11 Must‑Try Linux Image Viewers and How to Install Them

1. Nomacs

Nomacs is a free, open‑source image viewer that supports most common formats and offers basic adjustment tools such as color, brightness, resizing, cropping, and cutting, plus fullscreen mode, histograms, and metadata panels.

Simple, fast UI

Image adjustment tools (color, size)

Geolocation data

Metadata panel

LAN synchronization

Fullscreen mode

Install via the software center or run sudo apt install nomacs (see the GitHub page for more details).

2. Eye of GNOME (eog)

A classic GNOME‑integrated viewer offering a simple interface, slideshow mode, and tight GNOME desktop integration.

Simple image viewer

Slideshow support

Optimized for GNOME desktop

Install on Ubuntu‑based systems with sudo apt install eog; other distributions can follow the GitHub instructions.

3. Eye of MATE (eom)

A lightweight viewer tailored for the MATE desktop, supporting plugins and basic features like slideshow and image rotation.

Simple image viewer

Plugin support

Designed for MATE desktop

Install with sudo apt install eom or consult the GitHub page for other platforms.

4. Geeqie

Geeqie is a flexible image manager with plugin support, focusing on metadata handling and file organization.

Flexible image manager with plugins

Supports color profile information

Install via sudo apt install geeqie.

5. gThumb

gThumb provides multi‑function image viewing, editing, and management, including EXIF reset, format conversion, and duplicate‑image search.

Manage, edit, and view images

EXIF reset support

Image format conversion

Find duplicate images

Install with sudo apt install gthumb; source and more info are on its GitHub page.

6. Gwenview

Designed for KDE but usable elsewhere, Gwenview offers basic viewing, rotation, resizing, and KIPI plugin extensions.

Basic viewer with image processing

KIPI plugin extensions

Install via sudo apt install gwenview; source details are on GitHub.

7. Mirage

Mirage combines a customizable UI with command‑line access, supporting fullscreen, slideshow, and basic editing (resize, crop, rotate, flip) for many formats.

Customizable interface

Basic image editing

Command‑line access

Install with sudo apt install mirage; see the GitHub page for source.

8. KPhotoAlbum

KPhotoAlbum is a photo manager rather than a pure viewer, offering tagging, database‑driven organization, compression, and stack merging.

Tagging and management

Demo database

Image compression

Stack merge/delete

Install via sudo apt install kphotoalbum or follow the official website for other distributions.

9. Shotwell

Shotwell is a feature‑rich photo manager with red‑eye correction, social media upload, RAW support, and simple editing tools.

Red‑eye correction

Upload to Facebook, Flickr, etc.

RAW file support

Install with sudo apt install shotwell.

10. Ristretto

Ristretto is a minimalist viewer for Xfce, offering zoom, fullscreen, and slideshow modes.

Simple viewer

Fullscreen and slideshow

Install on Ubuntu‑based systems with sudo apt install ristretto.

11. digiKam

digiKam is an advanced photo management suite with editing, batch processing, Light Table, and database back‑ends (SQLite or MySQL).

All‑in‑one photo manager

Batch queue manager

Light Table feature

Install via sudo apt install digikam. It supports import/export to services like Google, Facebook, and Imgur.

Original source: https://www.sysgeek.cn/image-viewers-linux/