Comparison of image viewers

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	Notes
ACDSee	Thumbnails (user-defined sizes), fullscreen, slideshow, zoom, fit, view Exif info, view inside ZIP archives, ...	Resize, crop, rotate, flip, JPEG lossless rotate/mirror, 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, etc...) 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	discontinued; replaced by Photos
CDisplay	Fit to window, zoom, print, full-screen, slideshow, image collection, image information...	Rotate, flip, save as, used for reading comics and manga.	Proprietary
Comix	Fit to window, zoom, rotate, full-screen, image collection, image information...	manga mode, double page view	GNU GPL
digiKam	Fit to window, zoom, pan, Light Table, Slideshow+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, Batch operations, export to archive, HTML, flickr, gallery2, picasaweb, smugmug, iPod, Facebook, 23hq, flash.	GNU GPL
Eye of GNOME	Fit to window, zoom, print, full-screen, slideshow, image collection, image information...	Rotate, delete, flip, save as	GNU GPL
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.	No image editing. 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 (5 predefined sizes), full screen, magnifier, slideshow.	Many editing features: rotate, move, rename, 150+ transitional effects, crop, resize, clone, heal, convert format, color adjust, sharpen, drop shadow effects, scanner support, histogram, ...	Proprietary
Firehand Ember			Proprietary	no longer available
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]	GNU GPL
Geeqie	Full-screen, slideshow, zoom, color spectrum, 14 sizes of thumbnails	Rotate, move, rename, hue, contrast, find/remove duplicates	GNU GPL	fork of GQview after it was discontinued
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, etc.	Rotate, move, rename...	Proprietary
gThumb	Full-screen, slideshow, zoom, color spectrum, three sizes of thumbnails	Rotate, move, rename, hue, contrast,	GNU GPL
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...	GNU GPL
IMatch	DAM, thumbnails, slide-show, image previews, Unicode	Maintains a database for thumbnails and metadata. Sorting, searching, categorising. Standards-compliant metadata editing. Will handle very large collections.	Proprietary
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, Red-eye, Retouch, Color Enhancement, B&W and Sepia Conversion, Export to multiple format & size	Proprietary	discontinued; replaced by Photos
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 PrintScreen, Resize/Resample, Rotate, Flip Vert/Horiz, JPEG lossless transformations, Color Adjustments, change color depth, Greyscale, Red-Eye Reduction, Sharpen, effects/filters, Own and 8bf (Photoshop) plugins compatibility, insert text, edit IPTC info, Move, Copy, Delete, Rename, Convert, batch conversion, batch renaming/resizing/cropping, panorama creation, send email via IrfanView Thumbnails/Plugins: contact sheet creation, thumbnail creation, web gallery creation, face detection	Proprietary
KSquirrel	disk navigator, file tree, thumbnails, bookmarks, fullscreen, KIPI plugins ...	resize, rotate, colorize, convert, print ...	GNU GPL
KPhotoAlbum	Zoom, Rotate, Metadata, Exif, thumbnails (customize size), slideshow, Categories	As Available per KIPI plugins	GNU GPL
Lphoto	Zoom, Slideshow, camera information,	Crop, redeye, color tweaking, auto attach and resize for email, export to HTML, export to CD	GNU GPL
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
Paint.NET	Thumbnail, Zoom, Rotation, Multiple Page support, Pan, Fit to screen	Resize, Crop, Copy, Paste, Black and white/sepia, various blurs, add and reduce noise, Plugin Support	(Creative Commons Non commercial CC-BY-NC)
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, Crop, Exposure, Saturation, Tint, Temperature, Shadows, Revert to Original, Rename, Straighten, Change Time/Date, Publish to Facebook, Picasa Web Albums, Flickr	GNU LGPL
Simple Comic	slideshow, double image layout, left-to-right & right-to-left ordering, thumbnail navigation, zoom, print	Quick Look for comic book archives, Finder icons, text notes, delete files, extract files	MIT
STDU Viewer	fullscreen, fit to window, zoom, print	rotate, brightness, contrast, gamma setting	Proprietary
Windows Live 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 Gallery	fullscreen, slideshow, fit, zoom, print		Proprietary
Windows Picture and Fax Viewer	fullscreen, slideshow, fit, zoom, print	rotate, lossy JPEG rotate, annotate TIFF images	Proprietary
XnView	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 transitional effects, auto rotation, JPEG lossless rotate, pan, zoom, fit, ITPC 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	Notes

