Format plugins will add support for image formats that are not included in the main release. About 35 image format plugins can be downloaded from that page. Most of them are exotic formats like jng, wic or bmf which most users probably never heard before.

The plugins can be downloaded separately or as a plugin pack and have to be unpacked into the XnView plugin directory where they will be automatically recognized by the image viewer.

Add-ons on the other hand add support for external services like Imageshack, Nero, archive or ftp support. It usually means sending pictures to another application or adding new functions in XnView like viewing images in archives or adding basic image editing support.

The add-ons and format plugins add new features and functions to XnView which could be interesting for some users.

My problem came about when I attempted to convert an Internet article to a Pdf file. I successfully captured two separate pages as image files and cleaned them up a bit. The next step was to somehow join the two images together. I thought of using Gimp but it looked way too complicated for me. Then, I looked at XnView.

I’ve been using XnView for years now but I pretty much used it only as an image viewer. I was only vaguely aware of some of its other features. I did a quick search and discovered that this software can join images together quite effectively. It has an Option called Panorama, which does the job.

Using the Panorama feature is quite easy. You simply go to Tools > Create > Panorama. In newer versions of XnView, the procedure is slightly different. You go to Create > Strip of Images. With either option, a dialogue box pops up asking you to select the images you want to join. Make sure the images are in the proper order or your final image will appear strange. The next step is to choose if you want the images to be joined horizontally or vertically. If your images are of different resolutions, you can specify a common resolution for them. You can also change the alignment of individual images. In my case, both images were of the same resolution and alignment so I did not have to change any settings.

Once you’re done with the set-up, simply hit the ‘Create’ button. You will get a resultant joined image. If you are satisfied with the result, go to File > Save As and save your image file wherever you want.

Although I used XnView, I’m sure there are plenty of other applications that do the same thing. I’m curious to find out what methods y’all use to join images together. Also, can someone please explain how does one do this with Gimp? I couldn’t figure it out.

Fixpicture, which seems to be affiliated with the great image viewer XNView, is such a online script that lets you easily convert and resize images in a matter of seconds. The service supports nearly 400 image formats, provides a flash (not working at the time of writing) and html version and translations for several languages.

The size restriction for images is three megabytes which should be enough under most circumstances. I would not be able to download high quality images made with my digital camera Casio Exilim EX-Z700 with 7.2 Megapixel which creates images that have a size of more than four Megabyte.

It is possible to use some of the default resize options or define a custom size. The maximum is 1000 pixels which is not that much either but enough for web publishers for instance.

The only mandatory option is the output quality which can be selected to be good, better or best and the output format with the choice between jpg, png, tiff, pdf, bmp and gif.

Fixpicture homepage

I’m using Xnview to view the pictures that are already on my hard drive. I use it because it is fast and efficient. Other tools that have a similar functionality are Google Picasa and Irfanview. All three are way better than the solutions that come with Windows or using software suites like paintshop, gimp or photoshop to view images.

Every saved picture contains information which are saved at the same time the picture was taken. A tool like Exif-Viewer reveals those information. Exif means Exchangeable Image File Format and is used by most digital cameras.View-Exif is a plugin for Internet Explorer and Firefox.
You can use either Smart Recovery from PC Inspector or Digital Photo Recovery from Art Plus Software to restore images that you deleted accidentally. You might want to try the Memory Card Safe Eraser before you sell your camera or the memory card.
Use Jalbum or Photo Meister to create photo albums form webpages or CDs. Photo Meister is able to do more than that though, it is able to do some basic image manipulation on your pictures and import them directly from your camera.

If it is effects that you want you should take a look at Photo Filter Studio which has some awesome filters for creating nice effects with your pictures, the website has some samples included. Autostich is capable of creating full panoramas of your pictures.

If you are looking for big image editors you might want to consider GIMP or Paint.net.

Last but not least we have some misc utilities that might be great for a smaller number of users, it always depends what you need your pictures for. Filter Sim simulates photo filters, Hello provides instant photo sharing with chat and can be used with picasa and neat image can be used for noise reduction either as standalone or as a plugin for photoshop.

Has most of the features that programs like irfanview have, like thumbnailed view, manipulate settings like brightness and size, flip images and adjust colors. Best of all, its free and fast to use. An alternative to irfanview and xnview.

Update: The Forcevision Image Viewer is no longer available. The developer website has been discontinued and it is likely that the developers have stopped development some time ago. Windows users looking for an alternative image viewer should take a closer look at the excellent XnView.

XnView supports hundreds of different image formats. Even better: The developers release new versions regulary, and it is not only available for the Windows operating system but also for Linux, Mac OSX and various smartphones.

XnView is available here on the developer website.

A second alternative is the Fast Picture Viewer which has been specifically designed for photographers. It is one of the fastest image viewers available. Support is great with support for more than 45 different image formats and more than 370 different camera models and their RAW formats.

Some of the advanced features for photographers and image editors and inspectors are IPTC Editor, RGB histogram, Color Management, EXIF, Tethered Shooting and ultrafast Raw previewing.

Fast Picture Viewer is available as a 32-bit and 64-bit edition for the windows operating system. Windows users should download the cheat sheet in pdf format from the developer website to learn the ins and outs of the image viewer and rater.