Included with Windows XP, Windows 7 and later
Windows Server 2003 and later Replaces Imaging for Windows, Windows Photo Gallery | ||
Windows Photo Viewer (formerly Windows Picture and Fax Viewer) is an image viewer included with Windows NT family of operating system. It was first included with Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 under its former name. It was temporarily replaced with Windows Photo Gallery in Windows Vista, but has been reinstated in Windows 7. This program succeeds Imaging for Windows. In Windows 10, it is deprecated in favor of a Windows Store app called Photos, although it can be brought back with a registry tweak.
Windows Photo Viewer can show individual pictures, display all pictures in a folder as a slide show, reorient them 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, GIF and TIFF file formats.
Evolution
Compared to Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, changes have been made to the graphical user interface in Windows Photo Viewer.
Whereas Windows Picture and Fax Viewer uses GDI+, Windows Photo Viewer uses Windows Imaging Component (WIC) and takes advantage of Windows Display Driver Model.
Although GIF files are supported in Windows Photo Viewer, whereas Windows Picture and Fax Viewer displays animated GIFs, Windows Photo Viewer only displays the first frame. Windows Picture and Fax Viewer was also capable of viewing multi-page TIFF files, (except those that employ 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 profiles.