Review and comparison of popular Photo Viewer Software with features. Select the best, free Photo Viewer for Windows 10, Mac or Android:
What are the qualities you look for in a Photo Viewer? Or to put it precisely, what features in an Image Viewer satisfy you the most?
An image or picture was and still is a monumental piece of human invention that allows you to capture and store pivotal memories of your life, which would have been otherwise washed away by the relentless tide of time.
Table of Contents:
Windows Photo Viewer
What began as negative images mounted on slides and printed on paper has now evolved into digital prints that can be stored in computers or the cloud, thanks to the advent of digital photography.
Image viewing software helps organize, store, and access these images for our viewing pleasure. The best photo viewers are those that allow you to peruse through photos stored in a variety of different file formats. They also offer a robust number of features that enhance the experience of managing and organizing photos on your mobile or computer devices.
In this article, we will be looking at some of the best image viewer software available for download and use today. We will dive deep into the features they offer, the price they charge, and ultimately let you decide whether you want to go for a particular tool, or skip right ahead.
Pro-Tip: An image viewer should allow you to access a wide number of image file formats on your device. They can be JPEG, PNG, RAW, or BMP among many others. The tool should also offer comprehensive features that allow you to quickly enhance image quality, crop, and cut or merge images together. The interface should be devoid of any unnecessary complications.
You should be able to navigate from one function to another with ease. Finally, do not go for a tool that exceeds your budget. Remember, the best image viewer will offer maximum features at an affordable or no cost.
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The interest is quite unanimous across America, with Montana, Idaho, and Vermont leading the charge.
List of Top Windows Photo Viewer
Here is a list of popular Windows Photo Viewers:
- PhotoDirector 365
- Tonfotos
- inPixio
- Movavi Photo Editor
- PixTeller
- ImageGlass
- IrfanView
- WidsMob Viewer Pro
- XnView
- Honeyview
- FastStone Image Viewer
- 123 Photo Viewer
- Wildbit Viewer
- GonVisor
- Handy Viewer
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Comparing Some of the Best Photo Viewers
Name | Best For | Operating System | Ratings | Fees |
---|---|---|---|---|
PhotoDirector 365 | AI tools for adding visual effects. | Windows, Mac, iOS, & Android. | Free version, Price starts at $51.99 for the annual plan. | |
Tonfotos | Organizing family photos and managing genealogical information. | Windows, Mac & Linux | Free version with limited features, Lifetime starts at $39/user/device | |
inPixio | One-Click Photo Editing | Windows and Mac | Starting at $49.99 per subscription | |
Movavi Photo Editor | Full service photo editing | Windows, Mac, Web-based | $44.95 for 1 year license, $59.95 lifetime license |
|
PixTeller | Wide Collection of Pre-Made templates | Web-Based | Free edition available, Pro Plan: $7/month, Diamond Plan: $12/month |
|
ImageGlass | Lightweight and Open Source Image Editor | Windows, MAC | Free | |
IrfanView | OCR enabled Image Curating and Editing | Windows | Free | |
WidsMob Pro | Superfast Media Manager | Windows and Mac | Free version, $19.99/month | |
XnView | Free Image Manager for Computer and Smartphone Device | Windows, Mac, iOS, Android | Free | |
HoneyView | Free and Simple Image Processing | Windows | Free |
Let us review the best Photo Viewer Windows 10:
#1) PhotoDirector 365
Best for AI tools for adding visual effects.
PhotoDirector 365 is a photo editing software by CyberLink that has intuitive layer editing capabilities. It contains powerful AI tools.
You will be able to add eye-catching visual effects to photos. This easy-to-use software has advanced capabilities and will allow you to edit photos with advanced color controls. It provides priority support to customers.
Features:
- Express Layer Templates.
- Heavy-Lifting with the help of AI tools.
- Visual effects like Dispersion, Light Rays, Glitch Effect, etc.
