Image Viewer IrfanView 4.60 with new image compare option out

Martin Brinkmann
Mar 19, 2022
Windows software
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17

IrfanView 4.60 is the first release of the image viewer in 2022. The release comes with new features, including a new image comparison option. The last version, IrfanView 4.59, was released in December 2021.

IrfanView is a popular image viewer for Windows. Users like the rich functionality of the program and its extensibility through plugins. The image viewer supports all popular and many obscure image formats out of the box, is quick to load and fast when it is used, and supports a large number of features related to the viewing of images on Windows devices.

IrfanView 4.60 is the first release of 2022. The new version introduces several new features in the image viewer. Users find an option to compare two images under File > Compare Images.

IrfanView displays two images side by side in the compare interface. An existing image is displayed as one of the two images, others need to be loaded. You may then change the size of the comparison window, the display style of the images, and use the mouse to scroll and zoom both images at the same time.

It is a handy option to compare two images quickly using the image viewer.

Users of the program get a new option when saving JPEG images. The save preview window supports zooming and scrolling of the preview image now in the new version. It may be used to check the output image before saving it.

IrfanView 4.60 supports the hotkey Alt-Shift-B. It is a session-only hotkey that toggles between thin and normal interface borders.

Here is the full changelog for the new IrfanView version:

JPG save preview dialog: Options to zoom/scroll the preview image
New option in File menu: Compare current image with another image
Option for Favorite menus (Edit menu); Right mouse click on menu item
Options menu to "Create new EXIF data" in JPGs without EXIF
New browsing options for mouse wheel (Properties->Browsing)
Support for QOI format (Formats PlugIn, reading and saving)
Improved DDS loading (BC7 compression, thanks to Richard Geldreich)
TIF loading fixed (Thanks to Aslan Gurtsiev, CVE-2021-46064)
New hotkey: ALT + SHIFT + B: Show thin or normal border (current session only)
Several PlugIns are changed/updated, please install the newest versions:
https://www.irfanview.com/plugins.htm

Now You: which image viewer do you use, and why? (via Deskmodder)

Summary
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5 based on 3 votes
Software Name
IrfanView 4.60
Operating System
Windows
Software Category
Multimedia
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Comments

  1. chesscanoe said on December 11, 2022 at 11:10 pm
    Reply

    I upgraded Irfanview 4.60 x32 to 4.62 x64 and all seems well so far running under Windows 10 version 22H2 (OS Build 19045.2111).

  2. Cliff Arnell said on December 2, 2022 at 6:22 pm
    Reply

    Irfanview continues to be my favorite toy since the 80’s (ver 1.0?). Yes, it might be archaic… in a way, but back in the day, we were trying ot make do with Windows 3.0 as the ‘newest wonder’ of human interface. (I still can’t talk to my mouse ala Startrek, hehe)

    Irfanview continues to get better, smarter, faster, bigger, more useful. If all you got was a nicer GUI, ala Microsoft. Irfanview might have died years ago, but it just keeps plugging away with less code than Microsoft uses to welcome me to my own computer.

    Are there a few features missing? Maybe.
    1) I would love to be able to select a fraction of an image in a box and then be able to tug the corners to undistort whats in the box or, if the whole image is selected, then fix the distortions of the entire image with a simple tug of the corners..Most of my images taken on my iphone could use this simple feature to square things up.
    2) I would love to be able to select multiple boxes and have things happen, or be protected, in all the boxes at the same time, perhaps even drag and drop them simultaneously.
    3) I would love to be able to draw a line around an item in an image and protect it from effects like fading or any other effect being applied within or outside of the encircled part of an image. with a halo of merging either inside or outside the selected windows. (sounds complicated:)

    These editing features sound trivial so the probably are not ?

    ***Yes, I have all this desired capability in another archaic image editor, GIMP… also free, and complicated and stuck in my head now after thirty five years.***

    Thanks Irfanview! You’re the BEST!

  3. Sebas said on March 21, 2022 at 8:46 am
    Reply

    Faststone Image Viewer has had this option since a very long time. It pays to take time to read the manual, it has many very useful options and ways of navigation.

    For Nikon users, in ViewNX-i you can compare two images. In Capture NX-D, the Nikon raw converter, 4 images. Nikon has replaced them with Image Studio, which I am evaluating now , but you can still download the aforemented software.

  4. Bob said on March 20, 2022 at 8:24 pm
    Reply

    They brought back mouse wheel navigation after removing it in a previous version, so I’m happy.

  5. I won't be coming home for dinner said on March 20, 2022 at 1:20 am
    Reply

    No Linux version = sucks.

