Top Preview Alternative Software for Mac, Windows, & Linux
Apple's Preview is a remarkably simple and elegant application for viewing and working with images and PDF documents. It excels at quick PDF viewing, text and image extraction, page manipulation, and basic annotation. For images, Preview offers essential cropping, resizing, rotation, and basic color adjustments. However, if you're looking for more advanced features, cross-platform compatibility, or a different approach to document and image management, you might be seeking a robust Preview alternative.
Best Preview Alternatives
While Preview serves its purpose admirably for many macOS users, a diverse landscape of software offers enhanced capabilities for document and image handling. Whether you need more comprehensive editing tools, broader file format support, or a solution for different operating systems, these alternatives provide compelling options.
SumatraPDF
SumatraPDF is a slim, free, open-source PDF/DjVu/EPUB/XPS/CHM/CBR/CBZ/MOBI/FB2 viewer for Windows. It stands out as a lightweight and highly efficient reader with a minimalistic design, making it an excellent Preview alternative for Windows users focused primarily on document viewing. Key features include low memory usage, a tabbed interface, and support for a wide array of document formats.
IrfanView
IrfanView is a fast, compact image viewer, editor, converter, and organizer for Windows. It's a powerful free personal alternative to Preview for image handling, offering features like batch conversion and renaming, a built-in editor, EXIF editing, and extensibility via plugins. While primarily an image tool, its ability to convert images to PDF adds a document-related benefit.
XnView MP
XnView MP is a comprehensive photo management software available for Mac, Windows, and Linux. This free personal tool serves as a robust Preview alternative for users needing advanced viewing, batch converting, editing, and resizing images. It boasts features like batch editing, sorting by tags, watermarking, and photo organization, making it ideal for managing large image collections.
Evince
Evince is a free, open-source document viewer primarily for Linux, supporting a multitude of formats including PDF, Postscript, djvu, tiff, dvi, and XPS, as well as comic book formats (cbr, cbz). As a Preview alternative, it offers a lightweight experience with features like PDF annotation and multi-language support, making it a solid choice for Linux users focused on document viewing.
FastStone Image Viewer
FastStone Image Viewer is a free personal image browsing, conversion, and editing software for Windows. It's a strong Preview alternative for image management, providing robust format support, batch processing, a clone stamp tool, and image editing capabilities. Its intuitive interface and side-by-side comparison mode enhance the user experience for photo organization and quick edits.
Okular
Okular is a universal document viewer developed by KDE, available as a free, open-source solution for Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, and BSD. It's an excellent cross-platform Preview alternative, particularly strong in PDF annotation and document viewing. Okular offers features such as lightweight operation, low memory usage, text-to-speech, and the ability to fill PDF forms.
XnView
XnView is a free (for private non-commercial or educational use) utility for viewing and converting graphic files, primarily for Windows. It functions as a versatile Preview alternative for image tasks, with powerful batch conversion and renaming features, image combining, and correction tools. It also has the handy ability to convert PDFs to images.
nomacs
nomacs is a free, open-source, small, and fast image viewer for Windows and Linux. It's an effective Preview alternative for image viewing and basic editing, capable of handling common image formats including RAW images. Unique features include the ability to synchronize multiple viewers, batch processing, and a built-in editor, making it versatile for photographers.
ImageGlass
ImageGlass is a free, open-source image viewer for Windows, offering a lightweight and extensible experience. As a Preview alternative focused purely on images, it supports many different formats, features full-screen support, and is customizable via themes and plugins. It's a clean and efficient choice for viewing and basic manipulation of digital photos.
PDF-XChange Viewer
While PDF-XChange Viewer has been discontinued and replaced by PDF-XChange Editor, its legacy as a powerful Freemium PDF tool for Windows remains. It was a strong Preview alternative for PDF tasks, known for robust PDF annotation capabilities, OCR, a clean design, and portability. For users who need more than basic PDF viewing and markup, it provided a comprehensive set of features.
The best Preview alternative for you ultimately depends on your specific needs, operating system, and budget. Whether you prioritize advanced image editing, extensive PDF annotation, cross-platform compatibility, or a simple, lightweight viewer, there's a powerful tool out there to enhance your digital document and image workflow. Explore these options to find the perfect fit!