Three Powerful CLI Image Viewers for Linux: FIM, Viu, and Lsix

Introduction

Linux offers many graphical image viewers, but command‑line users often need lightweight tools that work directly in the terminal. This article presents three useful CLI image viewers—FIM, Viu, and Lsix—explaining how to install them, basic commands, and useful shortcuts.

1. FIM (Fbi Improved)

FIM is an enhanced version of fbi, the Linux framebuffer image viewer. It supports BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, PPM, TIFF, XWD and, for other formats, falls back to ImageMagick conversion.

Installation

sudo apt-get install fim

If the package is unavailable, download the source from the official documentation and compile it.

Basic Usage

fim -a dog.jpg          # display with auto‑scale

fim -a *.jpg            # open all JPG files in the current directory

fim Pictures/           # open all images in the Pictures directory

fim -R Pictures/ --sort   # recursively open images and sort them

fim -t dog.jpg          # render image as ASCII art

Exit with ESC or q.

Common Shortcut Keys

PageUp / PageDown : previous / next image

+ / - : zoom in / zoom out

a : toggle auto‑scale

w : fit to width

h : fit to height

j / k : pan down / pan up

f / m : flip / mirror

r / R : rotate clockwise / counter‑clockwise

ESC / q : quit

For more options, consult the manual page:

man fim

2. Viu

Viu is a free, open‑source CLI image viewer written in Rust. It can display common image formats, custom dimensions, and even images from remote URLs.

Installation

Using Cargo (Rust’s package manager): cargo install viu On Arch Linux and derivatives via an AUR helper: yay -S viu Alternatively, download the pre‑compiled binary, make it executable, and move it to a directory in $PATH:

chmod +x viu
sudo mv viu /usr/local/bin/

Basic Usage

viu image.jpg                # display the image

viu -w 40 image.jpg          # display with a width of 40 characters

viu animated.gif            # display an animated GIF

Show multiple images using a wildcard: viu Desktop/pic\ * Fetch an image from a URL (e.g., Giphy) and pipe it to Viu:

curl -s https://media.giphy.com/media/6pUBXVTai18Iw/giphy.gif | viu -w 40

Exit with CTRL + C. For a full list of options, run:

viu --help

3. Lsix

Lsix is a simple Bash script that shows image thumbnails directly in the terminal using the Sixel graphics protocol. It behaves like the Unix ls command but only lists image files.

Because Lsix is a script, it can be installed by copying the file to a directory in $PATH and ensuring the terminal emulator supports Sixel graphics.

Conclusion

FIM, Viu, and Lsix provide lightweight, terminal‑based alternatives for viewing images on Linux, each with its own strengths: FIM offers extensive format support and rich shortcuts, Viu delivers fast Rust‑based rendering with custom sizing, and Lsix gives quick thumbnail previews using Sixel.