The following table compares over 35 picture display programs, gleaned from various
web sources. It is by no means a complete list of all available slide show programs.
The comparison criteria is somewhat limited, in order to keep the table reasonably small.
To get more evaluation information on a listed program, click on the hyperlinked
program name.
| Program Name |
Picture Selection |
Picture Ordering |
Picture Size |
Pan and Zoom |
Picture Annotation |
Picture Transitions |
Sound |
Comments |
| ACDSee 7 |
Prev, Next |
Name, Type, Date, Size, Properties, Description, or Custom |
Full screen |
Yes, using keyboard, but not in slide show mode |
EXIF plus its own database |
Yes
(About 30 of them, with a nice preview mode) |
Yes |
Very full featured slide show program (almost too many), with a few bugs |
| AlbumNow 1.1 |
Prev, Next, First, Last, or by thumbnail |
No |
Full screen |
Yes |
File name, Comment (but couldn't get it to work) |
No |
No |
Somewhat limited capability, and a bit awkward to use |
| Canon ZoomBrowser EX 3.2 |
Prev, Next |
Name, Type, Date |
Full screen |
No |
Proprietary DB (Title & Comments) |
Yes (20) |
Yes, but doesn''t play while picture is being displayed |
Attractive interface |
| CodedColor PhotoStudio Pro 4.1.2.9 |
Prev, Next |
Name, Date, Type, Size (ascending or descending) |
Full screen or window |
Yes |
Yes, weak |
Yes |
Picture Only |
Excellent feature list, especially EXIF, but weak on docs and captioning |
| CompuPic 6.23 |
Prev, Next, First, Last |
Name, Date, Type, Size (ascending or descending) |
Full screen or window |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Picture Only |
Good slide show program with some great features, but lacking some key features |
| Easy Imager 2.0 |
Prev, Next, First, Last |
None |
Resizable window |
Yes - crude |
Not really |
No |
No |
Targeted mainly toward building web albums |
| EZ-Pix EX 7.02 |
Prev, Next, First, Last |
Name, Date, Type, Size (ascending or descending) |
Full screen |
Yes |
Yes, but it doesn't appear on the picture |
No |
No |
Fairly good slide show program, lacking some key features |
| FastStone Image Viewer 1.7 |
Thumbnail, First,Prev, Next, Last |
No |
Full screen |
Yes
(extensive) |
Only filename |
Over 60 |
No |
Outstanding basics, little beyond that |
| Firehand Ember 7 |
Prev, Next |
No |
Full screen |
Yes
(slow zooming) |
EXIF subset, but not on picture |
Only with "Display Xtension"
($34.95 extra) |
Only with "Display Xtension"
($34.95 extra) |
A bit below average in its overall display capabilities |
| FlipAlbum 5 Standard 1.7 |
Prev, Next, or by file name or thumbnail |
Designated |
Uses only about half the available screen area |
No |
Yes, in crude form |
Simulated photo album page flip only |
Yes in background. Picture sound files play only manually |
For the user who wants a traditional photo album look |
| FocusViewer 2.1 |
Prev, Next, or by thumbnail |
No |
One pane within a resizable window |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Very simple slide show program |
| Foto Album Pro 4.6.1 |
Prev, Next |
Name, Date, Size, Type, Designated |
Large view, or full screen when in slide show mode |
None |
Caption in own DB |
None |
Yes, background |
Basic slide show program with a number of bugs. |
| Fresh View 4.0 |
by thumbnail only |
No |
Full screen |
No |
No |
Yes, over 100 |
No |
Extremely simple slide show program |
| Futuris Imager 4.7.1 |
Prev, Next |
None |
Full screen |
Keyboard driven (+,-)
(reference point is upper left corner!) |
No |
No |
No |
One of the worst slide show programs out there |
| IrfanView 3.95 |
Prev, Next |
Name, Type, Date |
Full screen |
Keyboard driven (+,-, arrow keys)
(reference point is upper left corner!) |
Reads EXIF data nicely, but does not display any of it along with picture |
No |
Yes, but not while displaying the picture |
One of the top free slide show programs out there |
| MegaView 7.07 |
Prev, Next, First, Last |
Name, Type, Date, size (forware & reverse) |
Full screen or preview window |
Mainly keyboard driven (+,-, arrow keys) |
Reads EXIF data nicely, but does not display it. Can update it. |
Yes, nicely done! |
Yes, but not while displaying the picture |
Nice features, but lots of access violations |
| MySlideShow 2.4 |
Prev, Next |
Designated |
Full screen |
No |
Caption |
Yes |
Yes
(Picture and background) |
Good sound and transitions, but weak navigation |
| Phota 3.4 |
Prev, Next |
Manual |
Full Screen |
Very limited zoom |
Title, Photographer, Date, Location, & Occasion in own DB |
None |
Yes, either background or with picture |
