1 output, photo encryption, high performance distributed network CPU usage, targeted to store 10,000 to 1,000,000 photos per year per corporate or law enforcement user Lossless Brightness, Lossless Contrast, Lossless Color Channel, Lossless Rotation $5000
ViewIt [40] M PNG JPEG BMP GIF RAW PSD TIFF and many more fullscreen, slideshow, print, digitall cameras, find duplicates, sort, search, mark Batch rename, convert filetype, create www page, contact sheet $20
XnView [41] W M X 400 types $0
Xv [42] X GIF JPEG TIFF PBM PGM PPM XPM X11 bitmap Sun Rasterfile Targa RLE RGB BMP PCX FITS PM PostScript 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 $25
Zoner Photo Studio [43] W supported formats features €58.82
My ViewPad [44] W [45] [46] €0
W = MS Windows compatible, M = Apple/Mac compatible, X = X Window System compatible

Note 1: Adobe Bridge comes free with the Adobe Creative Suite CS2, Adobe Production Studio and Photoshop Elements 4 for Mac OS X. Adobe Bridge cannot be purchased separately, but Photoshop Elements is available from Adobe for $70 and Photoshop is available for $400.

Note 2: The latest version of iPhoto comes free with a Mac. iPhoto cannot be purchased separately, but is part of the iLife-suite which is available from Apple Computer for $79.

Contents

[edit] File Formats

Program BMP GIF JPEG JPEG 2000 PNG PSD RAW TIFF
PictureViewer Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Preview No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

[edit] View Functionality (detail)

Program Fullscreen slideshow zoom (styles) thumbnail (sizes) navigation views print sort (schemes) search (criteria) selection styles metadata / EXIF adjust image (functions) hotkeys other / special
EyeBrowse Yes

(fit, in/out)

file-tree, ??? Yes Yes Yes Screen captures...
F-Spot Yes Yes Yes Yes list, file-tree Yes (keywords) Yes Export to HTML, Flickr, or O.r.i.g.i.n.a.l.
gThumb Yes Yes

(random, forward, reverse)

Yes

(fit, 1:1, remember, fit-if-larger, in/out)

Yes

(48x48 - 256x256, 9 sizes)

list, icon, subfolders, categories Yes Yes

(catalogs, categories)

Yes

(name, comment, date, category, folder, recursive-folder)

Yes

(linear, block, complex)

Partial Yes

(manipulate color, flip/rotate, etc)

Yes bookmarks, comments, rename series, create index image, create HTML album
GQView Yes Yes Yes

(fit, 1:1, in/out)

Yes

(24x24 - 256x256)

list, dir-tree, collection Yes Yes

(collections, keywords, directory)

Yes

(collections, keywords, filename, location, size, date, dimensions, comments, previous results)

Yes

(block, linear, complex)

Yes Yes

(rotate, brightness, contrast)

Yes find duplicates, sort manager, recent collections
imgv Yes Yes Yes

(fit, in/out, persistent)

Yes

(auto or adjustable)

list, dir-tree, subfolders, multiple dir tagging, collection, web extraction, command line Yes

(collections, filters, image browser, shuffle/unshuffle)

Yes

(collections, location, filter, find)

Yes

(detailed, on-the-fly)

Yes 4 at a time, extract from web, mpeg movies, image hiding, image playlists, choose fullscreen resolution
KPhotoAlbum Yes Yes Yes (fit, in/out, presets) Yes (views search results) by date keywords, comments, title Yes linear, complex Partial Yes per Kipi plugins Yes configurable Quick-tagging using keyboard tokens
Fullscreen slideshow zoom (styles) thumbnail (sizes) navigation views print sort (schemes) search (criteria) selection styles metadata / EXIF adjust image (functions) hotkeys other / special

[edit] Notes

  • The filetypes that can be displayed by GQView and Kuickshow depend on the image-processing libraries (libjpeg, libpng, etc.) installed on the operating system.
  • Prices will vary over time, and between suppliers, and are for approximate indication only
  • Adobe Bridge is part of the Creative Suite which includes other programs, hence the unusually high price
  • iPhoto is part of iLife, cost includes a DVD menu editor (iDVD), a video editor (iMovie), a music player (iTunes), a multimedia web publisher (iWeb), and an audio-sequencing program (GarageBand)
  • ACDSee supports 61 various image formats and writes to 16. Reads 9 compression formats and writes to 2. Also ACDSee supports 33 Video Formats (Reads)
  • Konvertor supports 1190 various image, audio and video formats and writes to 150. Reads 19 compression formats and writes to 1.
  • Picasa has an experimental Linux version that runs under WINE.

[edit] See also