Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Vim VS IrfanView

Compare Vim VS IrfanView and see what are their differences

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Vim logo Vim

Highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing

IrfanView logo IrfanView

IrfanView ... one of the most popular viewers worldwide.
  • Vim Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-23
  • IrfanView Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-23

Vim features and specs

  • Efficiency
    Once learned, Vim can significantly speed up text editing with its modal editing, keyboard shortcuts, and commands that allow for quick navigation and manipulation of text.
  • Lightweight
    Vim is a very lightweight editor, consuming minimal system resources, making it highly performant even on systems with lower specifications.
  • Customizability
    Vim is highly configurable and extensible through plugins and user-defined settings, allowing users to tailor the editor to their specific needs.
  • Ubiquity
    Vim is available on almost every Unix-like system and even on Windows, making it a ubiquitous tool that you can rely on being available in most environments.
  • Support for Multiple Programming Languages
    Vim supports a wide range of programming languages out of the box and offers syntax highlighting, which can be enhanced through plugins.
  • Powerful Search and Replace
    Vim offers robust searching and replacing functionalities, including support for regular expressions, which can be a powerful tool for developers.

Possible disadvantages of Vim

  • Steep Learning Curve
    Vim's modal editing and extensive set of commands can be daunting for new users, requiring significant time and effort to master.
  • Minimal Default Config
    The default configuration of Vim is quite minimalistic, which may necessitate additional setup and customization to meet modern development needs.
  • Limited GUI
    Vim primarily operates in a terminal, and while there are graphical variants like GVim, they are not as feature-rich or user-friendly as modern GUI editors.
  • Plugin Management
    While Vim is highly extensible, managing and configuring plugins can be cumbersome compared to more modern editors that offer integrated plugin management.
  • Inconsistent Behavior Across Platforms
    There may be inconsistencies in behavior or available features of Vim across different operating systems, which can complicate its use in certain environments.
  • Lack of Integrated Modern Features
    Vim lacks some modern IDE features like integrated debugging, advanced code introspection, and refined autocompletion, which often require third-party plugins to achieve.

IrfanView features and specs

  • Lightweight
    IrfanView is known for its small size and low resource usage, making it fast and efficient even on older systems.
  • Wide Format Support
    Supports a vast array of image formats, including BMP, DIB, JPEG, GIF, PNG, PCX, TIFF, and many more, along with some multimedia formats.
  • Batch Processing
    Includes powerful batch processing capabilities for converting and processing multiple images at once.
  • Plugins
    Supports a variety of plugins for extended functionality, allowing users to add features such as support for additional file formats and enhanced editing tools.
  • User-Friendly
    Offers an intuitive and straightforward interface that is easy to navigate for both beginners and advanced users.
  • Free for Personal Use
    IrfanView is free for non-commercial use, making it an excellent choice for personal projects.

Possible disadvantages of IrfanView

  • Outdated Interface
    The user interface may appear dated compared to more modern photo editing software, potentially affecting user experience.
  • Limited Advanced Editing
    While IrfanView offers basic editing tools, it lacks advanced photo editing features that are available in other software like Adobe Photoshop.
  • Windows-Only
    Natively available only for Windows operating systems, limiting its availability for MacOS and Linux users.
  • Commercial Use Requires License
    Although free for personal use, commercial use requires the purchase of a license, which might be a consideration for businesses.
  • Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    While the basic features are user-friendly, some advanced functionalities may have a steeper learning curve for new users.

Analysis of Vim

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Vim is a good text editor, especially for users who invest the time to learn its powerful commands and features. Its steep learning curve may be challenging initially, but once mastered, it significantly enhances productivity.

Why this product is good

  • Vim is considered a powerful text editor because of its efficiency and versatility. It offers extensive features, such as syntax highlighting, a robust plugin system, and support for numerous programming languages. Vim is highly configurable, enabling users to customize its environment to fit their needs. It is particularly appreciated for its speed and the ability to perform complex text manipulations using simple commands.

Recommended for

    Vim is recommended for programmers, developers, and system administrators who require a highly efficient and customizable text editing experience. It is especially useful for those who work extensively in terminal environments or need a quick, resource-light text editor for remote systems.

