Standard Windows 7 photo viewer. Free image viewers
Now let's see what to use to view images on a computer, and choose the best photo viewers for Windows. The best photo viewer is a subjective concept, so in this article I will offer several applications that can be used to open popular graphic formats for viewing and processing images.
Any user, when working on a computer, inevitably encounters pictures, images, photographs. In any case, graphic format files will end up on your computer, so you will need a program to open and view them. Therefore, you need a photo viewer on your computer to easily view digital images.
Windows 10 has a built-in Photos application, with which you can open a graphic file, create an album, make the necessary changes to a photo, etc. In previous versions of Windows, the Windows Image Viewer application was used. The user can install Windows Picture Viewer in Windows 10, in addition to the Photos program.
There is a free Photo Gallery application included with the core components of Windows Live. The photo album supports opening and editing photos. The program must be installed on your computer (it is not included in the OS).
In addition to Microsoft applications, a large number of third-party programs have been created for viewing and editing images. In this article we will look at the best free image viewer programs that have many additional built-in tools for working with graphic file formats.
Third-party photo viewers (viewers) can be used on your computer as an alternative to standard Windows tools. As the best free image viewer programs, I recommend paying attention to the following programs: FastStone Image Viewer, XnView, IrfanView, Ashampoo Photo Commander Free, Honeyview. These programs run in Russian on the Windows operating system.
These applications, in addition to basic functions, have tools for image editing. For more serious picture editing, you will need another program - an image editor (photo).
The best photo viewers, in addition to the viewing function, have additional features necessary for working with images on a computer. The programs have built-in tools to perform various operations with digital photographs or any other images: rotate, resize, remove red-eye, swatch, color correction, convert to other formats, send for printing, etc.
The free Picasa program (which would have been included in this review) was left out of the scope of this review due to the fact that Google stopped developing and supporting the application in 2016.
FastStone Image Viewer
FastStone Image Viewer is a powerful free program for viewing and processing images with a simple, intuitive interface. Built-in tools will help the user solve certain problems with photography: remove red-eye, change image size, apply color correction, convert files, etc.
A regular version of FastStone Image Viewer or a portable version of the program that does not require installation on a computer is available for download.
Key features of FastStone Image Viewer:
- Opening graphic files of major formats
- Editing digital photos and graphics files
- A large number of built-in tools for working with images
- Batch file processing
- Batch conversion to another format
- Creating a slide show with transitions and effects
- Preview function
XnView
XnView is a free program (for non-commercial use) for viewing images, multimedia files, and converting files to other formats. This is a high-quality program for managing photos on your computer. Thanks to the support of a large number of formats, in XnView, in addition to working with graphic files, for example, you can watch movies or listen to music.
The program has a simple interface, a large number of built-in tools, XnView will do an excellent job of processing and editing photos on a computer.
The user can download the regular or portable version of the application to the computer from the official XnView website.
Features of the XnView program:
- Supports more than 500 formats
- Photo editing
- Applying filters and effects
- Screen capture
- Batch conversion
- Editing metadata
- Convert files to 70 file formats
- Supports viewing video and audio files, archives, documents
- Creating a Slideshow
- Plugins are supported to expand the program's capabilities
IrfanView
IrfanView is a fast, free image viewer that consumes minimal computer resources. The program is one of the leaders in the number of downloads in the world for programs of this class. This indirect information tells us about the quality of the application, which is rated by users.
Honeyview is a free image viewer with a simple and intuitive interface. The program quickly opens graphic files, the application has tools for photo editing.
You can download it from the official website of the developer, as an installation file or as a portable version.
Honeyview program features:
- Supports a large number of graphic formats
- RAW format support
- Viewing images in archives
- View photos in slideshow mode
- Bookmark for favorite photos
- Support GPS data on photos
Conclusion
The user can choose the best photo viewer running on Windows for their computer. Free programs: FastStone Image Viewer, XnView, IrfanView, Ashampoo Photo Commander Free, Honeyview are among the best image viewers in this class of programs.
In our review, we decided to consider free applications for viewing digital images with high-quality functionality, extensive editing capabilities and good performance. A selection of the best programs for viewing photos will help you get to know the viewers in more detail and choose the one that will meet your requirements.
