The native Windows Photos app has come a long way with features like slideshows, image editing features and sharing. But it still misses things like geo-tags and map view, can’t customize the UI, batch and advanced editing features, and sometimes, it’s still slow. I tested several free photo viewer apps for Windows that offer different and unique features.
Note: We will not discuss the features already present in Windows Photos. Instead, the focus will be on the features you don’t get and the different use cases that are appropriate for each application.
1. Irfan View – Ease of use and popular
Irfan View needs no introduction. It is an old and popular image viewer application that is easy to use and offers good features. I was surprised to see the good old Paint dialog box with all the Windows Paint tools tucked away in a corner.
Irfan is a light app with view Over 50 plugins For various features. So you can choose and customize whatever you want in your UI. Some examples include editing metadata, opening music, video or PDF files, different file formats, burning, face detection and more.
What you get: An old and reliable image viewer and editor that is feature-packed but can also be customized to your liking.
What you don’t get: No tabbed view, navigate within folders, dated UI.
2. QuickLook – Look quickly without opening
MacBook users know what I’m talking about. QuickLook mimics the image viewing capabilities of macOS. You can quickly preview any image saved anywhere without opening the file. Simply press the spacebar to view a preview.
Helpful if you have a lot of images saved and can’t separate the images. Other advanced image viewers are also to be used.
What you get: An open source image viewer that saves time.
What you don’t get: This image viewer app is not designed to carry features. It does one thing and it does it best.
Pro tip: Want to share your before and after pictures? Here’s how to join two photos side by side on Windows.
3. XnView MP – Supports all file formats
XnView is another popular and free Windows image viewer application. It supports View over 500 and write over 70 different image file formats. I threw some weird files I downloaded from the internet at it and it opened them just fine. What I didn’t like was the Windows 7-era UI but hey! It’s quick and easy.
Selecting or opening an image will display all types of image data such as Properties, EXIF, etc., neatly organized in tabs. While the UI is vintage, it is functional and simple. It’s easy to find what you’re looking for.
What you get: Extensive support for image formats, tabbed view for viewing/editing multiple images, adding text and watermarks, changing metadata and tags, viewing detailed image data sets, etc.
What you don’t get: No AI-powered image editing, geo-tags, modern and content UI.
4. Geophoto – View photos on a map
Love to travel? Who doesn’t. Love taking photos while traveling? Who isn’t!!! GeoPhoto will map all your photos on a map based on where you were when the photo was clicked. Just open the app, select the photo folder and done.
A great way to visualize all the places you’ve been in the recent past. The banner ad at the top will lead to the developer’s site and will be removed if you opt for the premium plan.
Supports map layers, searches photos by location in the free version. A one-time fee of $10.99 will remove ads, allow unlimited photo imports, and add support for more file types like .kml and .kmz, and you can add geo-tags to photos that already have them.
What you get: View photos on a map and add geo-tags to non-existent photos.
What you don’t get: No more editing options.
Cool tip: Prefer to upload photos to Instagram? Here’s how to make a photo square without cropping it.
5. Fast UI with a modern look – it’s a tie
Two other image viewer apps that you should consider and like are Visum and ImageGlass. They are not packed with features but what they do, they do best. Both the Windows image viewers below follow the latest Material UI design with a modern look and dark theme. They are extremely lightweight and fast with minimal editing features.
Visam Image Viewer:
ImageGlass Image Viewer:
If your primary purpose is to view images and you don’t care much about editing tools, these two image viewers are fantastic. ImageGlass has more themes and icon packs while Visum lets you crop, enhance and resize images. Both are free and open source.
They were both designed to shuffle through images light and fast, even in large folders. I personally like Visum more for its gallery view. ImageGlass shows images at the bottom where the thumbnails are too small for my liking but makes it easy to scroll without closing the open image.
What you get: Material design, dark theme, gallery view, fast and light, support most popular image formats.
What you don’t get: Editing options are pretty basic.
There are many other photo viewing apps for Windows but they offer similar features and UI in a different theme. If you think we missed something, contact us on X/Twitter.
By the way, did you know you can make the background transparent in Windows Photos?