Windows Image Viewer

Ok, time for another rant. I would like to complain about the default Windows image viewer called Windows Image Viewer. This program has been around since at least XP (possibly earlier), but this program has some glaring flaws in it and it's surprising nothing has been done about them yet. And keep in mind, this program is the default image viewer on Windows, so unless the user specifically selects a different viewer they will run into the following problems.

Before I talk about the problems, I first want to talk about Exchangeable image file format (EXIF). EXIF is an optional structure found in JPGs and some other image files which contains information about the picture itself. For example, the EXIF contains the make and model of the camera as well as all the camera settings that were used to take the picture. In my opinion one of the most useful fields in EXIF is called "orientation" and it records how the camera was held when the picture was taken. Not all cameras save this EXIF info, I have one camera that does and one that doesn't. But I think it is becoming more and more common. Now onto the flaws...

My first gripe with Windows Image Viewer is it does not read the EXIF field. This isn't a heinous crime, many image viewers do not read this field. But after you've used an EXIF-aware program which automatically displays images in their correct orientation, it's hard to use a program that does not.

My second complaint is Windows Image Viewer modifies and saves your images without telling you. Since Windows Image Viewer does not auto-rotate the image, you have to use the controls in that program to rotate the image for viewing. But what Windows Image Viewer doesn't tell you is the act of rotated an image saves the image in the new rotation. The next time you open that image it was saved in the new orientation. There are two things bad about this. First, you shouldn't save any file without the users knowledge or consent. After all this program is a "viewer" implying it does not modify files. Secondly, because JPGs are lossy compression every time a JPG is saved it loses data and slowly degrades the image.

And the last most annoying problem with Windows Image Viewer is when it silently saves images, it corrupts them! On Windows XP some of the fields in the EXIF (like orientation) are removed and other fields are saved with garbage characters in them. On Vista and Win7 no fields are removed or corrupted, however if the picture is rotated the orientation field is not updated. Regardless of platform, the next time you open the image in an EXIF-aware program the orientation is now wrong.

Windows Image Viewer has had these problems for a long time, I just can't believe Microsoft hasn't addressed them.