Rating of programs for viewing photos on a computer
| Programs | Russian language | License | Seal | Rating | LaunchSlide show |
| Yes | Free | Yes | 10 | Yes | |
| Yes | Free | Yes | 10 | Yes | |
| Yes | Free | Yes | 10 | Yes | |
| Yes | Free | Yes | 7 | No | |
| Yes | Trial | Yes | 10 | Yes | |
| Yes | Free | Yes | 10 | Yes | |
| Yes | Free | Yes | 6 | No | |
| Yes | Free | Yes | 8 | Yes | |
| Yes | Trial | Yes | 10 | No |
Free image viewers
A high-quality utility with editing functions for more than 100 graphic formats and conversion to convenient formats. Allows you to print images, create photo albums, burn photos to disk, protect photos in a directory with a password, batch rename and apply a large set of effects and tools.
The viewer is convenient and functional, has all the options for convenient viewing and high-quality processing. The user has access to settings for sepia, blur corners, rotate, resave, reduce, enlarge, etc. Modified pictures can be saved, printed or burned to discs. The functions of slide show, cataloging, setting up “hot keys” and adjusting the position of the material on the sheet are available. The only disadvantages of the editor are the English-language menu and a sufficient load on system resources.
The software allows you to conveniently view and edit images with high quality. Supports popular graphics formats, performs conversion, has RGB settings and batch processing. In the application, the user can create a business card and manipulate the image using a variety of effects.
Functions available include auto color enhancement, watermark installation, red-eye removal, and slide show creation using more than a hundred transitions, music, and effects. When editing a picture, you can change its name and size, remove fragments, adjust or change color, use a magnifying glass, and remove shadows. Also available are histogram building, tag processing, drag-and-drop file transfer, and JPEG file annotation.
This feature-rich utility's options allow you to view and edit images, import various files, convert objects to graphics formats, and print your finished work. The user has at his disposal more than 80 viewer actions, the use of high-quality tools and effects, import into hundreds of formats and conversion to various graphics formats.
The user can scan and print material without loss of quality, configure the desired appearance of the resulting picture, organize a slide show, screenshot a picture, create a web page and use search. The program can be integrated into the Total Commander shell using special plugins.
This Google utility was created for editing, organizing and processing images available on your PC. Picasa has tools for editing photos in comparison, using retouching and other tools to improve pictures.
Using the photo organizer, you can quickly find, view, improve and print material, create collages and slide shows using adjustments and effects. The photo editor scans a specific area of the system or hard drive, indexes the found video files and images for further sorting into visual albums organized by date. In addition, you can send photos and clips to Google+.
Multifunctional image viewers
A convenient application for structuring and organizing images according to various parameters, applying filters and effects, removing duplicates and downloading GPS tracks.
The viewer catalogs images according to selected parameters (location of shooting, date of photo creation, unsorted, marked, etc.), so the user can view the material in chronological order, distribute the image by geotags and create his own travel map. Sharing on social networks and smart search are available in Karambis.
The software works with images of most known formats and has functions for editing and conversion. Able to quickly open a file in different viewing modes, recognize audio and video content and expand capabilities by adding plugins.
The user has access to built-in editor options, opening little-known video and audio, batch conversion, inserting text, resizing a picture, extracting an image from an icon, and more. You can work in the utility via the keyboard, enable thumbnail preview and create screenshots.
The utility converts graphic images into the required format and size, supports popular and RAW digital camera formats, integrates into Windows and has a batch mode.
The converter allows you to quickly change the size of a photo, compress files, manage and process images, publish on the Web, send by mail, change expansion and compression, import from memory cards, set up templates for renaming and apply watermarks. There are versions for 32 and 64 different OS.
Developed by Nero for playing, burning to discs or searching for files in a media catalog. Allows you to edit pictures, create images in ISO and NRG formats, play Blu-Ray and HD movies, and record mp3 files.
Nero Quick Media works with most well-known formats and provides the ability to share material on social networks and video hosting sites. In the utility, the user can create a video presentation and slide show, as well as use a face recognition algorithm.
The multifunctional application allows you to view, organize and edit your photos. It has batch processing, an advanced editor, synchronizes photos with the Android version of the program, uploads material to online galleries and social networks.
Users who use Windows 7 may experience various problems when using the built-in tool of this OS to view photos. For example, the tool may not launch at all or may not open images of a certain format. Next, we will figure out exactly how you can fix various problems in the operation of this program.
Specific ways to resolve problems with the photo viewer depend on the nature of the problem and the cause of its occurrence. The main factors that can cause the malfunction under study include the following:
- File association changes or extension identification failure;
- Virus infection of the system;
- Damage to system files;
- Registry errors.
If the tool does not start at all, there is a high probability that its files are damaged due to a virus infection or other failure. Therefore, first of all, check your system for viruses using an antivirus utility. By the way, there is also a possibility that the malicious code simply replaced the extension of image files (PNG, JPG, etc.) with EXE and that is why photo viewing applications cannot open them.
