ImageGlass is a lightweight software designed for seamless viewing of images in a clean and intuitive interface. With support for over 80 common image formats including WEBP, GIF, SVG, PNG, JXL, HEIC, etc.

ImageGlass also offers advanced features that cater to the needs of both regular users and designers, making it the excellent tool to enhance workflow efficiency.

Features

  • Supports over 70+ common image formats, including PNG, GIF, SVG*, WEBP*, HEIC, RAW
  • Losslessly rotate / save the viewing image.
  • Ability of opening image from clipboard directly.
  • Rapidly switch between images.
  • Drag-n-drop viewing image supported.
  • Real-time update the viewing image.
  • Works great with GIF format: extract image frames, play/pause animation.
  • Ability to view / extract multi-page image files (TIF, ICO) separately.
  • 6 zoom modes:
    • Auto Zoom
    • Scale to Width
    • Scale to Height
    • Scale to Fit
    • Scale to Fill
    • Lock Zoom ratio
  • 4 combinable window modes:
    • Window fit: Auto-fit the window to the viewing image size
    • Frameless: A borderless window
    • Full screen
    • Slideshow
  • Combining the above 4 window modes can create a new amazing window mode, such as: Frameless windowed slideshow, Window-fit slideshow
  • Various image navigation options: shortcuts, mouse wheel
  • Horizontal / Vertical image scrolling.
  • Fast thumbnail preview.
  • Thumbnail images can be shown in the current viewing folder.
  • Color Picker tool allows user to pick and convert color to 4 formats: RGBA, HEXA, CMYK, HSLA.
  • Slideshow viewing with countdown timer.
  • Conversion can be made in up to 10 different formats.
  • Supported basic touch gestures.
  • Quick shortcuts supported.
  • Clean nice modern minimal UI with customizable toolbar.
  • Different theme packs available to change the look of the interface.
  • Multilanguage support, which makes the user able to create its own packs.
  • Ability to control ImageGlass over configuration, pre-define or even lock some settings at installation.

What's New

We're excited to unveil ImageGlass 9.2, a major release filled with new features, enhancements, and updates to elevate your image viewing and editing experience.

New Resize Image Tool

One of the most-requested features is finally here! The new Resize Image tool lets you scale images up to 16,384 pixels using the robust PhotoSauce.MagicScaler library. You can select from a variety of resampling methods to ensure the perfect balance between image quality and performance.

How to access:

  • Go to Main Menu > Tools > Resize Image
  • Use the shortcut: Alt+R

Note: Like other editing tools, resized images are saved without metadata (e.g., EXIF data).

Crop Image Tool 2.0: Pixel-Level Precision

User feedback has been central to this upgrade. The revamped Crop Image tool brings pixel-level precision while making the interface more intuitive and responsive.

Improvements include:

  • Cursor updates for better clarity while cropping.
  • Cropping selections align exactly with the image source.
  • Zooming and panning won't disrupt your selection.
  • Selection areas can now be resized from any edge or corner.
  • Snap-to-pixel precision for fine control over cropping boundaries.
  • Selections remain active even when clicking outside them.
  • Default selections respect aspect ratios and crop settings.

WebView2 Runtime: Now Optional

  • With ImageGlass 9.2, the WebView2 Runtime is now an optional feature. If it's not installed, ImageGlass will bypass the Quick Setup dialog and notify you with a warning popup, complete with a download link for missing components.
  • This change gives you more flexibility, especially in environments where WebView2 isn't available or needed.

Note: Without WebView2 Runtime, certain features (e.g., Settings window, SVG rasterization,...) are unavailable.

Support for Larger Image Dimensions

ImageGlass now supports images larger than 16,384 pixels by leveraging Direct2D Software Rendering. Unlike previous versions that automatically scaled down large images, version 9.2 allows you to view these files in their full resolution, preserving every detail.

Other Improvements

  • We've made several enhancements to improve your experience:
  • Auto-sorts new images based on current sort order.
  • Slideshow intervals now support less than 1 second.
  • Added custom zoom for slideshows.

This version also includes bug fixes, such as improved hotkey support for non-English languages.

Advanced Color Channel Viewing

Building on the ability to view image color channels introduced in version 7.0, ImageGlass 9.1 now supports viewing one or more color channels simultaneously. You can select single or multiple color channels to view via Main Menu > Image > View channels or by using the context menu.

Version 9.1 also enhances color channel loading performance through GPU acceleration, making updates fast and efficient.

Lossless Compression with Magick.NET

ImageGlass 9.1 introduces Magick.NET Lossless Compression, a new tool for optimizing and reducing file sizes without compromising image quality. Access this tool from the Main Menu > Tools or use the hotkey Alt+C.