Fair in general display, good at album builds and Gallery walkthrough |
| Photo Album 5 |
Prev, Next |
Name, Date, Size, Type, Designated |
Large view, or full screen when in slide show mode |
Zoom in/out to a point. Pan using hand cursor |
Title & Description in own DB. Both display during slide show |
Yes, but no control over which ones used (all or none) |
Yes, plays when picture is being displayed |
Very good slide show program. Lots of other editing features |
| PhotoJam 3 |
Reset |
Designated |
Uses about one-half the total screen area |
No |
Caption
(may not work) |
Yes, but some aren't really transitions |
Yes, but as background for all pictures |
A basic slide show program with some severe limitations |
| Photo-Lux 3.3 |
Prev, Next, First, Last |
No |
Full screen |
Yes |
File name in upper left corner |
Yes, but not randomly selectable |
No |
A generic slide show program |
| PhotoRelay 2.5 |
Prev, Next |
Name, Type, Size, Date, Designated |
Full screen |
Yes |
Title, Date, Description, in Roxio DB format |
Yes, but no control over which ones used (all or none) |
Yes, plays when picture is being displayed |
Definitely worth trying if you have Roxio's Easy CD Creator 5 |
| PhotoShow 3.0 |
Prev, Next |
Designated |
Uses about one-half the total screen area |
No |
Caption |
No |
Yes, but as background for all pictures |
Some of its "features" can lead to a lot of frustration |
| Photo Story 3 |
None |
Designated |
Most of screen, or, TV screen |
pre-determined |
No |
Yes |
Yes - you must record it |
Viewer has little or no control over the scripted presentation |
| PicaJet Photo Organizer 2.4 |
Prev, Next |
Name, Date, Size, etc |
Full screen |
Limited |
Limited |
Yes |
Yes, a folder of MP3 files as background audio |
Strong in organization, weak in general use |
| Picasa 2 |
Prev, Next |
Name, Date, Size |
Full screen |
No |
No |
No |
Yes, but only as background audio |
Pretty, but lacks many useful slide show abilities |
| Picolo 1.7 |
Thumbnail only |
Name, Date, Type, Size |
Full screen |
Yes (zoom point is upper left corner) |
No |
Yes |
No |
Slightly below average |
| Picture Viewer .EXE 1.1.218 |
Prev, Next, Filename, Thumbnail |
No |
Full screen |
Yes, but awkward |
No |
No |
No |
Good, easy-to-use, but lacking in some key features |
| PicViewPlus 1.2 |
Prev(1-10, 25, 50), Next(1-10, 25, 50), First, Last, by Thumbnail |
Name, Date, Random, Designated |
Fills a resizable display window |
Zoom or pan to specified point |
Uses EXIF.
Can edit.
Can place on or outside picture |
Yes |
Both foreground and background sound |
Particularly strong in picture captioning |
| PolyView 4.22 |
Prev, Next |
No |
Full screen |
No |
Yes - picture name in a fixed location |
Yes (about 15, without a preview) |
Yes, per picture |
Good, but lacks some useful features |
| ProShow Gold 2.0 |
None (automatic) |
Manual, rotate |
Partial screen |
No |
Yes - user specified |
Yes - over 200 |
Yes, foreground and background |
Weak at picture browsing, very good at packaging slide shows - some bugs |
| RoboPhoto 3.1 |
Prev, Next |
No |
Twice thumbnail size |
No |
No
But does a good job displaying EXIF data |
No |
Nov |
EXIF display is its strong point |
| SlideShow Desktop 2.8 |
Prev, Next
(in slide show mode) |
Name, Designated |
Full screen |
No |
Filename only |
No |
No |
Minimum features, display on "desktop" |
| SlideShow Ultra Gold 6.0.11 |
(none) |
Designated |
Full screen |
No |
Caption, filename
(with effects) |
Yes
(on each or on all) |
Yes
(on a file, and/or a list of background files) |
Some excellent features, but some severe limitations |
| Thumber 3.35 |
Prev, Next, Back 10, Next 10, First, Last |
No |
Large thumbnail only |
No |
Yes, some EXIIF data, but not on picture |
No |
No |
Weak slide show capability |
| UniView 1.65 |
Prev, Next, or by file name |
No |
1:1 by default |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Simple slide show program with significant limitations |
| VuePrint Pro 8.0 |
Prev, Next, Random, Designated
(with problems) |
No |
Full screen |
Yes |
Yes (crippled EXIF), and can overlay picture |
Yes (about 12) |
Yes (but couldn't get it to work) |
Nice, but marred by the very non-standard installation |
| Windows Picture and Fax Viewer |
Prev, Next |
No |
Full screen |
Zoom or pan to specified point |
No |
No |
No |
On every Winddows XP system.
Nice and fast. |
| XnView 1.74 |
Prev, Next, First, Last |
Name, Date, Type, Size |
Full screen |
Yes (but not in slide show mode) |
No |
No |
No |
Few features, and lacking an installation program |
