Although not the smartest looking photo editor on the block, Photomania has a lot going for it. It has a large, clear editing interface that can be modified to your tastes. The basic toolbar is easy to use and perfect for photo viewing, while the very bottom of your screen gives you a handy summary of your photo's properties. Photomania also has good configuration options, and supports an impressive range of files -

Photomania can be used as a photo cataloger, as well as a viewer, allowing you to create HTML albums and slideshows and save to PDF. There are more tools apart from the editing ones - you can do batch conversions, set images as wallpaper, add frames and more.

Interestingly for a free application, Photomania has some interesting and extensive photo editing options. Those not so comfortable with the technical options can use the Wizard under Tools, while those who want the hands-on approach should take a look at Photomania's Effects options. Here you'll be able to rotate and resize images, and also to tweak technical specifications and add effects.

Photomania looks dated, but it's free and perfect for tweaking your photos' technical specs.

Download Photomania DX Free 6.73 in Softonic

With its built-in preview engine, XnView can display 400 different image file formats as well as play various media formats such as AVI or MP3. Using the program will already be second nature to most users, as it works just like Windows Explorer. On the left side of the screen you see all your directories, with the contents of the directories displayed in the upper half of the right window. Selecting any of these files will then bring up a preview in the lower half of the window.

If you're browsing through photos with XnView, you can run them as a slideshow or full screen. If you're browsing through simple TXT or INI files, the opening few lines of text will show up as an icon and you can view the entire contents of the file in XnView, without needing to open other programs.

XnView has a good level of support for various formats and the interface is smooth and quick, even when displaying large video files. On encountering a file that it doesn't recognize, XnView displays its hash value, which may or may not be of use. If you run into any difficulty, there is a help file that is sufficient but not overwhelming.

One aspect of XnView that wasn't quite as we would have liked was that it didn't recognize the native format of files. For example, a simple text file with a LOG extension wasn't treated as the same file with a TXT extension. It's a small inconvenience but does stand out because of the general high quality of the software.

For anyone with a large number of files that they want to organize, convert or just browse, XnView is certainly worth a look.

Download XnView 1.98.2 in Softonic

Viewing

While the viewing functionality is a no-brainer, FastStone Image Viewer comes with a range of methods with which to browse pics. First off, there is the standard file browser that displays thumbnails of your images with a preview window for the file that is currently selected. FastStone Image Viewer also offers an option to check out individual pictures in full-screen. When you're in fullscreen, remember, you'll also have access to the full range of FastStone Image Viewer tools.

Editing

However, FastStone Image Viewer goes beyond simply displaying images. You can perform quick edits to really bring out the best in your pics, such as adding a stylish frame that acts as a mask to reduce the sharp edges or, if you happen to be working with 3D, FastStone Image Viewer also offers a very effective bump map option that will serve you well for texturing. There are of course the standard tools of brightness/darkness adjustment, sharpness/blur, grayscale, red-eye removal and more.

Batch tools

Further great features come in the form of batch rename and convert options. These could prove invaluable to many web developers looking for a quick way to prepare their PSD files for the web. With the inclusion of these batch functions, it would have been good has FastStone Image Viewer pushed the boat out even further with an option to apply batch effects, for example to brighten up a group of photos that were taken in a dark space but alas, it's not there!

Looking for faults with FastStone Image Viewer is like looking for the corner of a circle, although if you insist on nitpicking, you can say that in the thumbnail browser view dragging and dropping should be possible for moving files. However when you realize that it is possible to drag and drop with the left nav bar that argument looses its legs.

There's healthy competition in the image viewer arena, but thanks to the innovative features of FastStone Image Viewer the bar has been raised to new heights.

Download FastStone Image Viewer 4.6 in Softonic

Amazingly, since Bosnian developer Irfan Skiljan released the image viewer back in 1996, he’s generously kept it free of charge in spite of its massive popularity. Perhaps even more incredibly, the app still stands at just over 1Mb, bucking the trend of programs that swell immensely as the feature updates go by. In fact, it’s Irfanview’s slimline qualities that are its greatest asset, helping to make it the fastest image viewer in the West. Images load almost instantaneously when you click on them and you get rapid-fire results when cycling through a directory of photos using the Back and Forward buttons. It’s only when you’re flicking through vast amounts of images using the thumbnail viewer that things get a bit slow, which could easily be remedied do with an improved caching function.

Another of Irfanview’s crowd-pleasing talents is its ability to handle an enormous range of different file formats, including g, somewhat rarely, icon (.ico) files. Unlike many of its rival tools, Irfanview doesn’t try to impose itself as the default viewer for all image types, giving you the option to specify the formats you wish to associate with it for yourself.

The program’s functionality can be expanded by installing plug-ins that allow Irfanview to open other file types, such as movies and audio – again a unique feature among photo viewers. You also get a smattering of basic editing features such as crop, rotate, flip and resize, along with some bread-and-butter effects like blur and sharpen, plus a smart crop function.

Upon first try, many users might be put off by the somewhat basic interface and the fact that it loads new images externally, rather than within the GUI itself. Nevertheless this is a small sacrifice to pay for a program that proves to be probably the quickest way to view images on your PC.

Download IrfanView 4.32 in Softonic

XnView Portable features the same design and tools as older brother XnView, which makes it a really convenient photo editor that can be carried with you anywhere. It has support for a few hundred graphic formats as well as other media files, such as AVI and MP3.

The interface in XnView Portable is divided into two sections: the left pane shows the folder structure, while the right one is where the contents of the selected folder are displayed. A double click on any image is enough to open it in full screen and work on it with the program's own tools. XnView Portable is obviously no Photoshop, but you'll be able to do some cropping and resizing, adjust brightness, correct red eyes and other basic editing and retouching tasks.

If XnView is your favorite image viewer, you can now take it anywhere with you thanks to XnView Portable.

Download XnView Portable 1.98 in Softonic