FastStone MaxView is a compact image viewer for Windows from FastStone. It opens pictures in all the common graphic formats. It reads photos stored inside ZIP, RAR and 7-Zip archives without unpacking them. It also handles comic book files. Alongside viewing, it can rotate, resize, crop, annotate and print images. MaxView is paid software with a 30-day trial. After the trial, it requires a one-time license.
A viewer that keeps the image in front
The FastStone MaxView window gives most of the screen to the picture. Menus and toolbars hide automatically and reappear when needed. A full-screen mode offers several zoom options for fitting or enlarging the image. A single click opens a magnifier that enlarges the area under the cursor for checking fine detail. You can adjust its behaviour in the settings.
An information panel shows the details of the current file, including the EXIF data a camera writes into a photo, such as its shooting settings. Navigation relies heavily on hotkeys: you can step through images, copy, move, rename, delete and rotate them from the keyboard. MaxView also supports the mouse wheel. On touchscreens, MaxView responds to tap, swipe and pinch gestures.
Browsing photos inside archives
In MaxView, you can open a ZIP, RAR or 7-Zip file through File > Open. You can also use the Browse with MaxView command in the Windows Explorer right-click menu. Its folder structure and thumbnails appear in a pane on the left. You can zoom or scroll through the pictures, or play them as a slideshow.
MaxView supports password-protected archives using 128-bit or 256-bit AES encryption. MaxView asks for the password before showing anything, then displays the photos without extracting them to disk. The program leaves no temporary copies behind when it closes. The private pictures therefore stay only inside the encrypted archive.
Comic book files
The same archive handling extends to digital comics. FastStone MaxView reads CBR, CBZ and CB7 files. These are RAR, ZIP and 7-Zip archives of page images. You can therefore page through a comic with the viewer’s zoom and full-screen controls.
Corrections and markup
In MaxView, you can rotate and crop JPEG files losslessly. This means the image is not recompressed and does not lose quality. You can also resize images and annotate them with text, arrowed lines and highlights. Undo and redo cover these edits. For heavier work, a hotkey sends the current image to an external editor chosen by the user.
Supported formats and camera RAW
FastStone MaxView loads JPEG, JPEG 2000, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, PCX, TGA, WMF, EMF, ICO, CUR, PPM, HEIC and WebP images. It also opens RAW files from digital cameras, including ARW, CRW, CR2, DNG, MRW, NEF, NRW, ORF, PEF, RAF, RW2, SRF, SRW, SR2 and X3F.
Saving works with a slightly different list: JPEG, JPEG 2000, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, PCX, TGA and WebP, plus PDF. The program can also acquire new images directly from a camera or scanner.
Slideshows, wallpaper and printing
You can play a folder or archive as a slideshow with a choice of more than 150 transition effects and background music. You can set any picture as the Windows desktop wallpaper from inside MaxView and send images to a printer.
Installer and portable copy
FastStone MaxView is available as both a regular installed program and a portable package. The portable package runs from any folder, including a USB drive, without installation. The program contains no adware or spyware.