- LUTs Color Presets
- Pro Level Effects
Verdict: PhotoDirector is a photo editing software for professionals. It supports Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android platforms. It is an always updated tool and provides priority support to customers. It is an easy to use tool with advanced capabilities like AI tools for visual effects.
Price: PhotoDirector 365 offers Lifetime Licenses with pricing starting from $74.99. Its subscription-based pricing starts at $40.99 annually. Its free version is available to download. It offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
#2) Tonfotos
Best for organizing family photos and managing genealogical information.
Tonfotos simplifies the management of photo archives, enabling users to categorize their pictures by dates, events, people, and locations. Its AI-driven face recognition technology is helpful in quickly locating photos of particular individuals, even within extensive collections.
Tonfotos is tailored for those who need to manage large collections of family photos, offering a specialized focus on integrating genealogical data. This makes it particularly useful for anyone interested in maintaining a detailed family history alongside their photographic memories.
In addition to organizing photos, Tonfotos enhances user interaction with features such as slideshows, intuitive browsing, and the mapping of geo-tagged photos. It also provides flexibility in choosing where photos are stored, accommodating users’ preferences for different storage solutions.
Features:
- Face recognition
- Sorting photos by event, date, and location
- Flexible storage solutions
- Compatible with macOS, Windows, and Linux
Verdict: Tonfotos is a robust choice for organizing extensive photo collections, equipped with useful features like AI-driven face recognition and flexible storage options. It’s suitable for users who are deeply involved in organizing and preserving family photos along with genealogical details.
Price:
- Free edition with limited features
- Personal license: lifetime license for $39 (1 user/device)
- Family license: lifetime license for $99 (Up to 5 users/devices)
#3) inPixio
Best for One-Click Photo Editing
InPixio is more than just a photo viewer. The software comes equipped with an advanced AI and impressive automated functionality. You can use this software’s AI to easily erase certain objects from an image.
Similarly, the software also identifies and removes an image’s background with a single click. In its replacement, you can add another background to enhance a photo’s quality. The software can also be used to color correct an image and change the sky captured in the photo.
Features:
- Color Enhancement
- Object Eraser
- Background Remover
- Sky Changer
Verdict: Thanks to the advanced AI powering InPixio, you can edit your photo in multiple ways with just a single click. This is the software for those who’d love to enhance the visual style of their photos.
Price: Starting at $49.99 per subscription. A free trial is also available.
#4) Movavi Photo Editor
Best for full-service photo editor.
Movavi has been a staple of media management software on the Internet for a while now. As such, it comes as no surprise that Movavi would have one of the best tools for photo enhancement in the industry today.
Movavi Photo Editor is a dream come true for professional and casual photographers who want to play with the aesthetics of their captured images. Yes, the tool is great at managing files, provides a good interface to view images, and even allows users to use slideshows to view their images.
However, it is its image editing features that really grab your attention. You can optimize the color and contrast of your image, add a new background to your image or remove an existing one, capture only the silhouette of the person or object captured in your image and so much more.
Perhaps its most breathtaking feature is its ability to restore old images. Yes, you can now breathe life back in your old black and white photos thanks to Movavi’s AI enabled restoration feature.
Features:
- Image management
- Add background to the image
- AI-enabled old photo restoration
- Optimize image color and contrast
Verdict: Movavi is hands down one of the best photo editors of the 21st century, and will satisfy professional photographers with a knack for scenic photography. However, it is very expensive. As such, we cannot recommend it to users who simply need an Image Viewer tool.
Price: $44.95 for 1 year license, $59.95 lifetime license
#5) PixTeller
Best for Wide Collection of Pre-Made templates.
PixTeller is an easy-to-use online image editor that you can use to personalize your images. You can use this tool to edit your photos or use a ton of pre-made templates to customize your images as per your wish and enhance its aesthetic appeal.
You can also rely on this tool to resize, crop, modify, apply filters, and effects to a photo in just a few clicks. Plus, you can also modify an image’s brightness, HUE, saturation, etc. After modifying your photos, you also get the option to save them onto your devices in PNG, JPG, and PDF formats.
