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Since sometime I clicked the shutter for multiple times when I am taking a picture, so to hope my hands didn't shake in one of them. I am looking for software that can view multiple JPEG images (about 2 to 5) side-by-side that I can zoom-in and drag the photos simultaneously (i.e. I can zoom in the same section of multiple photos at the same time, while viewing them side-by-side) to compare the details, so I choose the best one. My computer is running on Windows 7 64-bits, the software will also do the work as long as it can run on Windows 7 or newer versions.

It would be nice if it is a lightweight program, but if I can use a photo-editing software to do the same work it would be fine too. It more preferable that the software is free, but I'm open to other recommendations too.

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    My guess: It would also be nice if the program indicates where it detects differences (maybe with settable level) in those cases where the differences are small - so that you know where to look.
    – user416
    Sep 5, 2016 at 12:19
  • I am hoping this this for years, same reason: multiple shots of the same subject. My dream is to have this photo-viewer like a browser or explorer, where I go through a folder and always see two photos next to each other and delete the worse one with dedicated r and l buttons or move (m) to the next photo when I want to keep both.
    – Martin Zaske
    Jul 28, 2021 at 19:06

8 Answers 8

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The FastStone Image Viewer is able to compare up to 4 photos, along with a bunch of other useful functions. The viewer is free for home users.

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I just discovered XnView can do this, too. In the XnView file browser, select two to four images, right-click and find Compare.

Screenshot of side-by-side image comparison

Both images zoom and scroll in sync with each other so you can find the blurrier one:

Screenshot of close-up image comparison

and delete it:

Screenshot of delete button

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    Unfortunately not usable, when image are not of the same resolution.
    – Velda
    Jul 31, 2018 at 18:54
  • Can I use it like an explorer in a folder, where it brings up the next photo when I have deleted one out of the comparison?
    – Martin Zaske
    Jul 28, 2021 at 19:09
  • @MartinZaske No, but you can compare up to 4 at a time, and when you're done deleting them you're back in an explorer view of that folder
    – endolith
    Jul 28, 2021 at 19:45
  • Can I use it like an explorer in a folder, where it brings up the next photo when I have deleted one out of the comparison?
    – Martin Zaske
    Jul 28, 2021 at 21:47
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Adobe Lightroom can do this too (with up to 2 pictures), in the Library module. Together with the preview images in the filmstrip you can exchange one or both pictures rather quickly.

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You can use MulimgViewer. (This is my repository)

MulimgViewer is a multi-image viewer that can open multiple images in one interface, which is convenient for image comparison and image stitching. MulimgViewer supports sequential and parallel mode to display images.

MulimgViewer is implemented in python and currently provides Windows 10 and Ubuntu 20.04 versions.

Future: The parallel zoom function of the picture is being realized and I believe it will be released soon.

GitHub: https://github.com/nachifur/MulimgViewer

Wiki: https://github.com/nachifur/MulimgViewer/wiki

MulimgViewer screenshot

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  • Thanks for the software, and +1 for your effort. However, I couldn't make it show more than one image at the same moment. Probably I just didn't find out the correct settings; I gave up after 5 minutes.
    – Binarus
    Dec 12, 2022 at 9:13
  • set row:2 col:2 for multiple images more: github.com/nachifur/MulimgViewer/wiki#5.2
    – nachifur
    Feb 12, 2023 at 15:36
  • Thank you very much. Of course I had seen the "row" and "col" entries, but I didn't know that I had to hit Ctrl+R to refresh the view and apply that setting (as the wiki explains). I'll try again when I have more time ...
    – Binarus
    Feb 15, 2023 at 19:08
  • Yes. Set "row" and "col", then hit Ctrl+R .
    – nachifur
    Feb 29 at 15:19
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    @Nagabhushan S N Yes. See mulimgviewer.readthedocs.io/en/latest/resources/install.html.
    – nachifur
    Mar 16 at 12:39
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This does not answer directly, but sometimes is better one over the other comparison. And the tools mentioned are poor for this task. I ended using Paint.NET photo editor with 2 layers and switching visiblity:

Compressed photo

Original photo

And you can also show differences in image by setting type of layer's overlap to difference:

enter image description here

Steps: You open first image directly, then drop the second image and add it as new layer. Then you may resize one of image if not same resolution (to bigger one) and fix mutual position.

On example I checked impact of compression in KakaoTalk. So I would say, that for comparison between compressed and original photos, or between photos in burst mode this method is better.

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  • Thank for the proposition, but in my case, I need something that works much quicker. I'd like to have a configurable number of images on the screen, in sequential order as determined by the filenames. Clicking on an image and hitting DEL should delete it and should pull in the next image at the end of the images shown, and hitting RIGHT or LEFT should shift the list of images shown to the right or to the left by one, pulling in the next or previous image at the end or the start of the list of images shown. However, I vote for your answer because of the unusual idea; pretty cool.
    – Binarus
    Mar 2 at 17:29
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Version control system clients:

all free software and all have TortoiseIDiff.exe which can displays two images side by side horizontally or vertically, adjust size, overlay them with adjustable alpha value and display basic image information.

Tool can be integrated with other applications (file managers or synchronization tools); path to images can be passed via command line.

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AntiDupl.Net might help:

AntiDupl.NET program will help you automate this process. It can find and display duplicate images in the main graphic formats: JPEG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, PNG, EMF, WMF, EXIF, ICON, JP2, PSD, DDS and TGA. The comparison is based on the contents of the files, so the program can find not only almost identical, but similar images. In addition, the program can find images with some types of defects.

AntiDupl.NET program is free and open-source software. It is simple to use, has high speed and accuracy of work, supports Russian and English interface.

enter image description here

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Butterfly Viewer can view multiple images side by side with synchronized panning and zooming. Simply drag and drop image files into it and it'll auto-arrange them as a grid, column, or row.

I'm the creator, and I recently released it to the public on GitHub.

You can install it on Windows, run it as a package for MacOS (beta), or run it directly on its Python source code.

GIF of drag-and-drop with synchronized zoom and pan GIF of drag-and-drop with synchronized zoom and pan.

Image of six photos individually panned and zoomed Image of six photos individually panned and zoomed.

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