ELX-PhotoViewer
An image viewer that opens before you let go of the mouse
A file shell with a folder tree, a file list and a preview pane — and a full-screen mode that appears almost instantly when you double-click a picture in Explorer. Built on the Windows imaging API directly: one executable of about 330 KB with no runtime at all.
It opens immediately
Launched by file association, the program creates only what it needs to show the picture. The main window is built later, if you ask for it — which is why a double click in Explorer produces an image rather than a splash screen.
Nothing but the picture
Black background, the image, and the taskbar pushed under the window so the screen is genuinely full. Arrows, page keys, space and the wheel page through the folder; Home and End jump to its ends.
A real file shell
Folder tree, file list with sizes and image properties, thumbnails with a disk cache, sorting by any column, and a light preview pane — light because a dark one fights with the photographs.
The cursor stays where you left it
After a rename, a paste, a deletion or a batch conversion, the list returns not merely to the same file but to the same screen row. You are never left hunting for the picture you were just looking at.
Batch conversion and rename
Convert a selection to JPEG or PNG with quality, chroma subsampling and EXIF carried over — or rename a folder full of files by a pattern, with the result visible before you commit.
Animated GIF, and GIF to MP4
Animations play in full screen with the frame delays taken from the file, and can be saved as H.264 video using what Windows already provides — no external codecs.
Full-screen viewing
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Escape | Leave full screen |
Enter | Open the file shell at the current picture |
Arrows, PgUp, PgDn, Space, wheel | Page through the folder |
Home / End | First and last picture |
Ctrl + wheel, + / − | Zoom |
1 | Actual size, 100 % |
0 or F | Fit to the screen |
Del | Send to the recycle bin; the next picture appears in its place |
| Drag with the mouse | Pan a zoomed picture |
The file shell
- Subfolders appear in the list:
..first, then folders, then files — so the keyboard alone is enough to walk the tree. - Two list modes: a table with name, size, date and image properties, or thumbnails with a disk cache.
- Sorting by any column; folders and
..stay on top, and the chosen order is remembered. Sorting by resolution reads the dimensions of the whole folder in the background and rebuilds the list when they are ready. - File operations: Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, Ctrl+V and Del, plus drag and drop inside the program and to and from Explorer.
- Within one drive files move, between drives they copy; Ctrl forces a copy and Shift forces a move.
- Cut files are dimmed until they are pasted, and after pasting the cursor lands on what appeared.
- Deleting a folder asks separately, and says how many files and subfolders are inside.
- Printing with a preview, and back and forward through history with Alt and the arrow keys.
The preview, the status bar and Enter follow the cursor rather than the first selected item — so selecting a range with Shift and the arrow keys still previews what you are pointing at.
Batch operations
Conversion (Ctrl+K) takes a selection to JPEG or PNG. For JPEG: quality from 1 to 100, chroma subsampling, and EXIF carried over — capture date, camera and orientation. For PNG: interlacing and the compression filter.
The result goes beside the original or into a folder of its own, optionally with a suffix, and the originals can be removed afterwards — to the recycle bin, so the operation is reversible without an extra confirmation. Every setting in the dialog is remembered, so the second time you only press the button.
Batch rename works on the same principle: build the pattern, see the result before committing, and keep the cursor where it was afterwards.
At a glance
- Operating system
- Windows 10 and 11
- Built with
- Win32, Direct2D and Windows Imaging Component
- Size
- About 330 KB, statically linked
- Runtime
- None
- Formats
- Everything the system imaging component reads, including animated GIF
- Conversion
- JPEG and PNG, with EXIF carried over
- Video export
- GIF to H.264 MP4 through Windows itself