12 Best Photo Viewers for Windows 10 [2025]

Continuing the exploration of the best photo viewers for Windows 10, I turned my attention to Apowersoft Photo Viewer. This software is well-known in editing software circles where I often dwell. It is a free program for Windows. What can it do? Well, it allows you to view images, videos, and audio files. It is particularly focused on opening Apple's HEIC format, which attests to its popularity.

The app supports standard and professional formats: JPEG, PNG, TIFF, PSD, CDR, HEIC, and RAW. It doubles as a PDF reader, which saves installing extra software. The interface stays simple and responsive. Efficient computing tech lets images open almost instantly.

One evening, I needed to review a set of client files that included PSD layers and RAW shots. Opening them was smooth, and scrolling through long vertical images felt natural. I could read PDFs alongside images without leaving the app. Switching between file types without extra software really simplified my workflow.

At this point, you may be wondering why I decided to include FastStone on my list of the best photo viewer tools. Yes, it does look a bit charmless. But its capabilities are really on par with those of modern and popular brands. And it’s updated quite often, with new revamps coming up pretty stably.

So, FastStone reads almost every format, including RAW sets from different cameras, and it keeps everything inside a layout that feels familiar to anyone who knows Windows Explorer. At first glance, the interface feels legacy. Then you open a photo, and the hidden tools appear around the frame.

You can crop, tweak color, clean up red-eye, or prepare a batch conversion. The four-image comparison grid helped me more than I expected. I placed similar shots next to each other and checked sharpness by zooming in and out on all four at once. Fullscreen mode stays tidy. Menus slide in only when the cursor touches the edges.

Slideshows come with music support and more than 150 transitions. The program handles everything from BMP and GIF to CR2 and DNG, and it loads folders with hundreds of files quickly. Some users call the design old-fashioned, and I see what they mean, yet updates continue to arrive and keep the tool reliable.

IrfanView has stayed lean for decades, and that still shows in the latest version on the official site. It works on everything from XP to Windows 11 in both 32 and 64-bit. The interface may look old, yet the toolset includes RAW support, multipage TIFF editing, lossless JPEG rotation, a paint panel, dark mode, and several plug-ins. The developer updates it often. Release notes confirm new fixes, codec updates, and UI tweaks added in just November 2025.

It doubles as a very fast Windows picture viewer replacement, with full-screen mode that hides menus until you touch the edges. Batch conversion, multipage editing, file search, icon extraction, and Photoshop filter support make it a flexible photo viewer for Windows 11. Many people like how it runs from a single EXE without changing the registry unless you allow it.

My use case was interesting. One evening, I needed to sort a mixed folder of RAW portraits, a stack of TIFF scans, and some old ICO assets. IrfanView handled everything without slowing the PC. I switched through hundreds of files faster than with most built-in tools. The batch rename and the quick EXIF check helped me tidy the session. Nothing crashed. Nothing felt heavy.

My list of reliable viewers continues with XnView because the program covers nearly every format in one place, and it does enable you to view, manage, resize, and edit your photos. The software actually comes in two versions, MP and Classic, and both focus on one thing: helping you open, review, and organize images quickly on Windows 10.

XnView reads an enormous list of file types, from simple JPG and PNG to RAW, HEIC, PSD, DNG, and many others, so even unusual camera files open without trouble.

What I like most is how flexible the viewing modes feel. I switch between thumbnails, a filmstrip, or full screen depending on the folder I’m sorting, and the interface stays clear even with hundreds of photos loaded.

The built-in editing tools let me crop, rotate, resize, or fix basic colors, which helps when I’m doing a fast pass through a big shoot. Batch processing also works well: renaming whole sets, changing resolutions, or converting formats takes only a few clicks.

For me, the biggest advantage is the format support. More than 500 image types open smoothly, and the program stays stable even when I throw large RAW folders at it. Combined with quick batch tasks and simple navigation tabs, XnView makes long organizing sessions far less painful.

Next on my list is NoMacs. It is a free, open-source photo viewing app that works across Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Mac, and even OS/2. This little tool supports most standard image formats, plus RAW and layered PSD files.

The interface has gallery views for browsing large libraries and tools for basic editing like cropping, rotating, resizing, and color adjustment. You can even synchronize multiple viewers so zooming or panning in one window mirrors the others. The latest version 3.16 was brought to this world on 2024-12-20; it adds better RAW support and interface tweaks.

So, I put NoMacs through its paces. I was going through a folder of PSD mockups and wanted to spot subtle differences. Opening two windows side by side, I could move through layers and zoom in on details without losing alignment. That saved me a lot of time deciding which assets were ready for export. Later, I batch-rotated and resized several hundred JPEGs for a client preview, which worked faster than I expected.

So the line of the photo viewer solution continues with the well-liked Google Photos. Google Photos is a service that works as a web-based photo viewing app (and mobile) that runs fine on Windows 10 via browser with no install needed. The 2025 update added a refreshed “Recap” feature: the app builds a highlight reel of your year’s photos and videos. The recap now shows your total photo count, most-photographed people or places, and even a selfie count.

You can hide certain faces or pictures and regenerate the recap if you like more privacy or want a cleaner version. Simple editing tools remain: you can adjust brightness or color, apply presets, and export or share images quickly.

