(*) Due to technical limitations currently imposed by Microsoft for their WinRT platform, the FastPictureViewer Codec Pack decoders are not exposed to "Metro" aka "Modern" aka "Windows Store" applications at this time, as they elected to block non-Microsoft codecs for those apps.
Running Windows 7 with Media Center and have an Xbox 360 or another Media Center Extender? Wirelessly stream your images - including RAW files - straight from your 64-bit PC to your living room TV set, with EXIF-based auto-rotation, thanks to our product's uncompromised Windows compatibility!
"JUST BRILLIANT - you have completely transformed Windows 7 for me" – Paul Lawrence, United Kingdom (via email)
"I got the Fast Picture Viewer Codec Pack 3.0 and IT WORKS IT WORKS IT WORKS!!!!" – Katia Grondin, obviousidea.com forum user
Beware of imitations: the FastPictureViewer Codec Pack delivers true Windows-compliant image decoders that enable the full RAW viewing experience in Windows Vista and Windows 7, including extra-large thumbnails and fast, large size previewing and slideshows, as well as EXIF metadata display in Windows Explorer and full integration with Windows Search, which let users locate RAW files by author, tags, camera model, date taken etc., instantly, from any Explorer "search" box in Windows Vista or Windows 7. Last but not least, our product enable raw support in Windows Media Center 6.1 (the version that ships with Windows 7), including support for Media Center Extenders (stream slideshows to TV w/Xbox 360).
Check out our short video demonstrating the easy installation procedure and benefits of the FastPictureViewer Codec Pack on Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP (all editions are supported, 32-bit and 64-bit):
Raster Image Formats |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Extension(s) | Name | Auto rotate | Metadata | Remarks | |||
| *.dds | DirectX DDS | n/a | n/a | Our DirectX DDS codec supports uncompressed textures and several compression variants and pixel formats, including DXT1/3/5, YUV422 and R16G16B16A16 HALF, BGR565, BGRA5551, 16bppGrayHalf, RGBA1010102 and RGBA1010102XR 30-bit formats, 32bppRGBE, 1bppBW as well as ATI 3Dc texture compression formats (ATI1N, ATI2N, ATI2N_XY, ATI2N_DXT5). The codec currently reads all sample images supplied with the June 2010 DirectX SDK and all format variants written by Visual Studio 2012's picture editor, except BC6H and BC7 which are DirectX11-specific. As of today the DDS codec reads more than 60 format variants! | |||
| *.jpg, *.jpeg |
JPEG Auto-Rotation (exclusive feature!) |
Yes (Win7, Vista) |
Yes | Our JPEG codec adds automatic, on-the-fly rotation of images containing EXIF orientation information written in image files by compatible digital cameras. Please see your camera documentation to find out if it's equipped with an orientation sensor, and how to enable it. Our JPEG codec uses processor-specific optimizations and runs up to 30% quicker than the stock JPEG codec on Widows 7. The auto-rotation feature is not available on Windows XP. Microsoft Windows Live Photo Gallery users may want to opt-out this feature during setup, as it is know to create some conflicts with this particular application. | |||
| *.jp2, *.j2k | JPEG 2000 | n/a | n/a | Supports baseline 8bpc JPEG 2000 (8bpp Gray scale, 24bpp RGB) and S444 YCbCr. | |||
|
*.tga, *.tpic, *.vda,*.icb,*.vst |
Truevision Targa (TGA) | n/a | n/a | Supports uncompressed and RLE-encoded gray scale 8 and 16-bit, true color 15, 16, 24 and 32-bit (with alpha) and 8-bit indexed with 15, 16, 24 and 32-bit color maps. | |||
|
*.pnm, *.ppm, *.pgm,*.pbm |
Netpbm Portable Network Map |
n/a | n/a | Supports 1, 8 and 24bpp binary encoded files (P4/P5/P6) and 1 to 32 bit text encoded files (P1/P2/P3). Update: (Jul-13-2010) The PNM codec supports 16bpp big-endian binary gray scale and 48bpp big-endian binary RGB formats, along with 32bit/channel IEEE float extensions (32bit gray scale and 128bit ARGB). | |||
| *.exr |
Pixar / ILM OpenEXR |
n/a | n/a | Our OpenEXR codec produces highest quality 64bpp RGBA floating point data (16 bits per components, with Alpha) and support many variants of the EXR format, including tiled images and several compression schemes. The codec reads all sample images supplied by ILM with the OpenEXR SDK. The codec uses processor-specific optimizations to speedup unpacking of zip-compressed EXR files. The current version also supports multi-resolution files and can extract lower resolution mipmap levels directly, through the IWICBitmapSourceTransform interface. | |||
| *.hdr |
Radiance HDR |
n/a | n/a | Our Radiance HDR codec supports the 32-bit RLE RGBE format variant and returns 32bpp Red-Green-Blue-Exponent pixel data, preserving the full dynamic range of the images. | |||
| *.psd, *.pdd |
Adobe Photoshop PSD |