Features:
- Choose from a Collection of 1500000 Photos and Illustrations
- One-Click Photo Resizing
- Image Clipping Crop
- Add Effects to Photos
Verdict: PixTeller is one of the best Windows photo viewers that works phenomenally well online. You really don’t need to be technologically proficient to edit images or customize them on this software. Plus, you can also use this software to create visually stunning animations.
Price:
- Free edition with limited features
- Pro Plan: $7/month
- Diamond Plan: $12/month
#6) ImageGlass
Best for lightweight and open-source image editor.
ImageGlass really simplifies the entire Photo managing experience with lightweight software that offers a versatile list of features without charging a single penny. ImageGlass, with its latest version, seldom suffers from the issue of image lagging.
It can seamlessly switch from one photo to another in a matter of seconds. The software bequeaths users with a highly personalized tool that allows you to decorate your interface with the desired theme and language preference.
Perhaps its most revered feature is its ability to process, curate, and store images in over 70 formats. You will seldom come across an image that does not open with ImageGlass. Suffice to say, ImageGlass makes for an especially ingenious Windows photo viewer.
Features:
- Highly customizable
- Lightweight and super-fast
- Supports over 70+ image formats
- Open source and free
Verdict: It offers a simple yet considerably intuitive software that will satisfy users of all tastes and preferences. Its minimal aesthetic makes it extremely accessible and its free features make it incredibly appealing to both casual and professional users.
Price: Free
#7) IrfanView
Best for OCR enabled image curating and editing.
IrfanView may put some people off the moment you get a glimpse of its interface. The features seem to be spread out all across the home page in an old-fashioned look. However, that is the price this software is willing to pay to bring a lightweight open-source image viewer for Windows 10.
The software only needs 5 MB of space in your device, thus already scoring a major brownie point over software that is unnecessarily bulky and large. IrfanView makes both the viewing and sharing of images considerably convenient.
It supports input in multiple languages and also offers other imperative features like image conversion, batch processing, slideshow creation and so much more. However, the one feature that scores the cake here is IrfanView’s ability to support OCR tread text, which allows exporting files in editable format.
Features:
- Edit, cut, and crop image
- Supports OCR
- Image conversion
- Batch processing
Verdict: IrfanView is a super fast and lightweight tool that offers a full-service image viewer that performs almost everything from conversion to image editing with the utmost ease.
Price: Free
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#8) WidsMob Viewer Pro
Best for super-fast media manager.
WidsMob is yet another simple yet incredibly useful tool for both video and image management on your Windows device. The tool is compatible with a plethora of image and video file formats. It enables the viewing and browsing of these media files at a speed that is 5 times faster than a typical image viewer you can find online.
WidsMob also allows users to manage and edit the media files you choose to open with it. Useful features like dragging and dropping of images for proper organizing; converting images individually or in batches and cropping and color grading can all be performed with the help of WidsMob.
Other features like a simple slideshow to get a quick preview of all the images your device’s gallery harbors make WidsMob one of the best Photo Viewer for Windows 10 or Mac available in the industry today.
You can enjoy most of WidsMob’s features for absolutely free. However, it does come with a premium version that delivers an infinitely better experience and allows you to use the software on 5 separate devices.
Features:
- Supports multiple images and video formats
- Slideshow for image browsing
- Simple and fast file management
- Image editing and color grading
- Batch processing and conversion
Verdict: WidsMob is an all-in-one media management software that provides an incredibly brisk image viewing experience. It is a great tool for the comprehensive management of your media files, and as such, has our highest recommendation.
Price: Free version, $19.99/month
#9) XnView
Best for free image Manager for computer and smartphone devices.
XnView provides an easy to use and incredibly fast software that performs a plethora of image managing functions that you’ve come to expect from tools of this nature. It is sleek in its appearance and compliments it well with a fast image processing speed that almost goes away with the issue of lagging.