Analysis of IrfanView

Overall verdict

  • IrfanView is generally regarded as a reliable and effective tool for viewing and managing images, making it a suitable choice for both casual users and those needing more advanced features.

Why this product is good

  • IrfanView is considered good because it is a fast, compact, and feature-rich image viewer that supports a wide range of file formats. It is also free for non-commercial use, which adds to its appeal. The program offers basic editing capabilities, batch processing options, and a variety of plugins to extend its functionality. Additionally, it is known for its efficient performance and low resource consumption.

Recommended for

    IrfanView is recommended for individuals who need a lightweight and quick image viewer with basic editing tools. It's suitable for photographers, graphic designers, and anyone looking for a free and versatile program for managing large image libraries efficiently.

Vim videos

What Vim Is and Why You Should Learn It

More videos:

  • Review - JAC Vapour VIM Review - JAC does a side by side mod...
  • Review - Jac Vapour VIM - Quick Look

IrfanView videos

Review of irfanview photo editing software

More videos:

  • Review - IrfanView 4.37 - review by SoftPlanet
  • Tutorial - Irfanview Tutorial

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Vim and IrfanView)
Text Editors
100 100%
0% 0
Image Editing
0 0%
100% 100
IDE
100 100%
0% 0
Photos & Graphics
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Vim and IrfanView

Vim Reviews

Boost Your Productivity with These Top Text Editors and IDEs
Vim offers a variety of features like split windows, macros, and extensive customization options. It has a steep learning curve, but once you master it, youโ€™ll be amazed at the speed and productivity it brings to your coding workflow. Vim is a favorite among experienced developers who value speed and efficiency above all else.
Source: convesio.com
13 Best Text Editors to Speed up Your Workflow
Itโ€™s tough to say which developers would enjoy Vim as a text editor. Itโ€™s an old system with an outdated interface. Yet, it still has the charm and powerful feature-set that the average developer needs. I would recommend it to more advanced developers who enjoy using open source software and being a part of a communityโ€“like the one you can find behind Vim.
Source: kinsta.com
12 Best LaTeX Editors You Should Use
The entire installation process is perfectly documented on their Sourceforge page, which you must definitely pay a visit. There is another standalone Vim software, known as the gVim that brings a GUI-based interface to the Vim document editor. Vim-LaTeX has been developed specifically for the programmers and it is so highly configurable that it can function anyway, ranging...
Source: beebom.com
The Top 7 Notepad++ Alternatives for You
Vim is a totally free Notepad++ alternative. It is available to use on Windows, Mac and Linux computers and it is very powerful. I was able to customize Vim to get it to look and function just how I want it. There is really good help support with Vim so if you are new to programming it will get you through most issues.
10 Best Notepad++ Alternatives in 2020
Vim is an advanced text editor open source tool which is also considered to be an IDE in its way. This tool allows managing your text editing activities with vim editors and UNIX System which can be used on-premise or online.
Source: www.guru99.com

IrfanView Reviews

20+ Picasa Alternatives And Best Similar Apps Like Picasa 2022
The only con we have regarding IrfanView is that its interface looks very dated and doesnโ€™t fit well with modern OS designs. Despite that, itโ€™s one of the best Picasa alternatives you can use today if you want some neat image organization and an image editor packed with features, in a package thatโ€™s free to use.
15 Best Google Picasa Alternatives You Should Use (2022)
If you have an old rig that canโ€™t handle new powerful tools and are looking for a lightweight photo management app, then IrfanView will be an excellent choice for you. It is just 3MB in size so that it wonโ€™t take any space on your computer and in terms of resources also it is pretty lightweight.
Source: techdator.net
10 Best Google Picasa Alternatives You Should Use
IrfanView is a free photo viewer and organizer for Windows which happens to be very light both in size and resource requirements. This makes it a great software for users who are using older generations of Windows PC and want something lean and light. Coming just at 3 MB, IrfanView doesnโ€™t take any space on your computer and can run on any device. One of the biggest benefits...
Source: beebom.com
10 Best Photo Viewer For Windows 10 [2020]
The community can build plugins that can be used to add more functionality to the app, check IrfanView plugins page for more about this. The app is available in 32 bit and 64 bit both variant and look and feel of the app can be customized with skins.
7 Best Photo Viewer Apps for Windows 10 in 2019
It creates slideshows within no time. One of the coolest things about IrfanView is it opens in a flash. Itโ€™s super fast and reliable. It supports batch processing.IrfanView app has got a good development team and we see new features added to it every couple of months.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Vim should be more popular than IrfanView. It has been mentiond 10 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Vim mentions (10)

