Windows Picture and Fax Viewer
Encyclopedia
Windows Photo Viewer is an image viewer
developed by Microsoft
that is included with Windows 7. It was also included with Windows XP
and Windows Server 2003
under the name of Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. It was temporarily replaced with Windows Photo Gallery
in Windows Vista
, but has been reinstated in Windows 7. This program succeeds Imaging for Windows
.
Windows Photo Viewer can show pictures, display all pictures in a folder as a slide show, reorient them in in 90° increments, print them either directly or via an online print service, send them in e-mail or burn
them to a disc. Windows Photo Viewer supports images in BMP, JPEG
, JPEG XR (formerly HD Photo), PNG, ICO and TIFF
file formats.
When compared to its previous version (Windows Fax and Picture Viewer), there have been several changes. The first and most noticeable change is seen in their user graphical user interfaces. The second change is their file format support: Although Animated GIF files were supported in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, they are no longer supported in Windows Photo Viewer. Starting with Windows Vista, Microsoft withdrew the support for this format from this application and left the job of displaying them to Internet Explorer. Windows Picture and Fax Viewer was also capable of viewing multi-page TIFF files, (except those that employed JPEG compression) as well as annotating the TIFF files. Windows Photo Viewer, on the other hand, has added support for JPEG XR file format and ICC profile
s.
Although Windows Photo Gallery is not included in Windows 7, it did affect Windows Photo Viewer: Whereas Windows Picture and Fax Viewer used GDI+, Windows Photo Viewer and Windows Photo Gallery both use Windows Imaging Component
(WIC) and both take advantage of Windows Display Driver Model
.
On some systems, scroll bars are not visible at all or, if a zoom operation is performed (e.g., using a mouse wheel), no subsequent scroll down or up is possible.
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Image viewer
An image viewer or image browser is a computer program that can display stored graphical image; it can often handle various graphics file formats...
developed by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
that is included with Windows 7. It was also included with Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
and Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003 is a server operating system produced by Microsoft, introduced on 24 April 2003. An updated version, Windows Server 2003 R2, was released to manufacturing on 6 December 2005...
under the name of Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. It was temporarily replaced with Windows Photo Gallery
Windows Photo Gallery
Windows Photo Gallery is a photo management, tagging, and editing tool developed by Microsoft, and is included with all editions of Windows Vista...
in Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
, but has been reinstated in Windows 7. This program succeeds Imaging for Windows
Imaging for Windows
Imaging for Windows from Global 360 is document imaging software. Earlier versions of Imaging for Windows were included in Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000. Global360 Imaging for Windows is the upgrade to this Imaging software, which was discontinued as of Windows XP...
.
Windows Photo Viewer can show pictures, display all pictures in a folder as a slide show, reorient them in in 90° increments, print them either directly or via an online print service, send them in e-mail or burn
Optical disc authoring
Optical disc authoring, including DVD and Blu-ray Disc authoring , is the process of assembling source material—video, audio or other data—into the proper logical volume format to then be recorded onto an optical disc .-Process:To burn an optical disc, one usually first creates an...
them to a disc. Windows Photo Viewer supports images in BMP, JPEG
JPEG
In computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
, JPEG XR (formerly HD Photo), PNG, ICO and TIFF
Tagged Image File Format
TIFF is a file format for storing images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and both amateur and professional photographers in general. As of 2009, it is under the control of Adobe Systems...
file formats.
When compared to its previous version (Windows Fax and Picture Viewer), there have been several changes. The first and most noticeable change is seen in their user graphical user interfaces. The second change is their file format support: Although Animated GIF files were supported in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, they are no longer supported in Windows Photo Viewer. Starting with Windows Vista, Microsoft withdrew the support for this format from this application and left the job of displaying them to Internet Explorer. Windows Picture and Fax Viewer was also capable of viewing multi-page TIFF files, (except those that employed JPEG compression) as well as annotating the TIFF files. Windows Photo Viewer, on the other hand, has added support for JPEG XR file format and ICC profile
ICC profile
In color management, an ICC profile is a set of data that characterizes a color input or output device, or a color space, according to standards promulgated by the International Color Consortium...
s.
Although Windows Photo Gallery is not included in Windows 7, it did affect Windows Photo Viewer: Whereas Windows Picture and Fax Viewer used GDI+, Windows Photo Viewer and Windows Photo Gallery both use Windows Imaging Component
Windows Imaging Component
The Windows Imaging Component is a Component Object Model based imaging codec framework introduced in Windows Vista and Windows XP Service Pack 3 for working with and processing digital images and image metadata...
(WIC) and both take advantage of Windows Display Driver Model
Windows Display Driver Model
Windows Display Driver Model is the graphic driver architecture for video card drivers running Microsoft Windows versions beginning with Windows Vista....
.
Issues
The user interface includes buttons to rotate counterclockwise and clockwise (keyboard shortcuts ctrl+, and ctrl+. respectively). Clicking these buttons overwrites the image file without warning and without an option to "undo" the action. If performed on a device-dependent image file (e.g., an image file on the SD card from a digital camera), the new file will not necessarily be readable by the device (e.g., through the lack of an embedded thumbnail).On some systems, scroll bars are not visible at all or, if a zoom operation is performed (e.g., using a mouse wheel), no subsequent scroll down or up is possible.
External links
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