Image Compare is a desktop image comparison and visual diff tool for comparing two or more images side by side, in a stacked view, or with a heatmap of perceptual differences. It supports synchronized zoom and pan, grid layouts, multiple image formats, faithful color-profile rendering, and fast image loading with Qt6 and libvips.
Use it to compare screenshots, rendered images, exports, design revisions, before/after edits, and subtle visual differences between image versions.
- Compare two or more images side by side
- Stack images and cycle between them with arrow keys
- Focus the active image with Enter, and reorder images with Ctrl+Left / Ctrl+Right
- Match zoom and pan across images with different dimensions
- Generate perceptual heatmap differences between two same-size images, with overall and peak dE00 readouts
- Export generated heatmaps
- Use pane context menus to copy paths, open containing folders, move images, and close files
- Use a grid layout when four or more images are loaded
- Render images faithfully with embedded color profiles, or view them in raw mode
- Open images with drag-and-drop, file picker, command-line arguments, or your file manager’s Open With menu
- Load, zoom, and pan large images efficiently
Linux release builds and Windows portable zip packages are available from GitHub Releases.
Download release builds from the GitHub Releases page.
Available release artifacts include:
- Linux DEB package for Debian and Ubuntu-based distributions
- Linux RPM package for Fedora and RPM-based distributions
- Linux install-tree zip
- Windows x86_64 portable zip
- Source tarball
flatpak install flathub io.github.gimletlove.imagecompareyay -S imagecompare-binDownload imagecompare-<version>-windows-x86_64.zip from GitHub Releases, extract it, and run imagecompare.exe.
The Windows build is distributed as a portable zip with its runtime dependencies bundled.
- Drag and drop image files into the app, or use Open or press
oin the toolbar. - Pass image paths on the command line when launching the app.
- Use Open With from your file manager, if supported, to open selected images in Image Compare.
- Use the zoom readout or press
fto toggle between best fit and 100% zoom. - Use Stack or press
vto stack images and cycle between them with the arrow keys. - Use Match Zoom or press
hto normalize zoom and pan across images with different dimensions. - Use Faithful / Raw or press
rto switch between embedded color-profile rendering and raw display mode. - Use Build Heatmap or press
bto build a perceptual heatmap of differences from 2 images with the same dimensions. - Right-click an image pane to open the context menu for further actions.
- Use Ctrl+W on the active pane to close it.
- Use Ctrl+Left and Ctrl+Right to move the images.
Image Compare is useful for:
- Spotting subtle visual changes between image versions
- Spotting subtle differences between different compression methods, such as JXL or AVIF
- Creating a heatmap of differences between images
Packaged release builds include or declare the runtime dependencies they need. Building or running from source requires:
- Qt6 runtime libraries
- libvips runtime libraries
Local source builds are intended for Linux. Windows packages are produced by the GitHub Actions release workflow.
- C++20 compiler
- CMake 3.21+
- Qt6
- libvips and vips-cpp
Check installed dependency versions:
pkg-config --modversion Qt6Core
pkg-config --modversion vips
pkg-config --modversion vips-cppcmake -S . -B build
cmake --build buildEnable Flatpak-specific portal integration for Flatpak builds:
cmake -S . -B build-flatpak -DIMAGECOMPARE_FLATPAK=ON
cmake --build build-flatpakFlatpak builds also require Qt6 DBus and KDE Frameworks 6 CoreAddons.
Open the app:
./build/imagecompare- GitHub Releases: https://github.com/gimletlove/imagecompare/releases
- Flathub: https://flathub.org/apps/details/io.github.gimletlove.imagecompare
- Arch Linux AUR: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/imagecompare-bin