wxReader

wxReader is a lightweight, high-performance document reader built with wxWidgets (wxPython), MuPDF (PyMuPDF), OpenGL (PyOpenGL), libvips (pyvips), and Python.

Version ~1.2 Supports OpenGL shaders with some built-in options, and you can add your own custom shaders. New Gallery mode, built-in help manual.

Version 1.3.3 Add support for zip and cbz files. Add passwordbook support. Switch image backend to libvips. Fix image cache. Refactor code for maintainability. New UI decorations. MANY bugs fixed.

Version 1.3.4 Add customizable keyboard shortcuts. Add GUI control on uStrength of shaders. Add a folder tab in the sidebar. Gallery and cache performance optimized.

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Features

Feature	Description
File Format Support	PDF, EPUB, ePub, ZIP, CBZ (manga or comics archive files).
Paging Strategy	Single Page and Two-Page spreads (with optional blank start page). Supports Right-to-Left (RTL) reading.
Content Extraction	Extract text and images directly from specific pages to the clipboard or disk.
Image Processing	Real-time built-in filters and enhancements. Support custom OpenGL frag shaders.
Zoom and View	Fit Width, Fit Page, Manual Zoom, Fullscreen Mode, and customizable background color.
Navigation	Sidebar with Outline (TOC) and File Browser tabs. Text search dialog, and a standalone TOC dialog.
Gallery Mode	View all thumbnails or frontpages of all books inside a same folder like a gallery.
File History	Automatically saves recent files and reading progress on close.
Interaction	Drag-and-drop file loading and full keyboard operation support.

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Installation

1. From sauce (latest dev):

   1. Install Python 3.12 and uv.
   2. Download and put the libvips shared library *.dll files inside ./src.
   3. Sync dependencies with uv.
   4. Build with cd ./src and ../build.bat on Windows x64. (Run the build script inside /src folder.)
   5. (Notes: upgrade pymupdf will fail the compilation, and this is a Nuitka issue.)

2. Pre-compiled binary (stable): portable .exe files is provided on the Releases page.

3. Upgrade from older versions: simply copy the wxReader.cfg and pswd.txt files containing all user settings to the folder of a new version.

TODO

• add a feature to automatically set the background color to an immersive dark mode based on current pages
• scale UI (add to get_app_font(size)) (planned on v1.3.5)
• keys for navigation can conflict with input fields