IrfanView is an image viewer for Windows that also edits pictures, converts file formats and processes groups of files. It combines a single-image window with a thumbnail browser, so the same collection can be inspected one picture at a time or selected for conversion, printing and presentation.
IrfanView is free for private, non-commercial use, educational institutions and charity or humanitarian organizations. Use at a workplace or for commercial purposes requires a purchased license.
Image browsing
Opening a picture lets you move through other images in its folder without returning to a file picker. Display options fit a picture to the window or show it at its original pixel dimensions. When a zoomed image extends beyond the window, mouse panning moves across the parts outside the visible area. IrfanView also displays animated GIFs and multipage TIFF files.
The thumbnail window provides a different way to work with a folder. Pictures can be sorted by their EXIF capture dates, and individual files can be tagged while browsing, then brought together as a selected group. This selection becomes the input for operations such as printing or lossless JPEG transformations.
Pixel editing
A rectangular selection controls which part of an image is cropped or receives an effect. Custom selections can use an exact size or aspect ratio, allowing a crop to match a particular photo shape. Resize and resample controls change the image dimensions, while sharpening, blur and color-depth changes alter its appearance or representation.
IrfanView’s Paint tools add arrows, lines and shapes, and can straighten an image. Text and image overlays support captions and watermarks. Expanding the canvas creates space outside the original picture, such as a strip beneath a photo for a caption. Inserted text becomes part of the image pixels; changing it requires undoing the insertion and adding the replacement rather than reopening an editable text object.
IrfanView’s lossless JPEG tools
IrfanView separates ordinary image editing from lossless JPEG operations. Its JPEG tools rotate or crop a photograph without the usual process of saving a freshly compressed image. The thumbnail window can apply these operations to several selected JPEGs together. Automatic rotation uses the photograph’s EXIF orientation information, so it depends on that information being present and correct.
The same JPEG tools edit IPTC information and comments without recompressing the picture. A comment or IPTC entry from the first selected image can be applied to the rest of a selection. EXIF date changes and embedded thumbnail updates provide further ways to maintain the information stored with photographs.
Batch conversion
For an individual conversion, Save As chooses the destination format, filename and folder. JPEG output includes quality controls, with higher quality generally producing a larger file. IrfanView reads and saves common formats including JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF and TIFF; reading a format does not always mean it can save back to that format. PSD, for example, is supported for reading.
Batch conversion takes a list of input files and applies shared output settings. Advanced options extend the job beyond changing the file extension: images can be resized, given extra canvas space or marked with text.
Conversion and renaming can run together, with output directed to a chosen folder. Placeholders can derive destination folders from the original location or the photograph’s capture date, allowing a collection to be converted and arranged in the same operation.
Additional plugins extend format support to camera RAW files and formats such as WebP and JPEG XL. RAW loading offers embedded-preview, half-size and full-image choices, which affect how much image data is loaded. Some formats also depend on codecs or extensions available in Windows.
Slideshows
IrfanView builds a slideshow from selected files or an imported text file containing their paths. Slides can show EXIF information, IPTC text or comments, with transition effects between pictures. MP3 files added to the list provide background sound through the audio plugin. Presentations can be saved as an MP4 video, a standalone executable or a screensaver.
Screen capture, scanning and contact sheets
Images can also enter IrfanView through screen capture or a TWAIN scanner. Region capture selects a rectangle of the screen, while batch scanning supports repeated acquisitions. For paper output, the thumbnail window can print selected pictures individually or turn them into contact-sheet images that can be saved or printed.
