greymule Loc: Colorado

Why does one use irfanview?

What is good for?

Is it worth the disc space?

Bill_de Loc: US

I use it to preview my images after download. It reads my jpg and raw. Draw a quick box to zoom in on any part of the image. This is where I delete all the misses. I don't use the editing features, but use the "open in" selection to open the image in one of three programs that I use. However, over the years they have added quite a bit to basic editing features.

It is a very small program. The original version was so small you could include it on a 3 1/2" floppy, along with some images.

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jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I consider it a "Must-Have." I've been using it for year as my default photo viewer. It's great for making batch changes and converting to different file types. It's the best program I've found for removing spots and small unwanted things in an image. It's also the best program I've found for leveling an image.

I know I've only scratched the surface with this program, but for the price ($0.00) and it's functionality, I see no reason not to use it.

If you download it, get the plug-ins. By pressing I or E while an image is displayed, you get loads of info about it.

lsaguy Loc: Udall, KS, USA

Been using it for almost 15 years now. Very capable and easy to learn. One fault, it won't deal with RAW images.

a6k Loc: Detroit & Sanibel

I have not used it much since I switched to Mac but still have it on my wife's PC. It's my go-to program on Windows for quick viewing. It's great stuff and deserving of a contribution. However, although it can show you an image from a raw file very well, I am 99% sure it is only using the embedded JPG and not the actual raw image.

I recommend FastRawViewer for looking at the raw image as it is.

FL Streetrodder

I, too, have used this program for many years for certain editing features it offers and accomplishes better than my go to program Photoshop Elements. I especially like the resizing feature and its ability to convert a scanned negative into a photo that can then be edited.

lamontcranston

Excellent program. I've used it for many years. Primarily as a Viewer and simple editing.

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

I find it handy to have, it sometimes opens or saves something that is difficult with other larger programs, good viewer, good info finder about shots, overall a good tool to have available for those occasions when it's needed, probably would not buy if I had to pay for it though.

BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

It's a free image viewer that also does some minor editing, resizing and so on. I used it since it's first release, many years ago. I have recently (a few years ago) switched to FastStone which is also a free image viewer. I like FastStone a lot, but both are good viewers. I still have IfranView on my PC, but pretty much leave it alone. Both are free and are to my knowledge, the best standalone image viewers out there.

Windows however now insists on making it's lousy, piece of crap Photo viewer the default viewer, no matter how many times you change it to something else. I think you need to go into windows crazy registry mess to make it stop...

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

I use FastStone Image Viewer (free) to peruse my RAW images. For those I want to keep, I transfer to Photoshop CC, process and save to my dedicated internal photo drive.
I love FastStone!!
Mark

fjdarling Loc: Mesa, Arizona, USA

I've used Irfanview for quite a few years, even before I got into photography 3 years ago. It is very handy and quick for viewing many file types, including RAW files from many Nikon models. I know it won't read Nikon's "Z"models' RAW files. As others have said, it can perform basic editing, resizing and conversions. Does not do advanced editing like masking and layers as far as I know. I'm still learning its capabilities.

Anhanga Brasil Loc: Cabo Frio - Brazil

I do not remember the first time I used it.
I am still using it, though.
That is a fine piece of free software for fast
corrections.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I have probably been using it for more than 20 years now.
It's my primary image viewer. Works on many different formats. The primary reason I started using it was that it was fast. Other viewers would have to load a program, then import the image file and display it. Sometimes they took 10 seconds to do that. IrfanView took a fraction of a second from double click to viewing. Of course the image files were smaller 20 years ago so now it takes longer to view really large files, but it's still quicker than loading some large program in addition to the file.

IrfanView also has some useful features. Cropping and saving in a different image format are simple. You can add text overlays to an image fairly easily. You can edit colors to some extent but I don't find that particularly useful since when I have color problems they are usually white balance issues that take adjustment of different colors simultaneously, and IrfanView edits colors individually. It does contact strips. I occasionally use the edge detection feature to produce line drawings. You can look at EXIF data using IrfanView.

You can sequence through a folder using the spacebar and backspace (or right and left arrow) keys very quickly. When you're done, esc closes everything.

A lot of people use FastStone to do similar things. I learned about FastStone many years after getting hooked on IrfanView. I tried it out and didn't find that it did anything better so I kept using IrfanView.

Peterb6419

Agreed, but my version of IrfanView does read Nikon Z6 NEF files. I like this software as an initial viewing/basic color correction tool. Not useful for handling a large number of images as Lightroom does.

rlv567 Loc: Baguio City, Philippines

Irfanview is a very small program in today's software world, at only 52 MB. On my Windows PC, I have had it set as my default viewer - performing flawlessly for years; I do have "all" the others - some of which are functional - which I might use occasionally. I do not do editing with Irfanview, but find it indispensable for very quick and easy file and EXIF viewing, and occasionally saving as a different file type. It is one of my "go to" programs - it's updated regularly, and totally free!

Loren - in Beautiful Baguio City