{"slug": "irfanview", "name": "IrfanView", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 4, "warners": 0, "score": 3.271, "rising": -1.31, "first": "2025-11-18", "latest": "2026-02-03", "why": "had to install Irfanview to get a usable picture viewer", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 0, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [2, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "had to install Irfanview to get a usable picture viewer", "kind": "", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.irfanview.com", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["IrfanView"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 750072626, "item_id": 46879539, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46879539", "by": "kbelder", "date": "2026-02-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Same, but additionally Irfanview.", "excerpt": "Same, but additionally Irfanview. And once upon a time, Media Player Classic used to be on that list. This train of thought made me go find https://www.oldversion.com/. For a while, that was invaluable.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Notepad++ supply chain attack breakdown"}, {"id": 741629953, "item_id": 46351872, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46351872", "by": "Telaneo", "date": "2025-12-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "had to install Irfanview to get a usable picture viewer", "excerpt": "> The start menu in 10 is a lot more customizable vs. Windows 7 which I think is a good thing. I installed Open-Shell day 1 when I got Windows 8, and continued with that on 10, since the new start menu did not convince me, so I can't really vouch for that. I don't see a need in having tiles and such in my start menu. > Task View (virtual desktops) were added in 10. Never used it in Windows. On my Mac I use it to put ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I can't upgrade to Windows 11, now leave me alone"}, {"id": 736424147, "item_id": 46026509, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46026509", "by": "CharlieDigital", "date": "2025-11-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Still can't find anything as good as IrfanView", "excerpt": "macOS daily driver for last 5 years because the hardware is better; I can stay unplugged for almost my entire workday. Lots of things irk me about macOS UX. Finder's lack of tree view sidebar really irks me. Having to disable the silly animations and sounds when I get a new machine irks me. The absolutely terrible window tiling system irks me. When I minimize a window, I can no longer tab into it. The settings dialog", "context": "", "use_case": "Image viewing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Are consumers just tech debt to Microsoft?"}, {"id": 735460946, "item_id": 45966309, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45966309", "by": "kakacik", "date": "2025-11-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Simply the best tools on the whole market for me in given category, period.", "excerpt": "> Foobar2k, Notepad++, IrfanView, TotalCommander Without those, especially last one my productivity at my corporate work would be half at most. Editing a file in an archive within another archive directly, doing quick file comparisons of 2 files, syncing different dirs, fulltext recursive search... all with much better UI than Unix console counterparts (which I use too). And much more. Simply the best tools on the wh", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11 adds AI agent that runs in background with access to personal folders"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["image viewing"], "compared": [{"slug": "notepadplusplus", "name": "Notepad++", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46878338", "title": "Notepad++ supply chain attack breakdown", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46347108", "title": "I can't upgrade to Windows 11, now leave me alone", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46025196", "title": "Are consumers just tech debt to Microsoft?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45959795", "title": "Windows 11 adds AI agent that runs in background with access to personal folders", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 2}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 750072626, "item_id": 46879539, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46879539", "by": "kbelder", "date": "2026-02-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Same, but additionally Irfanview.", "excerpt": "Same, but additionally Irfanview. And once upon a time, Media Player Classic used to be on that list. This train of thought made me go find https://www.oldversion.com/. For a while, that was invaluable.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Notepad++ supply chain attack breakdown"}, {"id": 741629953, "item_id": 46351872, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46351872", "by": "Telaneo", "date": "2025-12-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "had to install Irfanview to get a usable picture viewer", "excerpt": "> The start menu in 10 is a lot more customizable vs. Windows 7 which I think is a good thing. I installed Open-Shell day 1 when I got Windows 8, and continued with that on 10, since the new start menu did not convince me, so I can't really vouch for that. I don't see a need in having tiles and such in my start menu. > Task View (virtual desktops) were added in 10. Never used it in Windows. On my Mac I use it to put ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I can't upgrade to Windows 11, now leave me alone"}, {"id": 736424147, "item_id": 46026509, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46026509", "by": "CharlieDigital", "date": "2025-11-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Still can't find anything as good as IrfanView", "excerpt": "macOS daily driver for last 5 years because the hardware is better; I can stay unplugged for almost my entire workday. Lots of things irk me about macOS UX. Finder's lack of tree view sidebar really irks me. Having to disable the silly animations and sounds when I get a new machine irks me. The absolutely terrible window tiling system irks me. When I minimize a window, I can no longer tab into it. The settings dialog", "context": "", "use_case": "Image viewing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Are consumers just tech debt to Microsoft?"}, {"id": 735460946, "item_id": 45966309, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45966309", "by": "kakacik", "date": "2025-11-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Simply the best tools on the whole market for me in given category, period.", "excerpt": "> Foobar2k, Notepad++, IrfanView, TotalCommander Without those, especially last one my productivity at my corporate work would be half at most. Editing a file in an archive within another archive directly, doing quick file comparisons of 2 files, syncing different dirs, fulltext recursive search... all with much better UI than Unix console counterparts (which I use too). And much more. Simply the best tools on the wh", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11 adds AI agent that runs in background with access to personal folders"}]}