    XnView MP may be proprietary, but it has a Linux version and I find it superior to Irfanview and it looks so much better.

  6. DrKnow said on March 20, 2022 at 1:16 am
    Reply

    Irfanview has another unresponsive dev who simply says create a plugin when a format is suggested to be added.

    5 years ago support for .afphoto format was requested and was rejected suggesting ‘someone’ writes a plugin.

    Fastone’s format support is ridiculously limited so no support.

    Xnview added .afphoto support 6 years ago. The Dev investigated as soon as it was mentioned on his forums and added support. He is really active and responsive.

    Xnview supports way more formats and should be the recommended viewer.

    Of course, the people with simplistic needs will be happy with Irfanview until that day they can’t view something.

    1. Alex said on March 22, 2022 at 11:37 pm
      Reply

      > Xnview supports way more formats and should be the recommended viewer.
      > Of course, the people with simplistic needs will be happy with Irfanview until that day they can’t view something.

      … unless you want to watch a portrait video the right side up.

      https://newsgroup.xnview.com/viewtopic.php?p=175541
      https://newsgroup.xnview.com/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=38467

      Bug first reported in 2019, still not fixed.

  7. chesscanoe said on March 19, 2022 at 9:09 pm
    Reply

    The new File Compare function in IrfanView 4.60 x64 is even further enhanced with Windows Magnifier properly adjusted for desired zoomed compare. Subtle filter differences in the image become easier to evaluate this way.

  8. chesscanoe said on March 19, 2022 at 5:13 pm
    Reply

    I have been using IrfanView for 26 years, and it is still my most used graphics program. Although not necessary, I decided to delete IrfanView 32 bit and plugins and install IrfanView 64 and its updated plugins. I am exploring new features with no problems to date.

    1. chesscanoe said on March 19, 2022 at 9:07 pm
      Reply

      The new File Compare function in IrfanView 4.60 x64 is even further enhanced with Windows Magnifier properly adjusted for desired zoomed compare. Subtle filter differences in the image become easier to evaluate this way.

  9. Trey said on March 19, 2022 at 10:49 am
    Reply

    I’ve tried IrfanView many times over the years. I know it’s full of abilities and has a strong history, but it’s just so… stuck in 1998. Compared to Xnview and Faststone for instance, it just seems so clunky and awkward to use.

    1. Tom Hawack said on March 19, 2022 at 5:25 pm
      Reply

      @Trey, you took the words out of my keyboard. Aesthetic is not only cosmetics, it also participates to a user’s comfort. IrfanView really needs a lifting. I recall when using it a cumbersome navigation. Many settings but so disparate. It’s ugly : there, I said it. Full of abilities but ugly… but full of abilities. Have I been clear enough?!
      Faststone here as well.

      1. Anonymous said on March 20, 2022 at 1:08 am
        Reply

        @Tom Hawack
        Care to elaborate what’s ugly? All image viewer have same interfaces, menu->menu icon>status bar. The only differences are the menu icons, you can just replace the icons yourself if don’t like them.

      2. Tom Hawack said on March 22, 2022 at 9:11 am
        Reply

        @Anonymous, ugliness and beauty are so subjectively perceived that stating either is objectively a challenge. I cannot elaborate and I’d even say I don’t know why I even mentioned it. Nonsense. especially that I’ve always advocated the content as so much more important than the container, the jewel than its case.
        I should have emphasized on the content which is valuable. Moreover I haven’t used IrfanView for some time so things may have changed here and there, content as well as container. One shouldn’t write things with no solid arguments otherwise it’s closer to lyricism than to rationalism. I personally like both but they shouldn’t be mixed.
        IrfanView is a very valuable software, a reference, it’s been on air for so long and i guess it has nothing to prove.

    2. TelV said on March 19, 2022 at 4:49 pm
      Reply

      I used to use Faststone myself, but it has a problem with viewing files by date if you happen to live in Europe where we write the date as DD-MM-YYYY. Trying to view files sequencially in that order is impossible with Faststone which loads them by MM-DD-YYYY.

      With IrFanView that’s not a problem.

      1. chesscanoe said on March 19, 2022 at 5:38 pm
        Reply

        I use FastStone 7.5 in the US, and have my PCs set up for YYYY/MM/DD as it makes the most sense to me, and saves electrons for sorting (date) to work well in FastStone.

  10. Ashwin said on March 19, 2022 at 7:41 am
    Reply

    Multi-images comparison is probably my favorite feature in XnView. I also use it for removing transparent backgrounds from PNGs, and save them as JPEGs without a black background.

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