Microsoft Photos vs Windows Photo Viewer: What to Choose?

When Microsoft released Windows 10, many users stood in front of a choice, as they had to pick what software from the Microsoft Photos vs Windows Photo Viewer battle suits them better. Since the company made many changes to the Windows OS, including a complete rework of the Windows Photo Viewer that was replaced with the more modern Photos application, many don’t know what software to use. Even though both options handle the main task of viewing images on PC well, there are still a few key distinctions between the two competing utilities.

Microsoft Photos is an image viewing software that is included in Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10. This software allows you to manage videos, sort images, and work with raster graphics. Your photos can be integrated with Microsoft Sway and user-selected images can become assets for creating Sway projects. The software can also upload images to OneDrive, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and GroupMe for sharing.

Windows Photo Viewer represents a fantastic photo album software that is provided with all recent Windows OS versions. Thanks to its simple UI and low resource requirements, it can be considered the simplest utility for viewing images and watching slideshows out there. That said, Windows Photo Viewer doesn’t provide a lot of options for working with images, allowing you only to rotate or delete them. The main purpose of this utility is to view image files (.JPG, .PNG) that you store in your folders.

Microsoft Photos offers an extremely simple interface that opens a single window. It allows you to sort photos in a gallery by selecting them and categorizing them into albums. By default, the software uses the "Collection" view, which sorts photos by date. Users can also view elements in "Album" and "Folder" modes.

You can choose what folders to display, and which files are included in each album. It also allows you to see the occupied space and files in OneDrive by using the “Parameters” section. The software lets you perform several useful actions with the photos by using the side panel, which is identical to the one you’ll find in Google Photos, as it has settings for shadows, highlights, and sharpness, as well as a filter gallery. Additionally, Microsoft Photos allows users to crop, slow down, and save images from video footage.

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Simple intuitive UI. The Microsoft Photos UI is divided into five main modes: Collection, Albums, People, Folders, and Video editor. Collection sorts everything by date. Albums include both automatically generated albums and user-created ones. Folders show images based on their hard drive location. Regardless of the mode, you can always click on any individual photo to view and edit it.

Easy image scaling. If you want to zoom in or out of an image in the Microsoft app, you have to double click the image or rotate the mouse wheel while keeping the Ctrl key pressed down in data collection mode or simply move the mouse wheel in editing mode. You can also use the “Fit screen” icon or the “+” and “-” buttons in the bottom right corner.

OneDrive integration. This means that the photos you take with your smartphone will automatically show up in the Collection section as long as they are automatically uploaded to OneDrive. Microsoft Photos also includes an “Import” feature that works with any memory device that is connected to your PC.

Terrific file support. Microsoft Photos supports all RAW camera image formats, which is a notable advantage for anyone who takes digital photography seriously. The software also supports the highest quality image formats and can even open new formats like Canon .CR3 and images that were taken with the help of Nikon .NEF cameras.

Automatic album collection. Microsoft Photos generates albums for users based on date, allowing you to receive automatically created slideshow videos. You can edit albums to your liking and the software lets you share your online galleries using links given they’re synchronized with iCloud and OneDrive.

Lacks photo editing tools. Microsoft doesn’t provide selective focusing or color correction tools and doesn’t have features for noise reduction, chromatic aberration removal, and geometry correction, which you can find in more advanced software like Adobe Photoshop Elements.

Photo Viewer is a folder-based image viewing software that serves two purposes. The first one is to show your photos in full-screen mode using either a manual or dedicated slideshow. The second purpose is to let you enjoy viewing your photos with a clean UI and broad zoom range.

This photo viewer allows you to enter full-screen mode, change the slideshow intervals, order and background color, select the visible area, and much more. The range of formats supported by this software includes JPG, PNG, GIF (including animated GIFs), BMP, and TIFF. Photo Viewer can print and export images, crop, resize and convert them, as well as export them in batch mode.

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Simple menu. The software’s tools are represented by the main menu located at the top of the window and the toolset panel located at the bottom. The main menu includes the following sections: File, Print, Email, Burn, and Open.

Easy image copying. Similarly, to how you use Windows Explorer, you need to provide a destination folder and type in a name. By default, you'll be offered to use the same name as the original file. The copy creation process can be finalized by clicking on the Save button.

Convenient printing parameter setup. The Print menu allows you to select a printer that will be used for printing from a dropdown list. If you don’t have any printers installed at the moment, then you can use the appropriate feature to start the installation process and set up any connected printer.

The Paper size section lets you pick the paper format that will be used for printing. By default, this parameter is set to A4 since this format is the most popular one among users. Similarly, the Print quality section allows you to pick the desired image quality.

Slideshow creation. This software, akin to most Windows Photo Viewer alternatives, allows you to put together image slideshows. In full-screen mode, the slideshow displays the main EXIF data right on the screen. To start the demonstration of an automatic slideshow, you simply need to press the “S” key.

Long list of supported image formats. The software allows you to work with RAW files taken with DSLR cameras (NEF, RAW, CR2, CRW, RAF, ARW, MRW, SRF, ORF, PEF, DCR, ERF, DNG from Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony, Minolta, Olympus, FujiFilm, etc.)

No editing tools. This fully-functional image viewer allows you to conveniently browse through your photos and look at the EXIF data of each file but it doesn’t have any image editing features.

microsoft photos vs windows photo viewer price

Windows 10 uses the new Microsoft Photos application as its default image viewer but many users still prefer the old Windows Photo Viewer solution. Thankfully, you can get Photo Viewer back on your Windows 10 system by performing a series of straightforward steps. Regardless of whether you prefer Microsoft Photos or Windows Photo Viewer, both tools are available to all users completely for free.

Microsoft Photos offers cross-platform capabilities for Windows users. The software’s interface provides additional features for working with photos and videos. You can easily view, change, and compare images as well as create albums and movies based on the memories you treasure the most.

Windows Photo Viewer is a free image viewing utility that improves the quality of your photos while improving the viewing experience. This photo viewer for Windows 10 doesn’t have any toolset panels or menus, meaning it’s extremely simple to navigate and use.

Both options run on Windows OS and offer terrific capabilities for viewing images or photos. However, if you need a more powerful tool that will allow you to edit your photos, then Microsoft Photos is the clear winner in the Microsoft Photos vs Windows Photo Viewer battle since the latter doesn’t include even the most basic image editing tools.