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XnView vs sxiv

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When comparing XnView vs sxiv, the Slant community recommends XnView for most people. In the question“What are the best FOSS image viewers for UNIX-like systems?” XnView is ranked 5th while sxiv is ranked 10th.

Specs

No specs yet!

LicenseGPL-2.0

Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking

Common Questions

What are the best FOSS image viewers for UNIX-like systems?

What are the best small and lightweight image viewers for UNIX-like systems?

Pros

Pro
Supports over 500 image formats

Pro
Includes simple editing tools

Typical image editing tools are included. For instance, there are tools for color and size manipulation, several filters and effects.

Pro
Available for macOS, Linux and Windows

Pro
Easy redate and view configuration

Pro
Compare images side-by-side

To delete blurry phone pics, etc.

Pro
Multi-lingual

XnView speaks over 30 languages.

Pro
Portable version for Windows available

Pro
Anti-aliasing can be toggled

Anti-aliasing is usually enabled on startup and can be toggled with 'a'.
Disabling anti-aliasing means faster operation due to less CPU load.

Changing the default is possible by compiling with this setting:

# config.h
static const bool ANTI_ALIAS = false;

Pro
Supports embedding into other X windows

Via option -e.

Pro
Basic support for multi-frame images (aka animations)

Load all frames from GIF files and play GIF animations.

Pro
Acts as a filter for images that interacts with the command line

Option -i (input) takes filenames from stdinput and outputs marked images to stdoutput via option -o (output).

Pro
Userscripts can be applied to single images or thumbnail mode selection

Examples of how to use the key-handler are found here:
/usr/share/sxiv/exec/key-handler

Pro
Image infobox can be configured

Can be configured in ~/.config/sxiv/exec/image-info. See also here.

Pro
Rudimentary viewing manipulation

Images can be rotated (<,>), flipped (|,_) and scaled (w,W,e,E,=).

Pro
View mode with marked files

Keys 'N' and 'P' move in list of marked files. This can be useful.

Pro
Thumbnail mode

Pro
Fast

Ad
Cons

Con
Very poor quality and very invazive on windows 10

Convert all images to 8bit rgb
[not suport 16bit or 32bit, cmyk, Lab, multichannel] so you never be able to see real original image, you only see the result of conversion...on windows 10 it enforced self promotion to default app for every type/format of image...

Con
No Dark mode

Con
No custom installation - if you need i.e. a language package, you need to install the full version

Con
Free only for private use

For use in a company 1 license starts at 26 EUR.

Con
Doesn't show movies on phone in correct position

Some of mp4 files shows in upside down position.

Con
Doesn't pan/zoom fluidly with touchscreen

Con
Browsing a directory after opening a single file needs fixing

See here

There is a workaround implemented in ranger that works more or less out of the box

    # This hook allows image viewers to open all images in the current
    # directory, keeping the order of files the same as in ranger.
    # The requirements to use it are:
    # 1. set open_all_images to true
    # 2. ensure no files are marked
    # 3. call rifle with a command that starts with "sxiv " or "feh "
    def sxiv_workaround_hook(command):

Con
Jumping in thumbnail mode possible, but limited

By entering a number, followed by capital G the focus jumps to that image in the list counted from beginning. (G is default key for 'g_n_or_last'-action (see config.h in source).)
It has to be noted that prefixing a motion with a number also works as espected (vim style).
Alas, a jumping mode with lables (like with pqiv) would be an advantage.

Con
It doesn't have pong

Con
Thumbnail mode only with simple marking

Key 'm' marks files.

Con
Keys not configurable except via keyhandler mode or compilation

Keys can be associated with userscripts, which can be defined in ~/.config/sxiv/exec/key-handler. Every associated button needs to be prefixed with the key combination C-x (although that prefix can be configured to another key or key combination in config.h).

It has to be noted that key configuration apart from the key-handler is possible via compilation (Customizable key and mouse button mappings in config.h), which must not be a bad way to configure buttons, but certainly means a barrier for the not so tech-savvy.

Easy instruction for compilation:
1) Enter in terminal: "git clone https://github.com/muennich/sxiv.git"
2) Edit file "config.h" according to this
3) Compile and install, namely enter directory and enter in terminal: "make && sudo make install" (beware of sudo/root unless you know what you do)
( 4) Iterate: 2), then: enter directory and enter in terminal: "make clean && make && sudo make install" )

See an example for remapping the navigation buttons:

// navigate thumbnail+image
    { 0,            XK_Left,          i_navigate,           -1 },
    { 0,            XK_Left,          t_move_sel,           DIR_LEFT },

    { 0,            XK_Right,         i_navigate,           +1 },
    { 0,            XK_Right,         t_move_sel,           DIR_RIGHT },

    { 0,            XK_Down,          t_move_sel,           DIR_DOWN },
    { 0,            XK_Up,            t_move_sel,           DIR_UP },

    { ShiftMask,    XK_Right,         i_navigate,           +10 },
    { ShiftMask,    XK_Left,          i_navigate,           -10 },