New Irfanview now available in 64 bit version

A new version of IrfanView and plugins has been released.
IrfanView - Official Homepage - one of the most popular viewers worldwide

You can now install a 64 bit version.
You can install both versions, as long as they have their own folders (i.e. one in "Program Files" and the other in "Program Files (x86)").

Make sure that you choose the correct plugin pack for the version you install.

Nice find. Thanks!

IrfanView is one of the first programs I install in Windows (has been for 10+ years).

It is the most useful multi-format file viewer (audio, picture, video and others) I've ever tried.

The 64 bit version is a nice improvement.

What are the advantages of 64bit IrfanView over the 32 bit version (which I consider a necessity on my computers).

Thanks. I will have to try Irfanview 64bit with the separate Ghostscript 64bit plugin and see if it works!

Lady Fitzgerald said:

What are the advantages of 64bit IrfanView over the 32 bit version (which I consider a necessity on my computers).

Click to expand...

I read some info somewhere that suggests that the 64 bit version is faster when loading large images.

It seems faster on my PC, but I don't know any way to generate the necessary data to prove it.

lehnerus2000 said:

I read some info somewhere that suggests that the 64 bit version is faster when loading large images.

It seems faster on my PC, but I don't know any way to generate the necessary data to prove it.

Click to expand...

In IrfanView - open an image then select Image> Information and you will see the "Loaded In" speed.

I've checked load time for a test image in IrfanView 32bit and will compare the same image once I've installed the 64bit version.

Irfanview 32bit vs 64bit image loading speed.

A test using the same image.

Irfanview 32bit loads a 4.75Mb jpeg image in 749 milliseconds.


Irfanview 64bit loads the same image in 671 milliseconds.


That is actually faster than Wildbit Image Viewer (733 milliseconds for the same image)

Thanks Callender

Callender said:

lehnerus2000 said:

I read some info somewhere that suggests that the 64 bit version is faster when loading large images.

It seems faster on my PC, but I don't know any way to generate the necessary data to prove it.

Click to expand...

In IrfanView - open an image then select Image> Information and you will see the "Loaded In" speed.

I've checked load time for a test image in IrfanView 32bit and will compare the same image once I've installed the 64bit version.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that tip.


Here's my test with a 51.2 MB tif (5184px x 3456px):

The benches look impressive but in real time usage, a 38% increase from 78/100 of a second isn't going to be at all noticeable unless working with several hundred images or files at a time.

The extra speed should be noticeable when doing batch operations.

strollin said:

The extra speed should be noticeable when doing batch operations.

Click to expand...

As I said, it wouldn't be noticeable unless doing several hundred at a time. The most I've ever done at a time is 120 and it was a onetime project.

Lady Fitzgerald said:

The benches look impressive but in real time usage, a 38% increase from 78/100 of a second isn't going to be at all noticeable unless working with several hundred images or files at a time.

Click to expand...

Nonetheless it does seem to be faster (on my PC).

Multimedia

One thing I've noticed is that I have to manually start the multimedia tool on the 64 bit version.

IrfanView 4.38 (32 bit) would start the multimedia tool (automatically) based on the file's extension (e.g. wav files would start the audio player).

lehnerus2000 said:

One thing I've noticed is that I have to manually start the multimedia tool on the 64 bit version.

IrfanView 4.38 (32 bit) would start the multimedia tool (automatically) based on the file's extension (e.g. wav files would start the audio player).

Click to expand...

I don't get that problem. I open a WAV file with IrfanView and it plays. Same goes for other media files.

Note: I did a clean install of Irfanview and plugins having removed the old version. I did not associate any file types on install.

Maybe try the settings - open a sound file and choose "Properties" on the menubar.

Here's what I see and as far as I know it shows the default settings as I have not changed them.



Note: My default player for audio is MusicBee

My default player for video is PotPlayer

I had a look at those settings but I didn't change any.
They are set the same as in the 32 bit version.

