List of Graphics Applications

This is a small, hand-maintained, list of various computer graphics-related software applications. Note: due to my affinity towards open-source and UNIX-like operating systems, this list may be lacking in its coverage of proprietary applications for Mac OS X, and to a lesser extent, Microsoft Windows.

• Gwenview - an open-source (GPLed) image viewer from the KDE project.

• gThumb - an open source (GPLed) image viewer and organizer based on the Gtk+/GNOME libraries for UNIX-like systems.

• Geeqie - an open-source (GPLed) image viewer based on Gtk+ for UNIX-like systems (including Linux) and Mac OS X.

• Fotoxx - an open-source Linux program for photo and image editing and collection management. Also see a review of it on LWN.net.

• ACDSee - a proprietary image viewer and organiser for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Comes in several versions including a gratis one.

• digiKam - an open source (GPLed) image organizer based on the KDE platform for UNIX-like systems and Windows.

• IrfanView - a proprietary and free-for-non-commercial-use image viewer and manipulator for Microsoft Windows, which is noted for its small size and speed.

• XnView - a proprietary and free-for-some-uses image viewer and manipulator and general purpose file manager for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.

• Picasa - a proprietary and gratis (“freeware”) image organiser and an accompanying online service by Google, for Windows and Mac OS X (usable on Linux using Wine).

• Eye Of GNOME (eog) - the open-source image viewer for the GNOME platform. Provides limited functionality.

• nomacs - Image Lounge - an open-source (GPLed) and cross-platform image viewer and manipulator.

• GIMP - the so-called “GNU Image Manipulation Program” is a cross-platform and open-source (GPLv3+) raster/bitmap editor.

• Pinta - an open-source drawing/editing program modelled after Paint.NET that runs on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X.

• Krita - an open-source and cross-platform raster editor and illustrator based on the KDE platform with many powerful features.

• MyPaint - an open-source painting and digital art program for Linux and Windows.

• Photoflare - an open-source and cross-platform (Linux, Windows, and macOS) image editor which aims to be "simple but cross platform".

• mtPaint - an open-source painting program based on Gtk+ version 2 that runs on GNU/Linux and Windows. Has good support for pixel art, palette 8-bit and 24-bit RGB images.

• Adobe Photoshop - a proprietary and commercial raster editor for Windows and Mac OS X. Considered as the industry standard by many.

• Corel Photo-Paint - a proprietary and commercial raster graphics editor for Microsoft Windows.

• PaintShop Pro - a proprietary and commercial raster graphics editor for Microsoft Windows. It gained some popularity after being distributed as shareware, but note that recent versions are not using the shareware model.

• Paint.NET - a proprietary and gratis (“freeware”) raster graphics editor for Microsoft Windows, based on the .NET framework. Has a history of licence changes, and one may look at Pinta for an open-source and cross-platform behave-a-like.

• miniPaint - an open source (MIT License) online image editor, with quite a few features.

• Photopea - a gratis online / web-based “advanced” image editor with some open source parts.

• Pixlr - a suite of web-based image manipulation applications. Some functionality is gratis and newer versions do not require Flash.

• DeviantArt Muro - an online “HTML5” drawing program provided as a gratis (but not open source) online service by DeviantArt.

• Canva Photo Editor - a rudimentary web-based and gratis photo editor and manipulator, which allows for editing using the web browser (including on mobile devices).

• Inkscape - an open-source (GPLed), cross-platform, and powerful, vector editor.

• Adobe Illustrator - a proprietary and commercial vector graphics editor for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X.

• CorelDRAW - a proprietary and commercial vector graphics editor for Microsoft Windows.

• LibreOffice Draw - an open-source drawing program that is part of the LibreOffice suite.

• SK1 - an open source (LGPLed) vector graphics editor written in Python based on the older Sketch vector editor. May have limited functionality.

• Karbon - an open-source vector graphics editor based on the KDE platform.

• Xfig - an open-source (MIT-like licence) editor for the X Window System with an antiquated look and feel.

• VPaint - an open-source (MIT/Expat licensed) and experimental vector graphics editor that aims to be “a glimpse into the future of Vector Graphics and 2-D Animation”. Runs on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X.

• Dia - an open-source (GPLed) diagram tool based on the Gtk+ GUI toolkit for Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, and UNIX-like systems.

• Calligra Flow - an open-source (GPLed) diagramming tool that is part of the Calligra Suite, an office suite by the KDE project. Runs on UNIX-like systems (including Linux) and on Windows.

• Microsoft Visio - a proprietary and commercial diagramming application for Microsoft Windows by Microsoft. It is feature-rich and powerful.

• Blender - an open-source (GPLv2+) and cross-platform full-featured 3-D editor.

• POV-Ray - an open-source (AGPLv3) ray tracer that accepts text files as input.

• Autodesk Maya - a proprietary application for 3-D graphics manipulation (runs on some versions of Windows, Mac OS X and Linux).

• Synfig - an open source (GPLed) and cross-platform 2-D animation program.

• Aseprite - an open source (GPLed) “Animated sprite editor and pixel art tool”.

• Piskel - an open source, gratis, and web-based editor for animated sprites and pixel art. (Via Reddit.)

• Shutter - an open source and powerful screenshotting program for Linux.

• SimpleScreenRecorder - an easy to use screen recorder for Linux with many useful features. Open source under the GPL.

• OBS Studio - an open source ( GPLv2 ), powerful, and cross-platform, video recording and live streaming application.

• recordMyDesktop - an old, broken, and undermaintained app for Linux. Open source but not recommended.

• “9 Best Screen Recorders for Linux in 2019” - a list on "It's FOSS".

• ImageMagick - an open source (Apache licensed) software suite for manipulating raster (and to a lesser extent vector) images.

• GraphicsMagick - a fork of ImageMagick with a similar scope. (MIT licensed).

• GD Graphics Library - an open-source library to generate images (BSD-like licence).

• GEGL - an open-source (LGPLed) library for image processing applications. Used by GIMP.

• OpenCV - an open source (BSDLed) library for computer vision.

• List of Multimedia Applications.

• Art Section of My Home Site

• The “Raster graphics editor” entry on the English Wikipedia - contains a list and a comparison.

• The “Vector graphics editor” entry on the English Wikipedia - contains a list and a comparison.

• “A list of awesome free & open source software & libraries for photography” - on GitHub.

• Adobe-Alternatives: A list of alternatives for Adobe software - on GitHub.

• Gwenview Logo taken from the English Wikipedia under the GPL.

• GIMP Logo taken from the English Wikipedia under the GPL.

This document is Copyright by Shlomi Fish, 2015, and is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-by) 3.0 Unported (or at your option any later version of that licence).

For securing additional rights, please contact Shlomi Fish and see the explicit requirements that are being spelt from abiding by that licence.