  • regular Vim has lua?!
    Lua is quite small, encouraging distros to include it. The ubuntu gvim has, and the gvim AppImage linked from vim.org does. The default Makefile from github is set up to not include it, but you can uncomment one line there to get it. Source: over 3 years ago
  • is there a way to make highlighted text persistent after quit when using something like [match Search /\%'.line('.').'l/] ?
    I've not used vimwiki locally (tho I'm old enough to remember the Vim wiki on vim.org :), but I think what you are wanting to do is extend vimwiki's syntax file. I presume it installs one at $VIMRUNTIM/syntax or or ~/.vim/syntax. If this sounds right, then create a ~/.vim/after/syntax/vimwiki.vim file and place your match command in there. Then everytime you open a vimwiki file it should apply your... Source: over 3 years ago
  • vim.org - Is there a reason for this 1800s-esque design?
    Vim.org has 242k total visitors, tailwindcss.com has 4.4m, planetscale.com has 412k, jpl.nasa.gov has 2.6m, all built with Tailwind, all several years younger than Vim's website. Unnecessary comparison, unnecessary defence. It's a valuable tool, fine, but a complete disregard for anyone who doesn't love a crappy website and would like to navigate a website like a normal human is not something to be defended. Maybe... Source: over 3 years ago
  • What is YOUR process of writing ?
    I write in Vim with some customizations in my vimrc to gear it more towards prose writing than code editing. It's not pretty, but Normal Mode and Ex commands are the most powerful text editing tools out there, so that means I spend less time on making corrections and other edits. Source: over 4 years ago
  • Why developers need to know about Vim
    If you are open minded and would like to try it out, click me for more information! Cheers. - Source: dev.to / over 4 years ago
View more

IrfanView mentions (3)

  • Presenting two slides from a presentation at once on two different monitors
    It doesn't sound like you need animations or other effects here, just still images. If that's so, you could: Export the slides to high resolution images (at least high enough to match the highest resolution your projectors are capable of). Use a PC to drive each projector; the cheapest, oldest PC in the place will be more than adequate. Run a program that can fill the screen with an image (and if needed, switch... Source: about 3 years ago
  • Is there a way to convert "photographed text" in to just "text" in a .pdf file?
    Scantailor (https://scantailor.org) is the tool for self-scanned books that exist in images (png, jpg, etc). However, I usually use Irfanview with PDF plugin (https://irfanview.com - download both Irfanview and the Plugins from this home page) I have elsewhere in r/PDF shown how you can do batch splitting of two-page scans, clean up muddy pages (yellowed or browned) . In the Reddit search box, search for... Source: over 3 years ago
  • University is rough sometimes...
    From there, open your favorite image editor (I use & recommend irfanView BTW ๐Ÿ˜) & paste it there. Then save it (I HIGHLY recommend saving it as a JPEG file). Source: over 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Vim and IrfanView, you can also consider the following products

Sublime Text - Sublime Text is a sophisticated text editor for code, html and prose - any kind of text file. You'll love the slick user interface and extraordinary features. Fully customizable with macros, and syntax highlighting for most major languages.

XnView MP - XnView is a free software that allows you to view, resize and edit your images. It supports more than 500 different formats!

VS Code - Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft

FastStone Image Viewer - FastStone Image Viewer is a fast, stable, user-friendly image browser, converter and editor.

GNU Emacs - GNU Emacs is an extensible, customizable text editorโ€”and more.

JPEGView - JPEGView is a small and fast viewer/editor for JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF and TIFF images.