eog

What is eog?

Eye of GNOME, usually called eog, started as the default image viewer in the GNOME project in the early 2000s. It has remained a stable, minimal application that loads quickly and uses few system resources, making it a good fit for older hardware or users who prefer a no‑fuss interface.

The target audience is anyone who needs to view photos or simple graphics without editing. It is ideal for quick look‑ups, slide shows, or browsing photo collections.

Compared to Windows Photos, eog is more basic. It lacks the built‑in editing, cloud sync, and social sharing features of the Windows app, but it delivers a clean, distraction‑free experience with keyboard shortcuts and a small footprint.

Best for: Quickly viewing photos or graphics on a GNOME desktop without extra features.

Key features of eog

• Supports JPEG, PNG, TIFF, BMP, GIF, SVG, WebP
• Full‑screen and slideshow modes
• Keyboard shortcuts for navigation
• Zoom in/out and fit‑to‑window
• Rotate and flip images
• Batch viewing of multiple images

Tips for Windows users

If you’re used to Windows Photos, you’ll find eog’s interface minimal: open a file or folder with the right‑click menu, use arrow keys or mouse wheel to navigate, and press F11 for full‑screen. eog handles the same formats Windows Photos does, so you can drop JPEGs, PNGs, or TIFFs directly. Shortcuts like Ctrl+R rotate, Ctrl+S save a copy, and Ctrl+Z undo a rotation. The workflow is linear: open → view → close; there’s no editing or sharing built in, so you’ll need another tool if you need those features.