You can easily browse from one image to another in a matter of seconds, no matter what format your image is in. Other robust features that come with this software include batch processing, image conversion, color grading, cropping, merging, and lots more.
Managing and organizing your image files also becomes considerably easy with XnView. You can develop folders for your files, name and rename them individually or in batches. You can also help find duplicate images in your folder with just one command.
Features:
- Batch processing and conversion
- Duplicate image finder
- Image compare
- Image editing, cropping, and merging
Verdict: XnView is a sleek and fast image viewer that allows users to perform all of their image processing tasks at incredible speeds. It can process almost all image formats online and provide a convenient image file organizing interface.
Price: Free
#10) HoneyView
Best for free and simple image processing.
HoneyView is a basic, yet another incredibly intuitive software for agile image processing. Exclusively made for Windows 10 and various other Windows versions, the tool comes jam-packed with all the features necessary for smooth image viewing and editing.
Users can easily open any format of the image file with this device and browse through a huge gallery of high-resolution images without buffering. Users also get the ability to indulge in batch processing of images to save time when they are converting or editing images in bulk.
The tool is also a blast to use when employed for image cropping, cutting, and overall image enhancement.
Features:
- Free and easy to use
- Batch processing
- Slideshow creation
- Supports multiple image format files
Verdict: Thanks to its comprehensive interface and fast processing speed, HoneyView makes for one of the best image viewer Windows 10 has. Its editing function is a blast to use and alone makes the tool worth a spin.
Price: Free
#11) FastStone Image Viewer
Best for fast and user-friendly image viewing.
FastStone provides an exceptionally fast and stable interface that makes the prospect of image processing tenfold convenient. Compatible with almost every image file format available on this planet, it offers a wide list of robust functions that users find useful for image processing.
Image comparison, editing, resizing, cropping, and conversion are all made incredibly easy with FastStone. You also get thumbnail previews of your images; get quick access to EXIF information and several hidden toolbars to really enhance the editing experience.
FastStone also offers one of the best slideshow features of any software on this list. You can view your images via slideshow, which allows for over 150 transition effects. The tool can especially come in-handy at family functions or corporate events wherein you’re required to display a slideshow of photos with sentimental value.
Features:
- Fast, free, and easy to use
- Thumbnail preview of images
- Fast image editing
- Slideshow with 150 + transition effects.
Verdict: FastStone makes image viewing considerably more engaging with features that allow users to employ transitions on slideshows or edit images according to one’s satisfaction. The tool will satisfy users who like to personalize their image viewing experience.
Price: Free for personal use, $34.95-lifetime license for commercial use.
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#12) 123 Photo Viewer
Best for image viewing and animation.
123 Photo Viewer has gone through several updates to become what it is today. Catering to over 1 million users, it provides one of the best animation supports when it comes to Photo Viewers. You can freeze a frame, resume and pause or magnify a frame and save the animated frame as a static image in your device, all with the help of 123 Photo Viewer.
You can magnify your images with just one click, without having to move your cursor throughout the screen. The tool also allows for easy navigation, wherein all you are required to do is click on the arrows to the left or right hand side to browse through your image gallery.
As of today, 123 Photo Viewer can support almost all known image file formats for easy viewing on both Windows and Mac devices.
Features:
- Fast and easy to use
- Animation support
- Image magnifier
- Easy one-click navigation
Verdict: 123 Photo Viewer is highly recommended to those users who seek animation support in image viewing tools. Apart from the above function, the tool still offers a decent image viewing experience that lets you browse through image files without any hassle.
Price: Free
#13) WildBit Viewer
Best for thumbnail image processing.
WildBit blazes your screen with a great-looking interface that makes navigation very easy. The prospect of image file management is also made incredibly easy with how simplified the tool really is.
However, its most talked about feature is its ability to process thumbnail images in a number of exciting ways. You get the Thumbview feature that makes sorting and redefining the size of a thumbnail incredibly more convenient.
