How to view .gif files in Windows 7? Anyone recommend 3rd party software?

usignuolo

I have windows 7 on my new PC. It will not let me view .gif files, either directly from the folder or via Windows Live Photo Gallery.

I have both still and animated .gifs on my pc and all worked fine in XP but for some reason, MS has decided not to support the .gif format for images in Win7.

I have looked up fixes and MS says I need to go to the control panel and select Default Programs and change the file association for .gifs to Win Live Photo Gallery. I have done that and it still does not work.
Can anyone recommend a third party product?

m5rcc

Are you sure about that? Use Microsoft Office Picture Manager

[Deleted User]

This should view pretty most any image file - http://www.irfanview.com/

Or.. just drag it into a web-browser and it should be displayed

pledgeX

Opening it with internet explorer should work as well. You've probably already got that installed as well so no need for new software!

I'm sure other browsers will work as well.

usignuolo

MS Official Response

The Photo Gallery is designed for management of photos. The GIF format is not widely used for photos, but we included limited support for it due to the fact that some users have photos in this format. However, we did not implement the animation feature. You can use Internet Explorer to view your animated GIF files."

You can view the animated .gif files by opening it with Internet Explorer (IE).


I cannot get static or animated gifs to open in either Windows Photo viewer or Windows Live Photo Gallery although I have changed their file association to include a .gif. I am running latest version of Win7 Professional (64 bit)

Apparently Irfanview works so I am about to try that.

What with this and the difficulties in renaming .jpegs, MS image handling in Win7 sucks.

paddyrg

Aaaaaah anigifs - open them in Internet Explorer which will display them just fine, or if you want to edit them, use The GIMP (free download gimp.org) which will render each anigif frame as a separate layer

usignuolo

Yes IrfanView works