n/a | Yes, EXIF, XMP | Our Adobe Photoshop PSD and Adobe PhotoDeluxe PDD codec supports files saved with the Maximum Compatibility option, which contains a flattened preview image. The codec also attempts to perform simple layer blending for images saved without a pre-rendered preview and exposes EXIF and XMP metadata as well as ICC color profile information, enabling color-managed previewing of PSD/PDD files in Windows 7 and Vista. Our PSD Codec 2.5.0.11 should support most PSD format flavors including 1bit/pixel, indexed color, Grayscale, RGB, L*A*B, CMYK and Multichannel in 8 and 16-bit/channel variants, and 32-bit/channel RGB color and gray scale images. For files not containing a ready-to-use Maximum Compatibility preview, color rendition may vary a little and may not perfectly match Photoshop output for certain images, in particular in some color spaces, such as L*A*B or CMYK. | |||
| *.lrprev, *.noindex |
Adobe Lightroom Previews |
n/a | n/a | This codec if part of v2.4.0.3 and let users browse the Lightroom preview cache (*Previews.lrdata) directly from Windows Explorer. Windows 7 and Vista users can also open LR previews directly in Photo Viewer or Photo Gallery. The codec was tested with LR2 and LR3 preview files. | |||
| *.jps |
JPEG Stereo Image |
n/a | n/a | This codec if part of v2.5.0.1 and let users display 2D previews of NVIDIA 3DVision JPEG Stereo images, either as thumbnails in Explorer or in full-size in Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Photo Viewer and Media Center 7. Metadata editing is not supported. | |||
| *.mpo |
Multi-Picture Object |
n/a | n/a | This codec if part of v3.1.0.36 and let users display 2D previews of MPO files created by FUJI FinePix REAL 3D W1 and W3 stereo cameras, either as thumbnails in Explorer or in full-size in Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Photo Viewer and Media Center 7. Metadata editing is not supported. | |||
| *.pic |
Softimage PIC |
n/a | Limited | This codec was added in v3.1 and returns 32bpp BGR and 32bpp BGRA data (24bpp RGB + 8bit alpha). It supports uncompressed and RLE-encoded files. The codec simulates minimal EXIF information and exposes the file description, if present, through the standard ImageDescription tag (270). | |||
| *.iff, *.tdi |
Autodesk Maya IFF |
n/a | Limited | This codec was added in v3.1 supports 4-bytes-aligned (FOR4) files in the following formats: 8 and 16 bit gray-scale, 32bpp BGR and BGRA (24bit + 8bit alpha) files, as well as Z-Buffer-only files which are rendered as beautiful normalized 32bit IEEE floating point gray-scale images. It supports uncompressed and RLE-encoded files and decodes multiple tiles in parallel on multicore computers, making it particularly fast. The codec simulates minimal EXIF information and the Author, Comment, Software and Creation Date, when present, are surfaced through the appropriate EXIF fields and will be picked up by Windows Search. The 3.1.0.33 IFF codec does not support Amiga IFF files, this support may be added later. | |||
| *.sgi, *.rgb |
Silicon Graphics RGB |
n/a | Limited | This codec was added in v3.1 and supports 1, 2, 3 and 4 channels 8 and 16 bit per channel SGI files, with or without RLE compression. The codec use some level of parallelism while decoding files and runs quicker on multicore computers. It also simulates minimal EXIF information and exposes the file description, if present, through the standard ImageDescription tag (270). | |||
| *.vtf |
Valve Texture Format |
n/a | n/a | This codec was added in v3.1.0.43 and supports most common VTF variants. | |||
Raw Image Formats |
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| Extension(s) | Name | Auto rotate | Metadata | Remarks | |||
| *.dng | Adobe DNG Codec (Adobe Digital Negative), DNG 1.3 specifications, with fast thumbnail extraction from most DNG files and intelligent black borders removal. | Yes | Yes | Can be configured to skip raw conversion and always use embedded previews instead, using the provided Control Panel applet. Note that preview images can be of lower resolution than the real image. The DNG codec supports files created natively by DNG-enabled digital cameras, as well as files created with the Adobe DNG converter, with or without embedded raw original. Our DNG codec is much quicker than the current "r2" v1.1 preliminary codec available from Adobe labs and uses far less CPU resources to operate, in addition to be fully compatible with Windows Vista as well as installable on Windows XP, to provide high -quality thumbnails to all current Intel and AMD 32 bit and 64 bit desktop Windows versions and editions. | |||
