xv image viewer
Image viewer in Cameras & photo
Fast, stable, simple image viewer with a clean interface and useful editing features, still used decades after release.
Fast, stable, simple image viewer with a clean interface and useful editing features, still used decades after release.
18 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 18
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 34 years
Median of the 3 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 18 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Well-designed, elegant interface
“it's indeed simple, slick and featured... elegant look and feel for a different age.”
Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away” “I really liked the widget set (custom made for the program) that xv used.”
Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away” “about as humanly close to perfection as you can get in application design”
Comment from 25 Oct 2026 in “Picasa Photo Viewer Rebuilt for Linux, Project Named Licasa” - Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away”
- Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away”
Fast, launches immediately
“xv was fast, stable, had a good interface, and useful far beyond the normal lifespan of such a piece of software.”
Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away” “I loved how it launched immediately and made it very easy to see an image”
Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away” “Fast, and with some editing options as others have mentioned.”
Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away” Simple and easy to use
“It's so extremely simple to use, unlike figuring out how to do that in Gimp or whatever.”
Comment from 27 Mar 2026 in “John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away” “it's indeed simple, slick and featured... elegant look and feel for a different age.”
Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away” “I loved how it launched immediately and made it very easy to see an image”
Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away” Unique editing features, no replacement
“you could adjust the curve so that things that were barely legible in the image suddenly popped way out”
Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away” “XV was excellent, and had some features I've never seen anywhere else.”
Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away” “it has image editing features I still can not find elsewhere”
Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away”
What people said
20 of the 21 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“about as humanly close to perfection as you can get in application design”
“I fully support (and have paid more than most into) John's shareware”
“a quick build away and ready to serve”
“you gave us a great piece of software that is still useful over 30 years later”
“It's so extremely simple to use, unlike figuring out how to do that in Gimp or whatever.”
“there's just no viable replacement IMHO”
“the code quality was top notch”
“just a well designed and functional GUI”
“Fast, and with some editing options as others have mentioned.”
“i just built it on my machine. works!”
“it has image editing features I still can not find elsewhere”
“xv was fast, stable, had a good interface, and useful far beyond the normal lifespan of such a piece of software.”
“I was blown away when I discovered xv in the early 90's.”
“it's indeed simple, slick and featured... elegant look and feel for a different age.”
“I really liked the widget set (custom made for the program) that xv used.”
“very neatly and cleverly designed”
“you could adjust the curve so that things that were barely legible in the image suddenly popped way out”
“XV was excellent, and had some features I've never seen anywhere else.”
“I loved how it launched immediately and made it very easy to see an image”
“A much unappreciated piece of software”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.