Imagine (Lister plugin for viewing img files) v. 2.6.1 July 17 2026)

[popthezid]

2petermad
Today, I'm delighted to see that the new version 2.5.3 has fixed the issue with custom command sorting.
Additionally, several other bugs have also been resolved.
Thank you for your consistent communication and efforts in moving things forward. Respect.

[Gral]

v2.5.3, Mar 08 2026
- Fixed: Low quality of browser thumbnails
- Fixed: Exif rotation information is not applied to browser thumbnails
- Fixed: Commands in Preferences are not sorted correctly
- Fixed: Some GIF errors

[petermad]

Thank you for your consistent communication and efforts in moving things forward. Respect.

Thank you for the appreciation

[AkulaBig]

Thank you for the appreciation

Hello. Since you are in contact with the author of the plugin, I would like to ask you to discuss the work of the DCRaw.plg plugin with the author. It takes a very long time to open RAW files:

[img]https://s1.hostingkartinok.com/uploads/thumbs/2026/03/30bd7d35229744bc545a128e2b7ae5c5.png[/img]
You have to tear off RAW formats from IrfanView, which does this instantly.

[popthezid]

Hello. Since you are in contact with the author of the plugin, I would like to ask you to discuss the work of the DCRaw.plg plugin with the author. It takes a very long time to open RAW files:

The problem is quite difficult to solve. What’s most criticized is the GIF animation.
Although the author claimed in later versions that the GIF decoding and encoding algorithms had been rewritten, in my tests:

a 1295x769 pixel GIF with 237 frames and a size of 2.32MB.
The x86 Unicode version took an average of 11.2 seconds to load and play.
The x64 version performed slightly better, but still took an average of 5 seconds to load and play.
In contrast, using TC’s built-in image viewers, xnview, and irfanview, JPEGview, the GIF played immediately.

Moreover, when playing this GIF, adjusting the transparency or anti-aliasing, or scaling the window size can cause the Lister or Imagine window to become unresponsive for a period of time. In severe cases, it may even lead to the program freezing.

Please downlaod GIF to test.
Image: https://i.postimg.cc/c6y497dS/Aline.gif

[AkulaBig]

The problem is quite difficult to solve. What’s most criticized is the GIF animation.

Hmm, I confirm this. But I would like to first resolve the issue with the RAW format. C GIF is an error. It is not on all files. And with the RAW format there is an original solution. This is what the author intended.

[petermad]

2popthezid
Confirmed that https://i.postimg.cc/c6y497dS/Aline.gif loads very slow in Imagine compared to most other viewers

2AkulaBig
Could you provide a .raw image to test?

[AkulaBig]

Could you provide a .raw image to test?

I am posting an archive with all the raw files I have. For obvious reasons, the archive is large. If you find it difficult to download, I can post 1 or 2 files.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/np5yjqv6j6uuuhsk65n12/RAW.7z?rlkey=u2wne61xof087dt8ll93ng96h&st=biktg7bd&dl=1

[Wawuschel]

here you can find some examples sorted by camera model

https://rawsamples.ch/index.php/en/leica

[petermad]

2Wawuschel
I tried a couple of images from https://rawsamples.ch/index.php/en/leica - they loaded faster in Imagine than in IrfanView and a tiny bit slower in Imagine than in the PhotoViever plugin.

2AkulaBig
I tried the images in https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/np5yjqv6j6uuuhsk65n12/RAW.7z?rlkey=u2wne61xof087dt8ll93ng96h&st=biktg7bd&dl=1 - they loaded faster in Imagine than in IrfanView. The PhotoViewer plugin is faster than Imagine. Imagine is faster than XnView, but slower than XnView MP which is extremely fast for these images

Imagine cannot read the nrw.nrw file.
The raf.raf file loads extremely slow in all viewers exept in XnView MP and PhotoViewer plugin.

XnView 2.52.1 can show cr3.CR3 , whereas XnViwe 2.52.5 cannot.

[popthezid]

XnView 2.52.1 can show cr3.CR3 , whereas XnViwe 2.52.5 cannot.

XnView Classic has always had various issues with supporting different types of RAW files.
Sometimes, it’s impossible to preview images in their full size, forcing users to rely on embedded thumbnails to view the JPG files.
In this regard, IrfanView is much better. However, IrfanView’s browsing mode is quite weak, which is why I usually use several image viewers simultaneously for my work.

[AkulaBig]

they loaded faster in Imagine than in IrfanView.

You do not have the DCRaw.plg plugin installed, so some images are not shown. And those that are shown are not shown in full size. Install the plugin and get a download like in my gif.

[petermad]

You do not have the DCRaw.plg plugin installed

I sure do: https://tcmd.madsenworld.dk/dcrawplugin.png

All the raw files in https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/np5yjqv6j6uuuhsk65n12/RAW.7z?rlkey=u2wne61xof087dt8ll93ng96h&st=biktg7bd&dl=1 shows in full size.

Like this: https://tcmd.madsenworld.dk/rawimage.png - here with a load time of 2.27 sec.

May I recommend that you disable "Display image while loading" in Imagine's "View" Preferences.

I have made this video: https://tcmd.madsenworld.dk/rawloadingindiffviewers.mp4 showing the loading of "nef (2).NEF" in different viewers on my system.

The loading times are a tiny bit slower in the video than in real life because of the screen capturing.

Loading with Internal plugin is using IrfanView.

[AkulaBig]

May I recommend that you disable "Display image while loading" in Imagine's "View" Preferences.

Thanks a lot. Disabling this option actually solves the problem!

I have made this video: https://tcmd.madsenworld.dk/rawloadingindiffviewers.mp4 showing the loading of "nef (2).NEF" in different viewers on my system.

I don’t understand why your Imagine works faster than IrfanView. They work the same for me. There may be a slight difference, but in favor of IrfanView. Can you post your Imagine.ini file? Maybe you have subtle settings that I don't have. My settings are almost default.

[petermad]

I don’t understand why your Imagine works faster than IrfanView

I tried with a clean i_view64.ini file and now IrfanView loads "nef (2).NEF" very fast.

II pinpointed it down to these settings in my original "nef (2).NEF"

Code: Select all

[Plugins]
CRW_Preview=0
CRW_HALF=0

If I remove either of these two settings, IrfanView loads the image very fast (as fast as XnView MP)


I also tried with a clean imagine.ini file - but it only makes it slower because of the default "Display image while loading". If I diable that setting the loading time is the same as with my current imagine.ini file