| *.cr2, *.crw | Canon CR2 Codec, with fast thumbnail extraction from most CR2, CRW files and intelligent black borders removal. Also supports "Small RAW" (sRAW) modes offered by some Canon camera models. See below for the complete list of supported Canon cameras. | Yes | Yes | Can be configured to skip raw conversion and always use embedded previews instead, using the provided Control Panel applet. Note that Canon JPEG previews are usually of lower resolution than the real image, except on very latest cameras like the EOS 1D Mk IV whose files contains a full 16MP 1:1 preview. Color-managed previews in Windows Photo Viewer and Windows Explorer (Vista and later). | |||
| *.erf | Epson ERF Codec | Yes | Yes | ||||
| *.raf |
Fuji RAF Codec, with fast thumbnail extraction from most RAF files and intelligent "black borders" removal. |
Yes | Yes | ||||
| *.3pr, *.fff | Hasselblad 3PR/FFF Codec | Yes | Yes | ||||
| *.dcr, *.kdc | Kodak DCR/KDC Codec | Yes | Yes | ||||
| *.raw, *.rwl | Leica RAW/RWL Codec | Yes | Yes | ||||
| *.mef | Mamiya MEF Codec | n/n/a | Yes | Full (and relatively slow) raw decoding only. | |||
| *.mrw | Minolta MRW Codec | Yes | Yes | Can be configured to skip raw conversion and always use embedded previews instead, using the provided Control Panel applet. | |||
| *.nef, *.nrw | Nikon NEF Codec, with fast thumbnail extraction from most NEF and NRW files. See below for the complete list of supported Nikon camera models. | Yes | Yes | Can be configured to skip raw conversion and always use full-size embedded previews instead (shows Capture NX edits), using the provided Control Panel applet. Also supports previewing JPEG and TIFF files re-saved as NEFs from Nikon Capture NX software. Color-managed previews in Windows Photo Viewer and Windows Explorer (Vista and later). Limited support for NEF files created with Nikon Scan 4 software (thumbnails only). | |||
| *.orf | Olympus ORF Codec, wit fast thumbnail extraction from most ORF files, with intelligent "black borders" removal. | Yes | Yes | Can be configured to skip raw conversion and always use embedded previews instead, using the provided Control Panel applet. | |||
| *.rw2 | Panasonic RW2 Codec | Yes | Yes (*) | Can be configured to skip raw conversion and always use embedded previews instead, using the provided Control Panel applet. (*) The ISO speed is stored outside of the standard EXIF segment in RW2 files, as such Windows Explorer is unable to display this specific metadata item. | |||
| *.pef | Pentax PEF Codec, with fast thumbnail extraction from most PEF files, with intelligent "black borders" removal. | Yes | Yes | Can be configured to skip raw conversion and always use embedded previews instead, using the provided Control Panel applet. | |||
| *.x3f | Sigma Raw Image | Yes | Yes | JPEG Preview only | |||
| *.srw | Samsung SRW Codec | Yes | Yes | Can be configured to skip raw conversion and always use embedded previews instead, using the provided Control Panel applet. | |||
| *.cs1 | Sinar CS1 Codec | n/a | No | Full (and relatively slow) raw decoding only. Sinar CaptureShop 1 raw images. | |||
| *.arw, *.sr2, *.srf | Sony SR2 Codec | Yes | Yes | Can be configured to skip raw conversion and always use embedded previews instead, using the provided Control Panel applet. | |||
Additional Features and Extras |
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| Extension(s) | Name | Remarks | |||||
|
Google SketchUp Document (*.SKP) Google SketchUp Material (*.SKM) |
Thumbnail Provider | Our Google SketchUp Thumbnail Provider enables thumbnail extraction from Google's SketchUp document and material files for all supported platforms, including 64 bit operating systems. | |||||
|
PhotoLine Document (*.PLD) |
Thumbnail Provider | Our Computerinsel PhotoLine Thumbnail Provider enables thumbnail extraction from PhotoLine documents for all supported platforms, including 64 bit operating systems. | |||||
|
Adobe InDesign (*.INDD) Adobe Illustrator (*.AI) Encapsulated PostScript (*.EPS) Portable Document Format (*.PDF) |
XMP-Based Thumbnail Provider | The XMP-based thumbnail provider enables thumbnail and XMP/IPTC metadata extraction from INDD, AI, EPS and PDF files saved by recent Adobe software. The thumbnail provider looks for an XMP packet within the files and extracts the preview thumbnail and metadata: any XMP and IPTC4XMP metadata present in the files is surfaced to Windows Explorer and indexed by Windows Search, enabling users to locate files by keywords/tags, author, title etc., from any Explorer search prompt in Windows Vista or later. The thumbnail provider also supports TIFF previews that may be present in EPS files, such as those created by Adobe Illustrator 8 or later. The XMP-based thumbnail provider is a lightweight component that extracts elements that must already be present in the files. Files written by current Adobe software all contain suitable thumbnail or preview data, as well as metadata in XMP format and are thus compatible with our XMP-based thumbnail provider. Old files and files created with non-Adobe software may need to be resaved with newer software in order to contain the necessary thumbnail and XMP metadata. | |||||
