# .tif viewer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 3, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tif-viewer/519858 "2009-12-03T16:06:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tif-viewer/519858/1 "2009-12-03T16:06:01Z")
Yeah, I know, irfanview. However… The local construction association just changed their online drawings format, and the blueprints now download as tiffs. My coworker, who is quite set in her ways when it comes to using computers (I ask her why she doesn’t click “print current page” instead of “print page range” and then typing in the current page number. “This is the way I do it,” says she. Drives me bonkers.) wants to be able to have the viewer open the file sized to fit on screen (these are often 3’x4’ blueprints), and zoom to an area selected by dragging the mouse. There also needs to be an option to print the currently viewed area. I can’t see that irfanview has any zoom options between zoom in/out. Not even a zoom in centered on pointer option. The Windows Fax and Picture Viewer thingy is what’s currently associated with tifs on her machine, and it at least zooms in on the pointer. Anyone have any suggestions for other freeware viewers? If there’s a really good commercial viewer at a reasonable price, that would work too, but she won’t be getting Photoshop or the like. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tif-viewer/519858/2 "2009-12-03T16:52:45Z")
I’ve found [these tables](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_image_viewers) to be helpful in evaluating these decisions. At first glance there are numerous freeware choices available to you. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tif-viewer/519858/3 "2009-12-03T17:43:55Z")
No “zoom anywhere other than the center of the screen” that I can find, but you can get Irfanview to “fit files to screen” or “fit only big files to screen”. They’re both under View/Display options. ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tif-viewer/519858/4 "2009-12-03T20:00:06Z")
I highly recommend [Brava Reader](http://www.bravaviewer.com/viewers.htm). I used to swear by Irfanview until I started using Brava because it can read PDFs as wells as TIFFS. You can use the scroll wheel to cycle through multi-page documents and right-click and drag to zoom in and out. You can also calibrate it to measure dimensions on drawings, which has come in handy quite a few times. And, of course, not having to use Adobe for PDF viewing is a godsend. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tif-viewer/519858/5 "2009-12-04T00:51:54Z")
You can bring up a picture in Irfanview and, using your mouse left clicker, select a rectangle of whatever size you want. Then click inside the rectangle and the selected area will now fill the screen as much as possible considerint the selected area’s aspect ratio. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tif-viewer/519858/6 "2009-12-04T01:34:54Z")
What you’re looking for is [XNVIEW](http://www.xnview.com/en/index.html). I guarantee you, you will love it and it’s freeware ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tif-viewer/519858/7 "2009-12-04T02:22:51Z")
Another possibility (assuming your colleague is running Windows) is [Paint.net](http://Paint.net) ( [http://www.getpaint.net/](http://www.getpaint.net/) ) - I think it will do what you want it to do. It’s free and also allows you to edit pictures. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tif-viewer/519858/8 "2009-12-04T03:20:12Z")
Thanks for all the suggestions so far. Brava Reader is in the lead atm as it’s the only one with a simple way to print the current screen view. It also has the right zoom functions and very little in the way of editing tools, both of which are positives.