Like VLC but for images? (Win11) (lemmy.ml)

submitted 2 days ago by PiraHxCx@lemmy.ml to c/foss@beehaw.org

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Looking for an open-source alternative for image viewing so I can get rid of the AI‑embedded Windows Photos. I did some research and I'm trying IrfanView, but it needs separate plugins for AVIF, WebP, etc. Nomacs' last update was 2020. I'm going to try ImageGlass and XnView, but I wonder if there is some software that's more widely recommended - like VLC, but for images.

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[-] Geodad@beehaw.org 1 points 15 hours ago

Ente

[-] jagermo@feddit.org 28 points 2 days ago

Try IrfanView, it has been around forever and simply works.

[-] belated_frog_pants@beehaw.org 7 points 2 days ago

Plus 1, it does the job and stays out of the way

[-] TDCN@feddit.dk 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Not open source but freeware and really simple and powerful. Absolutely no BS program and it just gets right to the business.

https://www.faststone.org/

I've used it for years on Windows. I wish there was a similar program for Linux thats just freaking works.

Forgot to mention that it is stupid farst since it preloads images into memory so it can display images instantly hence the name. Perfect for browsing network shares. I only used the faststone image viewer, so not sure how the other programs work but I'm sure they are great too.

[-] harmbugler@piefed.social 5 points 1 day ago

Open Source Microsoft Photos Alternatives

[-] PiraHxCx@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago

Thanks. I tested a few and so far I favor PicView (haven't tested ImageGlass yet). A lot of people recommend nomacs, I find it kind of weird because it technically doesn't even support Win11 since its last update was 2020, before Win11's release (Win11 isn't even listed on its site). I wonder if there haven't been any codec updates since then for nomacs to still rank so high.

[-] Sina@beehaw.org 4 points 1 day ago

I don't know if Irfan View is open source or not, but it is free & it's perfect for viewing & quick simple edits. Sometimes I fire up a VM to run it on Linux for some niche tasks.

[-] FlareHeart@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 days ago

I haven't needed one since I somehow managed to uninstall the new one and downgraded it to the Windows 7 version of the photo viewer, but ImageGlass looks nice!

[-] InfiniteKrebs@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago

I really like nomacs: https://nomacs.org/

[-] ISOmorph@feddit.org 7 points 1 day ago

It helps to read the post body as well

this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2025

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