How to use Image & Vector Viewer

A fast viewer for a folder full of mixed artwork: vector, CAD, design files and raster images side by side, thumbnailed on your own machine.

A short guide to getting good results, plus answers to the questions people ask most.

Open the tool

How to use it

  1. 1

    Open a folder, not a file

    Drop a whole folder in. Everything it holds is queued at once and keeps rendering while you scroll, so you are never waiting on the file you want.

  2. 2

    Pick a background that suits the art

    Transparency checker, white, generated paper, or any color. Line art on paper reads differently from line art on a checker, and for clip art the paper is usually the honest preview.

  3. 3

    Use the timeline to compare

    Drag along the strip at the bottom of the full-screen view to flick through the folder. It is the fastest way to find the one drawing you half-remember.

  4. 4

    Send it onward

    Open in… hands the file you are looking at straight to the tool that works on it — color reduction for SVG, background removal for a photograph.

About this tool

The Image & Vector Viewer opens a folder and shows you everything in it — vector and raster together, at a size you choose, on a background you choose. Click any file for a full-screen look, then drag along the timeline to flick through the rest of the folder as fast as you can move your hand.

The reason it exists is the formats nothing else opens. A folder of clip art from the 1990s is mostly EPS and Windows metafiles, and no browser reads either — so this tool carries its own Adobe Illustrator EPS interpreter and its own WMF/EMF renderer and draws those files directly from their geometry. CAD drawings in DXF and plotter files in HPGL are drawn the same way. Design files that keep their own preview — Photoshop, Sketch, XD, Krita, Affinity's neighbors, CorelDRAW — show that preview, and the info panel always tells you which of the two you are looking at.

Features

Formats nothing else opens

EPS and WMF drawn from their own geometry, including 1992 clip art. AI files from before Illustrator 9 too.

Vector, CAD and raster together

SVG, AI, EPS, PDF, WMF, EMF, DXF, HPGL, TIFF, PSD and every common image, thumbnailed side by side.

Nothing is uploaded

Every preview is rendered on your device and cached there. The files never reach a server.

Built for big folders

Thumbnails render in the background while you work, and the timeline stays smooth at ten thousand files.

Frequently asked questions

Are my files uploaded anywhere?

No. Every thumbnail and every preview is rendered inside your browser, and the cache lives on your own machine.

Can it really open WMF and EPS clip art?

Yes, and it draws them from the file's own geometry rather than showing a stored preview, so they stay sharp at any zoom. Both formats are publicly documented, which is why this is possible at all.

What about DWG, Figma or InDesign files?

Those are proprietary with no public specification and nothing embedded to show, so the tool names the format and tells you what opens it rather than showing you something misleading. Export SVG, PDF or DXF and it opens here.

Why is the second visit so much faster?

Thumbnails are cached in your browser against each file's name, size and date, so reopening a folder shows it immediately.

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