Last week, I used Google Photos to gather all selfies, landscape shots, and scan uploads from my old phone. The new Recap built a quick year-in-photos video I could watch and share with friends. I hid a few private screenshots before sharing. Then I used the built-in editor to adjust contrast and detail in a few JPEGs, and sent them directly to a friend – no need to download or open a heavy editor.

My collection of top-tier Windows 10 photo viewing apps is graced with Ashampoo Photo Commander. A free suite that moves between viewing, sorting, and simple editing without slowing me down…

It runs on Windows 7 through 10. For a user, it offers a familiar layout with side panels, minimaps for large images, and a clean full-screen mode that works well as a replacement for the built-in Windows picture viewer.

Ashampoo opens JPEG, PNG, TIFF, RAW, and many other formats. It has a good reputation as an all-in-one software for managing, editing, and organizing digital images. This little program covers practical tools for browsing and managing large libraries, batch renaming, quick color correction, and a set of effects that stay easy to control.

It also includes small conveniences, like wizards for calendars, greeting cards, and collages. The slideshow mode offers calm transitions and works well when you need a simple display app for a PC.

I also want to speak a little about the latest news from this project. Ashampoo Photo Commander 19 is here. It beefs up your photo security with automatic encryption and lightning-fast organization features like the new "Where?/When?" view. Plus, it’s updated for all your modern files (WebP included). So, managing and editing your memories has become smoother than ever.

This brand does deserve to be mentioned in my roundup of the best photo viewer programs. Excire Foto. It is an AI-powered photo and video organizer for your computer (Windows or Mac) that helps you quickly sort, find, and manage large collections of media files.

The greatest aspect of this Windows 11 photo viewer is that it saves you from manually tagging every single photo. Instead, the software uses artificial intelligence to automatically analyze and label your images (e.g., with keywords like "beach" or "smiling people"). Thanks to this utility, it becomes easy to find pictures later through simple searches or by asking for "similar photos". It runs entirely offline on your local machine, prioritizing privacy and speed.

I want to let you know about the latest buzz. Excire Foto has just been prominently nominated for the 2025 Photography News Awards! Plus, they're currently running great promotions for the fancy new 2026 plugin.

I wanted to see the true nature of Excire Foto’s AI in action. I tried it last weekend on a mixed batch of 5,000 vacation photos and a few RAW files. I typed “beach sunset” and instantly got 120 matching shots. Then I picked “no blur, people smiling,” and it filtered portraits cleanly. Finally, I exported the top 50 as JPEGs for sharing. The whole process took maybe ten minutes – much faster than manual sorting.

Microsoft Photos pulls together images and videos from your PC, phone, and cloud accounts into a single gallery. You can view them by date, folder, or album. Basic edits are quick: crop, rotate, adjust brightness or contrast, apply filters, and even draw on your photos. OneDrive sync backs everything up automatically. On Windows 11, you can connect iCloud too. The app now reads text from images with OCR, so you can copy it or search online in a snap. Video trimming works right in the app, and for more complex editing, it opens projects straight in Clipchamp.

Recent updates to the Microsoft Photos include AI-powered editing tools like Generative Erase and a text extractor, alongside Copilot integration. These newnesses make it faster to find, edit, and organize photos. Cloud services now tie in more smoothly.

So, not so long ago, I tried organizing a mix of family and travel shots. I grouped images by date and applied quick edits to 30 JPEGs. The AI erase worked surprisingly well on unwanted background objects. I then exported a short slideshow video and shared it across my devices. Everything took under twenty minutes and stayed smooth on my PC.

I’m close to the end of my research and want to mention this intriguing software. ImageGlass keeps things simple but covers a lot of ground. It is touted as a lightweight and versatile image viewer software packed with basic functions and a nice, minimal interface.

It covers over 90 formats, reading from JPEG and PNG to HEIC, SVG, and many RAW types. The interface is customizable with themes and language packs. Basic editing tools like crop, flip, rotate, resize, and a color picker are in place, too. You can convert images between formats without leaving the app.

The recent update celebrates the 15th anniversary of the project and brings a handful of interesting features. Namely, it added a new crop tool and a color picker that handles more formats. Also, it improved slideshow mode and startup boost for faster launches. Now, you can also view live photos and work with individual color channels.

I tested ImageGlass by quickly reviewing a batch of vacation photos in JPEG and PNG. The app opened everything instantly. I flipped a few images, cropped a couple, and converted some PNGs to JPEG for sharing. The minimalist interface made these small edits fast and hassle-free.

BandiView is the finale of my story devoted to the best photo viewers for Windows 10 and 11. It is the succeeding image viewer to Honeyview: it inherits everything cool of its predecessor and also gets improved even further.

BandiView accommodates a galore of formats, from JPG and PNG to HEIC, RAW, PSD, and even Clip Studio Paint files. HDR support brings a wider range of brightness and color when your system allows it.

The webtoon mode is perfect for scrolling vertically long images – it lets you follow comics or storyboards without extra clicks. You can also convert multiple images at once, 10 times faster than most other converters. Archives like ZIP, RAR, or CBZ open directly without extraction.

I used BandiView to quickly sort through hundreds of vacation photos stored inside a ZIP file without extracting them first. The program loaded every image instantly and the webtoon view mode made scrolling through my vertical panorama shots seamless. It was incredibly fast and much smoother than using the default Windows Photo Viewer.