Unlocking Your Files: The Best Open Freely Alternatives
Open Freely was a popular solution for easily opening, editing, and saving a wide variety of file types, including Microsoft Office documents and various media files. Marketed as "the Easiest Way To Open ALL Files For FREE!", it promised a single program to handle over 100 file types, complete with powerful printing features and media playback. However, as software evolves and user needs shift, many are now seeking a reliable Open Freely alternative that offers similar or enhanced functionality. Whether you're looking for better compatibility, more advanced features, or simply a more actively maintained option, this guide will help you discover the top contenders.
Top Open Freely Alternatives
While Open Freely aimed to be an all-in-one solution, its broad approach meant some specialized tasks might have been less robust. The alternatives presented here offer dedicated strengths in areas like image viewing, document management, media playback, or file compression, providing a more tailored and often more powerful experience for specific needs.
IrfanView
IrfanView is a fast, compact, and free personal image viewer, editor, converter, and organizer for Windows and PortableApps.com. If your primary use for Open Freely was opening and manipulating images, IrfanView is an excellent, lightweight alternative offering batch conversion, batch renaming, a built-in editor, EXIF editing, and extensibility through plugins, making it far more powerful for image-related tasks.
Clementine
Clementine is a free and open-source, cross-platform music player and library organizer available for Mac, Windows, Linux, and BSD. If the media player aspect of Open Freely was important to you, Clementine provides a robust alternative with features like smart playlists, a podcast player, built-in equalizer, tag editor, and integration with various online services, focusing entirely on a superior music listening experience.
Bandizip
Bandizip is a freeware archiver for Windows and Mac that excels in file compression and decompression, supporting a wide range of archive formats. If Open Freely's file compression and decompression capabilities were a key feature for you, Bandizip offers a dedicated and powerful alternative with features like Windows Explorer integration, multiple languages, and Unicode support, providing a more focused and efficient solution for handling zipped files.
Document Viewer
Document Viewer is a free and open-source, highly customizable document viewer for Android and Android Tablet devices. For users who primarily relied on Open Freely for viewing documents on a mobile platform, Document Viewer serves as a solid alternative, specializing in efficient and customizable document rendering.
Xodo
Xodo is a powerful and free cross-platform PDF viewer and annotator available for Windows, Android, iPhone, iPad, and Kindle Fire. If your main interaction with Open Freely involved PDF files, Xodo is a superior alternative, offering robust PDF annotation, creation, editing, and merging capabilities, along with cloud integration (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive) and real-time collaboration.
SmoothVideo Project
SmoothVideo Project (SVP) is a commercial software for Mac, Windows, and Linux that enhances video playback by adding frame interpolation, similar to high-end TVs. If Open Freely's media player wasn't meeting your advanced video needs, SVP offers a specialized and powerful alternative for smoother video playback with frame doubling interpolation.
qpdfview
qpdfview is a free and open-source, lightweight, Qt-based tabbed document viewer for Linux and Haiku. If you need a dedicated and efficient PDF viewer for Linux, qpdfview is an excellent Open Freely alternative that focuses on fast PDF rendering with support for DjVu and PostScript formats, PDF annotation, and filling forms.
DivX
DivX is a freemium software solution for Mac and Windows that provides codecs for high-quality DivX HEVC video creation and streaming. If your media needs from Open Freely centered around robust video codec support and playback, DivX offers a professional alternative for superior video experience, including subtitle support.
Documents
Documents by Readdle is a free document viewer and media player for iPhone and iPad, allowing users to read books, watch videos, and listen to music. For mobile users who used Open Freely for general file handling, Documents is an excellent alternative, offering a built-in file manager, browser, download manager, and sync capabilities with cloud services like Dropbox and iCloud.
QuickViewer
QuickViewer is a free and open-source graphic image viewer for Windows and Linux designed for comfortable browsing of many images. If Open Freely's image viewing capabilities were important, QuickViewer offers a specialized alternative that pre-reads image data for smooth navigation and supports raw photo processing, providing a superior experience for photo enthusiasts.
Choosing the right Open Freely alternative depends entirely on your specific needs. While Open Freely offered a broad range of features, often a specialized tool will provide a more efficient and powerful experience for particular tasks. Explore these alternatives to find the perfect fit for managing your files, images, documents, and media.