|
Rawzor (*.rwz) for CR2, NEF, NRW, PEF, ORF |
Rawzor Compressed Format Previewer (*.rwz) |
PProvides previewing support for some of the Rawzor compressed RAW formats. Rawzor is a promizing special-purpose compression utility that compresses raw files from many cameras into its own, smaller format. The Rawzor previewer included in this pack allows RWZ file previewing and metadata extraction without prior decompression, enabling Explorer to handle Rawzor files as any other raw format supported by our product. | |||||
| All formats |
Thumbnail Provider for Windows XP |
Provides support for thumbnail views in Windows XP Explorer (SP3), for all the above formats, plus HD Photo / JPEG XR files. Also works with Windows XP 64 SP2 and Windows Server 2003 x64, provided that WIC 64 is installed on the computer. Fast thumbnail extraction from most CR2, CRW, NEF, NRW, PEF, RAF, ORF and DNG files, with intelligent black borders removal. | |||||
| All formats |
32/64-bit
WIC Import Plug-In for Adobe Photoshop CS3/CS4/CS5 |
Allows Adobe Photoshop CS3/CS4/CS5 to directly import images using any codec part of the FastPictureViewer Codec Pack. This plug-in is available as a small separate download (click to get the file) and comes as a couple of naked .8ba file that must be installed manually in the appropriate place on your computer (the Photoshop "Plug-ins\Import-Export" folder). This package contains both 32 and 64-bit versions of the plug-in, along with succinct installation instructions. Once installed, the plug-in appears in Photoshop's File->Import menu and let you import any supported file types directly, in 24bpp RGB. This optional add-in is available 'as-is' and is not yet part of the FastPictureViewer Codec Pack. | |||||
| All formats | Windows 7 Slideshow Gadget | Windows Slideshow gadget, modified to support RAW formats. The gadget is available as a separate download. Unzip the file to "C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\Shared Gadgets\". This optional add-on is available 'as-is' and is not part of the FastPictureViewer Codec Pack. | |||||
Links to related 3rd Party Add-Ins and Utilities |
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| Extension(s) | Name | Remarks | |||||
| Some, see author's site. | Paint.NET Plug-in (aka "RAWLOAD") | Let Paint.NET users import raw images through some of the codecs from this pack. Currently in testing, see this post in Paint.NET's user forum for more information. | |||||
Some WIC Codec enabled applications (benefits from the FastPictureViewer Codec Pack): |
|||||||
| Name | Remarks | ||||||
| FastPictureViewer Professional | Our own photographer-oriented image viewer, designed for photographers (try it!). | ||||||
| Windows Explorer | Native codec support starting from Windows Vista, or Windows XP SP3 with the help of our own Thumbnail Provider. | ||||||
| Windows Photo Viewer | Default image viewer on Windows 7. | ||||||
| Windows Media Center 6.1 | Media and entertainment center on Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate. | ||||||
| Windows Photo Gallery | Default image viewer on Windows Vista. | ||||||
| Windows LiveTM Photo Gallery | Excellent image organizer, part of Windows LiveTM. Available for download from the Microsoft website. | ||||||
| Microsoft Image Composite Editor | Advanced panoramic image stitcher with native support for 64-bit operating systems. | ||||||
| Sony Vegas Pro 9 and later | Sony's top-of-the-line professional nonlinear video editing suite: drop EXR (and other) files straight to Vegas tracks. | ||||||
| VSO Photo Gallery | An upcoming photo organizer from VSO Software. | ||||||
| Easy Photo Uploader for Facebook | An image upload application for Facebook, from Obvious Idea. | ||||||
| IMatch | An image management suite from Mario M. Westphal (support for WIC Codecs must be enabled in the options). | ||||||
| iView MediaPro / Expression Media | Digital Asset Manager from iView Multimedia | ||||||
| RSpec | Real-time spectroscopy software from RSpec-Astro.com | ||||||
| Paint.NET | A nice and free image editor (codecs supported through the Paint.NET add-in described above). | ||||||
| The Panorama Factory | Image stitcher/panorama maker with WIC codec and 64-bit support, from panoramafactory.com | ||||||
| Adobe Photoshop CS3, CS4, CS5 | The most complete image editor from Adobe Inc. (codecs supported through our experimental Photoshop import plug-in described in the above section: Adobe Photoshop does not support Windows-compatible image decoders on its own). | ||||||
| PhotoLine 16.53 | A photo editor from Computerinsel GmbH (www.pl32.com) | ||||||
| Ingestamatic for Windows 7 | A image import / geotagging automation tool from Marc Rochkind (www.imageingester.com) | ||||||
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