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
Comix	CBZ, CBR, CBT			JPEG	PNG				...
digiKam			BMP	JPEG	PNG	TIFF	GIF		JPEG 2000, PCX, WMF, PNM, PPM, XCF, XPM, PGX, MPEG, MPO, MPE, AVI, MOV, ASF
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, saving to: JPEG 2000, PCX, TGA
Firehand Ember			BMP	JPEG	PNG
Geeqie			BMP	JPEG	PNG	TIFF	GIF		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
Gwenview			BMP	JPEG	PNG	TIFF	GIF	PSD	MNG, SVG, MNG, XCF, RAW (NEF), etc.
IMatch									over 50 types including RAW, also Unicode
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).
KSquirrel									51 types
KPhotoAlbum									Photo formats supported by KDE; AVI, MPEG, RAW
Lphoto									iPhoto Clone
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:
ResourceSpace									Hundreds; all types supported by ImageMagick and FFmpeg plus InDesign
Shotwell				JPEG	PNG	TIFF			RAW and some video formats
Simple Comic	CBZ, CBR, CB7			JPEG	PNG		GIF		JPEG2000, any other Core Image supported format. Also opens 7-Zip, LHA, RAR, ZIP
STDU Viewer		PDF	BMP	JPEG	PNG	TIFF (multipage)	GIF	PSD	TXT, EMF, WMF, DjVu, XPS
Windows Picture and Fax Viewer			BMP	JPEG	PNG	TIFF	GIF		WMF, EMF, ICO
XnView			BMP	JPEG (IPTC&Exif)	PNG	TIFF (multipage)	GIF	PSD	reads over 500 formats,[1] including: FAX, EPS, WMF, DICOM, DPX; writes about 50 formats
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		HDP/WDP, PSD, 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
Aperture	ARW	CR2	DNG	NEF	ORF	PEF	RAF	SRW	X3F	CRW, MOS, RAW, FFF, 3FR
digiKam	ARW	CR2	DNG	NEF	ORF	PEF	RAF	SRW	X3F	Several
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.
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
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
Shotwell	ARW	CR2	DNG	NEF	ORF	PEF	RAF	SRW	X3F		Support "limited", export 8-bit only
XnView	ARW	CR2	DNG	NEF	ORF	PEF	RAF	SRW	X3F	CRW, RWZ and more
Zoner Photo Studio	ARW	CR2	DNG	NEF	ORF	PEF	RAF	SRW	X3F	3FR, CRW, ERF, KDC, MEF, MRW, RAW, RW2, RWZ, SR2, SRF

Supported operating systems

Name	Windows	Mac OS	Linux	Last release
ACDSee	Yes	Yes	No	December 2014
Adobe Bridge	Yes	Yes	No	June 31, 2013
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom	Yes	Yes	No	April 30, 2015
Aperture	No	Yes	No	October 16, 2014
CDisplay	Yes	No	No	2004
Comix	No	No	Yes	2009
digiKam	Partial	Yes	Yes	February 24, 2015
Eye of GNOME	No	No	Yes	March 25, 2015
FastPictureViewer	Yes	No	No	February 28, 2015
FastStone Image Viewer	Yes	No	No	July 31, 2015
Firehand Ember	Yes	No	No	December 4, 2004
F-Spot	No	No	Yes	2010
Geeqie	No	Yes	Yes	2016
Gonvisor	Yes	Yes	No	January 2015
GraphicConverter	No	Yes	No	March 10, 2015
gThumb	No	No	Yes	April 14, 2015
Gwenview	No	No	Yes	November 11, 2014
IMatch	Yes	No	No	June 2, 2015
iPhoto	No	Yes	No	March 19, 2015
IrfanView	Yes	No	No	June 23, 2014
KSquirrel	No	No	Yes	December 7, 2007
KPhotoAlbum	No	No	Yes	July 15, 2014
Lphoto	No	No	Yes	2008
Phase One Media Pro	Yes	Yes	No	July 17, 2012
Paint.NET	Yes	No	No	December 7, 2014
Photos	No	Yes	No	April 8, 2015
Picasa	Yes	Yes	No	August 13, 2014
Preview	No	Yes	No
Shotwell	No	No	Yes	March 23, 2015
Simple Comic	No	Yes	No
STDU Viewer	Yes	No	No	April 21, 2014
Windows Live Photo Gallery	Yes	No	No	January 10, 2014
Windows Photo Gallery	Yes	No	No	January 10, 2014
Windows Photo Viewer	Yes	No	No
XnView	Yes	Yes	Yes	March 16, 2015
Xv	No	No	Yes	1994
Zoner Photo Studio	Yes	No	No	September 26, 2014

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
Comix	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	Yes tags, date, keywords, metadata
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, fit width and/or height, lock	No	Yes 5 predefined sizes	Yes database	dir-tree	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	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
ResourceSpace	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes user defined	Yes database	thumbs, list, events, tags	Yes contact sheet	Yes date, relevance, colour
Shotwell	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes fixed size	Yes	Thumbs, Events (dates), tags	Yes	Yes Title, Exposure Date
Simple Comic	Yes	Yes	Yes Magnifying loupe on cursor		Yes		Yes fullscreen thumbnails, thumbnails when hovering over progress bar, single page, double page	No	Only by ascending file name.
STDU Viewer	Yes	No	Yes fit to width, fit to height, fit to size	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
Windows Picture and Fax Viewer	Yes	Yes	Yes 1:1, fit, in/out	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No
XnView	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
Comix	No	No		Yes Rotate, Filter					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 in 90° steps	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.
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.
FastStone Image Viewer		Yes individual, linear	Partial JPEG comment	Yes many			Yes lossless transitions	Yes
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
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	Yes	batch processing, export to Internet/social media/HTML
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
ResourceSpace	Yes	Yes	Yes Exif, IPTC, user defined	Yes rotate, gamma	No
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
Simple Comic	No		No	Yes rotate	Yes				capture page, remove page, set icon
STDU Viewer	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes
Windows Picture and Fax Viewer	No	No	Yes: Exif	Yes rotate, lossless JPEG rotate, annotate TIFF images	Yes		Yes rotate only	Yes
XnView	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	No 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

• Comparison of raster graphics editors
• Digital image editing
• List of raster graphics editors
• List of graphics file formats

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. http://dottech.org/129555/windows-review-top-best-free-image-viewer-program/