μPhotos

μPhotos is a fast OpenGL-based cross platform immersive photo viewer and organizer

Features

μPhotos was inspired by the Picasa photo viewer. I missed some Picasa features, which I could not find in other picture viewers, so I decided to write my own viewer. Here is a list of features, that make μPhotos special:

  • Fast and immersive thumbnail view - effortlessly scroll through thousands of high resolution thumbnails.
  • Fast switching between full screen pictures - use arrow keys to quickly navigate the images in the full screen view. The photos are loaded instantly, so skipping 10-20 images per second is possible.
  • Short application startup time - the app can be used as a default picture viewer. Open a random image and then navigate the folder with the arrow keys or go back to the thumbnail view to find what you are looking for.
  • Cloudless computing - no need to upload the pictures into the cloud.
  • Sort and filter photos - sort or filter the library by date/year, folder name and some of the EXIF metadata fields. Useful when trying to find a particular photo.
  • Synchronization with a mobile device - sync all the high resolution thumbnails to your mobile device via Wi-Fi. Required storage space is about 2% of what is required for the full size photos (20GB instead of 1TB), but the quality is sufficient to view full screen pictures on a mobile device. Full size images can be viewed when you are in Wi-Fi range. The connection is encrypted using the AES GCM algorithm. Key exchange works via a QR code.
  • Supported image formats - .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .webp, .heic, .png, .bmp. Desktop version also supports .tif, .tiff, .svg.

In development

μPhotos is in an early development phase. More features will be added in the near future. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Downloads

  • Windows installer (x64):
  • Windows portable (x64):
  • Windows Store App: link
  • Linux (x64):
  • Android: μPhotos on Play Store
  • [experimental] MacOS (x64):     - I can't test MacOS binaries, as I don't have a Mac. Any feedback would be appreciated.
  • [experimental] MacOS (arm64):

System requirements

  • Windows 7, 10, 11, most modern Linux distributions (more info) and Android 10+ are supported so far
  • At least 4GB of RAM
  • Graphics chip with OpenGL 3.3 support:
    • Nvidia GeForce 400 series and newer
    • AMD Radeon HD 5000 Series and newer
    • Intel HD Graphics in Intel Ivy Bridge (3XXX) processors and newer

Changelog

Version 0.2.2.208 - 06.07.2023

  • fix: fixed bugs

Version 0.2.1.206 - 27.06.2023

  • fix: fixed bugs

Version 0.2.0.204 - 15.06.2023

  • feature: two way synchronization: upload new photos from the mobile device to the pc
  • feature: improved filters: recently used filters will be saved, active filters overview menu
  • fix: fixed several bugs

Version 0.1.12.187 - 12.04.2023

  • fix: fixed bugs (mostly android)

Version 0.1.11.185 - 10.04.2023

  • feature: signed Windows installer
  • fix: fixed bugs

Version 0.1.10.180 - 05.04.2023

  • feature: extract GPS position information from images (image library will be reindexed on first start)
  • feature: filter by country and nearest city
  • feature: show image location on the map
  • feature: basic image editing (crop)
  • fix: fixed several bugs

Version 0.1.9.165 - 27.02.2023

  • feature: reduced startup time by about 30%

Version 0.1.8.162 - 25.02.2023

  • feature: support for display scaling on Windows
  • fix: minor bugs fixed

Version 0.1.7.160 - 23.02.2023

  • fix: fixed "Dll was not found" error message on windows machines without installed VC runtime
  • fix: fixed startup crash on mac

Version 0.1.6.159 - 19.02.2023

  • feature: polished up the UI, menu and icons
  • feature: favorites
  • feature: rotate image button

Version 0.1.5.147 - 12.02.2023

  • feature: show error message in a notepad window, if OpenGL window creation fails
  • fix: fixed several minor bugs

Version 0.1.4.143 - 11.02.2023

  • feature: memory usage optimization
  • feature: support for large images (50MP+)
  • feature: imporved error handling
  • feature: exclude (folder, year, ...) filters
  • feature: added HEIC, TIF and SVG support via ImageMagick
  • fix: fixed 'out of memory' crashes

Version 0.1.3.129 - 28.01.2023

  • feature: initial public release