New Image Loading Orders

You can now sort images by Date taken and Rating using EXIF metadata. The Rating sort order also integrates with the "Use Windows File Explorer sort order if possible" setting, ensuring your image list loads in the same order as File Explorer.

Startup Boost Mode

To enhance startup speed, ImageGlass 9.1 features Startup Boost mode. When enabled, ImageGlass preloads and runs in the background for a few seconds during Windows startup, accelerating the first launch.

Enable this by going to Settings > General > Startup and clicking the "Enable Startup Boost" button.

Other Improvements

In addition to Startup Boost mode, we've made several enhancements to reduce app launch time, improve Color Picker tool performance, and ensure seamless operation with multiple monitors.

Two new settings have been added:

  • Open the Save As dialog in the current image directory in Settings > Edit.
  • Enable image synchronous loading in Settings > Image.

This version also includes bug fixes for the Gallery panel to prevent cached thumbnails from appearing for images with the same name.

Breaking changes

  • User config files are now in the JSON format: igconfig.json. ImageGlass 9 cannot import settings from version 8.
  • Similarly, theme and language pack also updated to use JSON format. You can download theme packs for version 9 at Download / Theme packs.
  • For power users:Version 9 uses Per-user setting model which is different from Per-machine setting of version 8:
  • The app settings are now saved in the %LocalAppData% folder. Refer to Docs / App configuration for more information.
  • The app registry uses HKEY_CURRENT_USER for file type associations and app protocol.
  • igtasks.exe has been removed.
  • All commands in igcmd.exe have been reworked. Visit Docs / Command line utilities for the updated information.
  • To skip the "ImageGlass Quick Setup" dialog, set QuickSetupVersion value to any number greater than 9 in the igconfig.json file.

Performance boost with hardware acceleration

  • ImageGlass 9's rendering engine now leverages GPU technology, resulting in significantly improved performance and image quality. Enjoy smooth zooming and panning even for large image dimensions and animated formats.
  • Additionally, the use of the newer version of .NET has reduced ImageGlass's startup time, eliminating the need to start with the OS.

The new modern, fluent, intuitive interface

  • ImageGlass 9 seamlessly combines functionality with a beautiful design, and it offers customization options to suit your preferences. Two modern theme packs, Kobe and Kobe - Light, come pre-installed. Transition between light and dark modes, adapting effortlessly to your system settings.
  • Moreover, Windows 11 users can enjoy transparent backdrop styles, including Mica, Mica Alt, and Acrylic.

Customizable app layout

  • Customizing the app layout is now easier than ever. You can relocate the Toolbar to the top or bottom, position the Gallery to the sides, and enjoy a multi-column view of thumbnails. Customize the information displayed on the window title bar as per your preference.

Touch gesture support

  • ImageGlass 9 now includes touch gesture support for zooming and panning images, making the experience more intuitive and interactive. You can also use swipe gestures to scroll through thumbnails in the gallery.

Enhanced SVG viewing

  • ImageGlass 9 now offers correct scaling for SVG formats thanks to Webview2 integration. You can even interact with animated SVG files, including hovering, clicking, and displaying tooltips.
  • This feature comes with some limitations, you can switch back to the native rendering engine by unchecking the option "Use Webview2 for viewing SVG format" in the app settings.

Enhanced window modes

  • ImageGlass 9 introduces sleek and performant window modes. You can combine various modes to tailor your viewing experience.

The new slideshow view

  • The slideshow view in ImageGlass 9 now opens in a separate window, allowing you to move it to other monitors without interrupting the main app.

Brand new built-in tools

  • Color Picker tool now supports the CEILAB color format, making it easy to copy color codes.
  • Crop tool has significant update, supports aspect ratio for cropping image. You can quickly resize the selection area and see the size updated. More options are hidden in Crop tool settings where you can choose the default selection for every time open the tool.
  • Page navigation tool is now docked on the main window and is customizable in the app settings under the Layout tab. This tool now supports controlling animated images and exporting all image frames to files.
  • Exif viewer tool has been removed in version 9. However, you can install ExifGlass as an ImageGlass tool for better EXIF metadata viewing.

External tool support

  • ImageGlass 9 provides developers with an API to integrate their apps. For more detail, refer to Docs / Build tools for ImageGlass.
  • You can add any apps as an ImageGlass tool and assign hotkeys to open them in the app settings under the Tools tab.

Experiment features

  • We continue to experiment with additional features that are not yet exposed in the app settings. These include:
  • Adding custom toolbar buttons
  • Customizing menu hotkeys
  • Disabling unwanted ImageGlass features