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Windows Photo Viewer

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Windows Photo Viewer
Developer(s)Microsoft
Operating system
PredecessorImaging for Windows, Windows Photo Gallery
SuccessorMicrosoft Photos
LicenseProprietary
Websitewindows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/View-and-use-your-pictures-in-Windows-Photo-Viewer Edit this on Wikidata

Windows Photo Viewer (formerly Windows Picture and Fax Viewer)[1] is an image viewer included with the Windows NT family of operating systems. It was first included with Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 under its former name. It was temporarily replaced with Windows Photo Gallery in Windows Vista,[2] but was reinstated in Windows 7.[3] This program succeeds Imaging for Windows. In Windows 10 and Windows 11, it is deprecated in favor of a Universal Windows Platform app called Photos, although it can be brought back with a registry tweak.[4]

Windows Photo Viewer can show individual pictures, display all pictures in a folder as a slide show, reorient them in 90° increments, print them either directly or via an online print service, send them in e-mail or burn them to a disc.[3][5][6] Windows Photo Viewer supports images in BMP, JPEG, JPEG XR (formerly HD Photo), PNG, ICO, GIF and TIFF file formats.[7]

Evolution

Compared to Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, changes have been made to the graphical user interface in Windows Photo Viewer.[citation needed]

Whereas Windows Picture and Fax Viewer uses GDI+,[8] Windows Photo Viewer uses Windows Imaging Component (WIC)[9] and takes advantage of Windows Display Driver Model.[10]

Although GIF files are supported in Windows Photo Viewer, whereas Windows Picture and Fax Viewer displays animated GIFs, Windows Photo Viewer only displays the first frame.[11] Windows Picture and Fax Viewer was also capable of viewing multi-page TIFF files, (except those that employ JPEG compression)[12] as well as annotating the TIFF files.[13][14] Windows Photo Viewer, on the other hand, has added support for JPEG XR file format[7] and ICC profiles.[15][16]

Bugs

Some devices and Android phones are able to take photos and screenshots and have a custom ICC Profile being applied to said pictures, however Windows Photo Viewer will display an error when trying to display the picture with the message "Windows Photo Viewer can't display this picture because there might not be enough memory available on your computer." when an unknown ICC Profile is detected. There is a patch that is available on GitHub that fixes this behavior.[17]

Also, regarding ICC Profiles, when a custom Display ICC Profile is applied after installing a Monitor driver, Windows Photo Viewer wrongly shifts the picture hue to a warm tint. This feature is intentional but is greatly exaggerated. This can be fixed by removing or replacing the Display ICC Profile.[18]

In Windows 10 and Windows 11

In support documentation, Microsoft states that Windows Photo Viewer is not part of Windows 10, and a user still has it only if they upgraded from Windows 7 or 8.1.[19] However, it can be brought back in Windows 10 and Windows 11 with registry editing, by adding the appropriate entries ("capabilities") in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Photo Viewer\Capabilities\FileAssociations. It is also possible to restore the Preview option in the context menu.

Windows Photo Viewer itself remains built-in, and is set as default for the Tag Image File Format files (.tif).[4][20][21]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Windows Picture and Fax Viewer overview". Windows XP Professional Product Documentation. Microsoft Corporation. Archived from the original on 2 December 2010. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
  2. ^ "What happened to the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer?". Windows Vista Help & How-to. Microsoft Corporation. Archived from the original on 9 June 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2010.
  3. ^ a b "View and use your pictures in Windows Photo Viewer". Windows 7 Help & How-to. Microsoft Corporation. Archived from the original on 5 January 2008. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
  4. ^ a b Tkachenko, Sergey (31 July 2015). "How get Windows Photo Viewer working in Windows 10". winaero.com. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  5. ^ "Windows Photo Viewer slideshow turns secondary monitor black". Microsoft TechNet Forums. Microsoft Corporation. 5 February 2010. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  6. ^ "How to Run the Windows Photo Viewer Slide Show on a Secondary Monitor". WindowsSevenForums Tutorials. Designer Media Ltd. 2 October 2010. Archived from the original on 18 January 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  7. ^ a b Understanding Picture File Types Archived 17 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ "Microsoft Security Bulletin MS11-029 – Critical". docs.microsoft.com. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  9. ^ "Introduction (How to Write a WIC-Enabled Codec) (Windows)". Microsoft Developer Network. Microsoft Corporation. 22 November 2010. Archived from the original on 28 December 2010. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  10. ^ "Windows Vista Display Driver Model". Microsoft Developer Network. Microsoft Corporation. July 2006. Archived from the original on 23 February 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  11. ^ Zhu, Sean (1 June 2010). "Why does Windows Picture Viewer does not show animated GIFs?". TechNet forum. Microsoft Corporation. Archived from the original on 24 November 2010. Retrieved 24 November 2010. Q: I have noticed that in Windows 7, the Windows Picture viewer only displays the first frame of an animated GIF. Why is this? [~snip~] A: Hi, this is by design.
  12. ^ You Cannot View TIFF Images Using Windows Picture and Fax Viewer Archived 4 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ "Windows Picture and Fax Viewer Annotation overview". Windows XP Professional Product Documentation. Microsoft Corporation. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
  14. ^ "Annotation toolbar overview". Windows XP Professional Product Documentation. Microsoft Corporation. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
  15. ^ "Delete Calibrated Display Profile to Increase Speed of Windows 7 Photo Viewer". My Digital Life. 24 January 2010. Archived from the original on 27 January 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  16. ^ "Windows Vista Photo Gallery Yellow Tint Background Problem". My Digital Life. 11 July 2007. Archived from the original on 26 January 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  17. ^ "Patch "Out of memory" exception when opening images containing an unknown color profile". GitHub.
  18. ^ "Fix Windows Photo Viewer Yellow Tint Background". OptimWise.
  19. ^ "Photo Viewer for Windows 10". Microsoft Support.
  20. ^ Tkachenko, Sergey. "How to Enable Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 11". Winaero.
  21. ^ "How to open .tif files without compromising on quality". Windows Report.
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