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Image Viewer
Open pictures directly in Gaming Mode. FileExplorer previews BMP, PNG, JPEG, GIF and WebP, fitted to the available space while keeping the image's aspect ratio. On handhelds and smaller screens, the viewer fills the space between Steam's header and controller controls.
- Open a folder containing pictures in either panel.
- Focus an image and press A. Mouse users can double-click it.
- Use left/right on the D-pad or left stick to change the image. L1/R1 or LB/RB does the same. The Previous and Next buttons also work with a mouse.
- Press B or choose Close to return to the file list.
| SteamOS PC | SteamOS handheld |
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The header shows the filename, its position in the folder's image list, dimensions and file size. The viewer uses the panel's current sort order and hidden-file setting. Folders and unrelated files are skipped; after the last picture it wraps to the first. A folder with one image simply keeps that image open.
The same controls work on direct SMB shares, existing operating-system mounts and inside supported archives. Open the archive with A, enter the folder containing pictures and press A again on the image. Left/right stays within that archive folder.
| SteamOS PC | SteamOS handheld |
|---|---|
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Previewing leaves the source unchanged. An archive preview temporarily extracts only the selected image and cleans up that temporary file. An archive stored on SMB is downloaded temporarily for reading, so opening a large remote archive can take longer than opening a standalone picture. To keep a copy, return to the file list and use the ordinary X selection and Y copy/extract controls.
Each image can be up to 20 MiB, 40 megapixels and 16,384 pixels on either
side. The backend identifies the raster format from its contents; the file
extension determines whether A offers the image viewer. Supported extensions
include .bmp, .png, .apng, .jpg, .jpeg, .jpe, .jfif, .gif and .webp.
Steam's browser performs the final decoding and any supported animation.
SVG, TIFF, HEIC and AVIF are not supported. Symbolic links and special files are not previewed. If an image is damaged or uses unsupported encoding, the viewer shows an error and still lets you move to the next picture.
These are real screenshots of the installed plugin. The lake and coastal artworks inside the viewer were generated for the demonstration; the interface and button glyphs were captured from SteamOS. See How it works.