IrfanView

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Ongoing Use, Nostalgia, and Role in “Essential Tools” Kits

  • Many commenters have used IrfanView since the late 90s and still install it on every new Windows machine.
  • It’s frequently grouped with other “must-have” lightweight utilities (VLC, foobar2000, SumatraPDF, Everything, Ditto, etc.).
  • Some users have even paid for licenses or donated despite primarily non‑commercial use.
  • Others stopped using it only because they moved away from Windows.

Core Strengths and Features

  • Consistently praised for speed and tiny size (a few MB) while opening huge images and many formats.
  • Very fast for:
    • Browsing folders with arrow keys or mouse wheel.
    • Pasting screenshots from clipboard and quickly cropping/annotating.
    • Batch operations (resize, convert, rename, strip/keep EXIF, lossless rotate/crop).
  • Offers simple editing (crop, resize, text/arrow overlays, color tweaks), slideshow modes, folder monitoring, preset copy locations for sorting, and rich command‑line options.
  • Works well via Wine on Linux and macOS; some call it their best “simple editor” even there.

Comparisons to Built-in and Modern Tools

  • Some say Windows 10/11 Photos is now good enough for casual viewing, reducing demand for third‑party viewers.
  • Others find built‑in viewers slow, limited (printing, multi‑image workflows, text overlays, batch work), and less robust with odd formats or damaged files.
  • For many, IrfanView’s keyboard shortcuts and configuration have become deep muscle memory.

Critiques and UX Complaints

  • A minority describe the default UX as archaic or “hostile”: small initial window, mouse wheel cycling instead of zooming, awkward behavior at end of folder.
  • Defenders respond that nearly all of this is configurable, but critics counter that defaults matter and they don’t want to wade through many settings.

Alternatives and Ecosystem Context

  • Popular alternatives mentioned: FastStone Image Viewer / FSViewer, JPEGView (and forks), XnView / XnView MP, FastPictureViewer, ImageGlass, nomacs, Phoenix Slides, feh, imv, oculante, Xee, GraphicConverter, Picasa (now defunct), ACDSee (older versions).
  • Some prefer these for cleaner UX, even faster cold-start performance, or native Mac/Linux support.

Broader Themes

  • Thread reflects broader concerns about software bloat vs. lean utilities, and about how better OS defaults and cloud/phone photo workflows have marginalized classic desktop viewers like IrfanView.