In W7 & W10:

• The 32 bit version (which I haven't updated) still works the same as always
• The 64 bit version needs me to manually start and load the multimedia plugin

Maybe having two versions installed could be a problem but I don't see how as the settings should be independent. I took a look in %Userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\IrfanView and I just see an .ini file for the 64bit version.

I see these settings are the default ones for extensions and WAV files should load.


What happens if you run Irfanview as administrator?

Also going back to the image loading speed - looking at the changes detailed in:

C:\Program Files\IrfanView\i_changes.txt

it does state the following:

The 64-bit version is faster for very large images (25+ Megapixels)

Weird

Callender said:

Maybe having two versions installed could be a problem but I don't see how as the settings should be independent. I took a look in %Userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\IrfanView and I just see an .ini file for the 64bit version.

I see these settings are the default ones for extensions and WAV files should load.

Click to expand...

I also have various audio and video extensions listed in that text box.

Callender said:

What happens if you run Irfanview as administrator?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure how to start IrfanView as Administrator when opening it from a file's context menu (e.g. wav).

Callender said:

Also going back to the image loading speed - looking at the changes detailed in:

Click to expand...

I was going to post a new comparison as it occurred to me that after loading an image it may still be in RAM.

After performing an OS restart after each attempt, the time difference was much greater:

• The 32 bit version to ~1100ms
• The 64 bit version still took 78ms

Callender said:

What happens if you run Irfanview as administrator?

Click to expand...

lehnerus2000 said:

I'm not sure how to start IrfanView as Administrator when opening it from a file's context menu (e.g. wav).

Click to expand...

The only way I can think of is to right click on the executable then:

Properties> Compatibility

then set to run as administrator. Somehow I do not think that this could be the problem but it might be worth checking. I note that on my machine I login using an admin account and UAC is disabled. UAC has been replaced by VoodooShield. I just mention it (for the benefit of anyone else reading this thread) because obviously it's not a good idea to disable UAC under normal circumstances.

I see that Ifranview 64bit still uses some 32bit plugins located in a folder inside C:\Program Files\IrfanView\Plugins

IV_PLAYER.EXE - This PlugIn allows IrfanView to play video/sound/audio-cd files using MS Media Player interface.
(AVI, MPG, WAV, MIDI, CDA, WMA, ASF, AIF, SND, WMA/WMV)

Appears to be a 64bit plugin. I do not have MS Media Player.

Perhaps you could see if Irfanview loads a track (WAV format) if you type this into the Start> Run dialog box.

"C:\Program Files\IrfanView\i_view64.exe" "C:\full path to WAV file"

What I would do is fully remove both versions of Irfanview including leftover registry entries then reboot and fresh install the 64bit version and plugins to see if you get the same problem.

lehnerus2000 said:

I was going to post a new comparison as it occurred to me that after loading an image it may still be in RAM.

After performing an OS restart after each attempt, the time difference was much greater:

• The 32 bit version to ~1100ms
• The 64 bit version still took 78ms

Click to expand...

That appears to be significant!

"Curiouser and curiouser!"

Callender said:

Perhaps you could see if Irfanview loads a track (WAV format) if you type this into the Start> Run dialog box.

"C:\Program Files\IrfanView\i_view64.exe" "C:\full path to WAV file"

Click to expand...

That command works the same in both versions (i.e. they both start the player that I normally see).

Callender said:

What I would do is fully remove both versions of Irfanview including leftover registry entries then reboot and fresh install the 64bit version and plugins to see if you get the same problem.

Click to expand...

It looks like I have no choice but to see if this fixes this.

Callender said:

lehnerus2000 said:

I was going to post a new comparison as it occurred to me that after loading an image it may still be in RAM.

After performing an OS restart after each attempt, the time difference was much greater:

• The 32 bit version to ~1100ms
• The 64 bit version still took 78ms

Click to expand...

That appears to be significant!

Click to expand...

The times are highly variable.
I just tried again and the 32 bit version took ~125ms.

Update
I just changed the settings around and now both versions behave in a similar fashion.