shufti is a lightweight, PyQt-based image viewer. It automatically saves and restores the zoom level, rotation, window size, desktop location and the scroll bar positions (viewing area) for every image it loads, on a per-image basis. It can view most image files including .jpg, .png, .gif, .tif and .bmp files.

shufti has a very minimal GUI to consume image viewing space. It aims to be efficient and lightweight hence it doesn't edit images, play videos or do you a brew. Every image's view settings are saved to a local SQlite database file on your local disk. shufti never modifies image files.

shufti is free and open source software licensed under the BSD-2-Clause license and should run on any platform that can run PyQt which includes Linux, *BSD (tested under FreeBSD), macOS and Windows.

Windows users can download an installer from the Releases section.

HOWTO Install the shufti image viewer under Windows 10

Arch users can install shufti with an AUR helper like so:

 $ yay -S shufti

For Debian and Ubuntu-based distros, run these commands to manually install shufti from Github:

 $ sudo apt install git python3-pyqt5 python3-pyqt5.qtsql
 $ git clone https://github.com/danboid/shufti.git
 $ sudo cp ./shufti/shufti.py /usr/local/bin/shufti

FreeBSD and TrueOS users may have to modify shufti's hashbang before it can be run from your file manager because FreeBSD doesn't create a default symlink from python to python2 (which is still the default for FreeBSD/TrueOS at the time of writing) unlike most Linux distros. shufti requires PyQt5 but it can be run with python 2 or 3. Instead of adjusting the hashbang, FreeBSD and TrueOS users can create the missing symlink like so:

 # ln -s /usr/local/bin/python2 /usr/local/bin/python

After installing shufti you need to right-click on an image file in your file manager (eg right click on a .jpg file under Windows Explorer, Dolphin, Thunar or whatever) and use the Open with command option (which is usually under the Open with tab under the right-click Properties menu of the image file), when selected under your desktop's file manager to set shufti as the command to use to open image files. You have to do this for every different type of image file you wish to open with shufti.

You can also run shufti from the command line. This is the only way to use it under macOS currently. Under a UNIX-like OS, you'd run:

 $ shufti /full/path/to/image/file slideshow-delay-in-ms

The slideshow delay parameter is optional and defaults to 4000 eg a 4 second delay between images when slideshow mode is active. It must be an integer.

If you're running shufti from the Windows command prompt using the .exe, the command would look more like:

 > shufti c:\full\path\to\image\file

To view a file. Shufti requires you use the full path to the image you wish to open first.

The view settings are saved when you close a window or choose to view the next/previous image. These settings are restored next time you open or browse to the same file.

+, -, e, d and the mouse wheel zoom the view.

F11 & double click toggle full screen view.

r rotates the image 90 degrees counter-clockwise.

s spins the image 90 degrees clockwise.

BACKSPACE view previous image in directory.

SPACE view next image within directory.

p play slideshow of images in directory.

z horiZontally maximises the window.

v vertically maximises the window.

f fits the image into the window.

right click show context menu.

1 resets the zoom.

q quits.

Note that the easiest way to resize windows under most Linux/BSD desktop environments is to hold the ALT key then right-click and drag near the window edge you wish to resize. This saves the user from having to precisely position the cursor over a window edge to resize it.

shufti requires that you maintain the same display configuration to restore image windows correctly.

Whilst shufti allows you to view images full screen, it is really intended for the viewing of images in non-full screen windows. If you use its directory browsing ability, you should exit full screen mode before moving to the next image.

shufti isn't able to dynamically resize its window when browsing images within a directory if its window has been maximised vertically or horizontally by the window manager. This is the case for both KDE (Kwin) and MATE (Marco), at least. If you wish to maximise a window horizontally or vertically, do so using shufti's maximise features or do it manually instead of using your window manager or desktop environment to do it.

If you use multiple displays and one is higher resolution than the others, shufti's horizontal and vertical maximise features only work properly when the largest display is configured as the primary desktop.