The tool also comes equipped with a slideshow viewing feature that allows for 173 + transition effects. Editing images with WildBit is also very intuitive, with cropping, merging, and color grading, all becoming smoother operations to execute.
Features:
- Thumbnail sorting and size redefining
- Supports over 70+ formats
- Allows for 170+ slideshow transition effects
- Image editing and conversion
Verdict: WildBit is compact, lightweight yet incredibly powerful in its image processing endeavor. It allows for a smooth image viewing experience, thanks to the versatility it offers with the thumbview feature and a highly customizable slideshow creation.
Price: Free
#14) GonVisor
Best for image enhancement and digital comic book reading.
GonVisor is a sequential photo viewer that was tailor-made to work smoothly with Windows 10. It offers all the features you would expect from a generic image viewer. However, there is a twist with GonVisor.
GonVisor offers an image viewing experience that replicates the panel reading aesthetic of comic books. Think of it as a digital tool that enables reading your comic books on a virtual electronic device. GonVisor presents normal images as a comic book as well.
Apart from this unique feature, GonVisor is incredibly useful in enhancing image quality, sorting and organize image files, rotating and resizing images among many more features.
Features:
- Image enhancement
- Comic book format image viewing
- Support multiple languages
- Full-service Image editing
Verdict: GonVisor is fast, easy to use, and should especially appeal to fans of comic books or graphic novels. This distinct feature alone makes GonVisor one of the best Windows 10 Photo Viewer in wide use today.
Price: Free
#15) Handy Viewer
Best for convenient viewing and editing of images.
Handy Viewer is, first of all, a convenient and fast image and photo viewer. It supports a huge number of graphics and even video formats. But despite the apparent simplicity of the interface, this program includes powerful tools for editing and image processing.
Features:
- Extensive list of supported formats: more than 150.
- Ability to export images to other formats.
- Four types of interface for displaying photos, plus slideshows.
- Editing functions: rotate, crop, resize.
- Color settings: brightness, contrast, gamma, saturation, RGB, auto-correction and so on.
- Possibility of using more than 30 AI-powered visual effects.
- Professional level drawing tools.
Verdict: Handy Viewer is a universal solution for both home users who want to view photos and videos in one convenient program, and for professionals who need the ability to edit, draw and apply effects.
Price: Handy Viewer is a completely free application for both individuals and companies.
FAQs About Image Viewer
What are the most prominent features one can hope to encounter in a photo viewer?
The best photo viewer for Windows 10 or Mac will offer features like photo editing, batch processing, screenshot capture, adding a border, panoramic view, slideshow, and much more. The tool should also be impervious to bloatware and allow plug-ins.
Why does a Photo Viewer load for a long time while opening images?
This problem may arise because your device’s hardware acceleration is disabled, or your tool simply isn’t powered by a powerful hardware accelerator.
Does my operating system have an in-built photo viewer? Why should I go for a third-party product?
A Windows Photo Viewer or a Mac version will offer all the basic features needed for the software to function smoothly. However, it still leaves a lot to be desired regarding advanced features. We can find some of them in the software listed in this tutorial.
Conclusion
We live in a world of abundance, especially when it comes to computer software that seeks to make our life easier. A Photo Viewer tool is no exception to this rule. There are simply way too many options for selecting the best Photo Viewer for Windows 10 or Mac. Each has something or the other to offer with regards to features and a comprehensive user experience.
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The list curated above lists some of the best tools we can recommend based on our own experiences. So as for our recommendation, if you want a fast, lightweight photo viewer that also offers a number of other robust features, then do go for ImageGlass or WidsMob Pro.
However, if you want a photo viewer that works fine on your Apple or Android smartphone devices as well, then we suggest you go for XnView
Research Process:
- We spent 8 hours researching and writing this article so you can have summarized and insightful information on what Photo Viewer will best suit you.
- Total Photo Viewers Researched – 20
- Total Photo Viewers Shortlisted – 10