Then be sure to scan your system for file corruption using the built-in utility.
If none of these general scanning methods reveal problems, move on to the specific photo viewer troubleshooting options below.
Method 1: Set up file associations
There is a possibility that the cause of the problem lies in a failure in the file association settings. That is, the system simply does not understand which objects the photo viewer should open. This situation could arise when you installed a third-party image viewer, but then uninstalled it. In this case, during installation it rewrote the associations of the image files to itself, and after deleting they simply were not returned to their original state. Then you need to make a manual adjustment.
- Click the button "Start" in the lower left corner of the screen and select "Control Panel".
- Next, open the section "Programs".
- Click on the item "Matching file types...".
- A list of all file types registered in the system will be loaded. Find in it the name of the extension of the type of image that you want to open using the viewer, select it and click "Change program...".
- In the window that appears in the block "Recommended Programs" select the name "Viewing photos..." and click "OK".
- After this the mapping will change. Now this type of image will be opened by default using the Windows photo viewer. Similarly, change the associations of all those types of images that you want to open through a standard tool. After completing the necessary actions, you can exit the mapping management window by clicking "Close".
Method 2: Editing the Registry
If you are using a 64-bit version of Windows 7, the problem with the photo viewer can be solved by editing the system registry.
Attention! Before performing any of the following steps, be sure to create a registry backup and a system restore point. This will help you avoid big troubles in case of mistakes.
- Dial Win+R and enter the command in the window that opens:
Click the button "OK".
- In the window that appears, open a thread "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT".
- First make settings for files with the JPG extension. Move sequentially to the sections:
jpegfile/Shell/open/command
- Then find the parameter "Default" on the right side of the interface. Click on it.
- In the only field of the window that opens, instead of the current entry, enter the following expression:
Click "OK".
- Next, you should do a similar procedure for images with the PNG extension. In the directory "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT" go through the sections:
pngfile/Shell/open/command
- Reopen the object "Default" In chapter "command".
- Change the parameter value to the following:
rundll32.exe "C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\shimgvw.dll", ImageView_Fullscreen %1
Click "OK".
- Finally, you should follow the procedure for specifying a collation for images with a JPEG extension. Go to directories "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT" by sections:
PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.Jpeg/Shell/open/command
- Open the object in the last named section "Default".
- Change its value to this:
rundll32.exe "C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\shimgvw.dll", ImageView_Fullscreen %1
Click "OK".
- Then close the window "Editor" and reboot the system. After a restart, images with the above extensions will be opened through a standard photo viewer using the second version of the shimgvw.dll library. This should solve the problem with the functionality of this program on Windows 7 64-bit version.
Problems with the built-in photo viewer not working can be caused by a number of different reasons. Each of them has its own solution algorithm. In addition, the specific method depends on the bitness of the operating system. But in most cases, problems can be resolved by updating the file type associations.
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FastStone Image Viewer is a fast, stable and user-friendly viewer, editor and converter. FastStone Image Viewer has a nice set of features, including viewing, comparing and resizing images, red-eye removal, and color management (reduction and adjustment).
FastStone Image Viewer features an innovative yet intuitive full-screen viewing mode, a convenient thumbnail browser, and quick access to essential tools through hidden toolbars that pop up when the mouse touches the four edges of the screen.
version: 4.54 from December 13, 2019A free application for viewing images with the ability to edit them, which allows you to take screenshots, view photos in slideshow mode, and open video and audio files.
Initially, IrfanView was conceived as a regular photo viewer. But then the creators decided to add some functionality to it, thereby increasing the popularity of the product. Let's take the latest version of IrfanView and take a closer look at what they came up with.
version: 2.49.2 from December 13, 2019XnView is a powerful photo viewer that includes some editing tools. With its help, you can organize convenient viewing of pictures, change the format of selected files, improve sharpness and brightness, add a watermark, and also create a photo gallery for a web page.
If you are planning to show your friends photos from your trip to Thailand or prepare a photo gallery for your website, it is best to do this with XnView - downloading this multifunctional application will be very useful in such cases. Indeed, in addition to creating conditions for comfortable viewing, the program will also allow you to edit images in just a couple of clicks.
version: 3.9.14.259 from November 06, 2015A smart application from Google that will allow you not only to find and organize images on your computer, but also to improve them. At your service is a chic set of popular photo editing tools, as well as several basic tools for video processing.
First of all, Picasa is known as an advanced graphics file organizer. You don't have to search all over your computer for a specific photo. Add tags to images or entire folders and sort them the way you want, not just by date. In addition, you will provide yourself with quick access to pictures - thanks to a kind of library located on the left side of the interface and search tools.