Universal Viewer is a lightweight yet powerful file viewer that supports multiple file formats. It supports PDF files, fonts, Flash video, SWF animations, all MS Office formats, images, music, and video files.
The application is fully Unicode-compatible and can be integrated into Windows Explorer’s context menu. So there is no problem calling it from anywhere in Explorer: right-click on a file and select the “Universal Viewer” item. It can also be integrated into other popular file managers.
There is no need for additional software to view Word, Excel, or PDF files. You can use it without installing Microsoft Office, Adobe Reader, or similar applications, and multimedia files do not require external codecs.
Supported view modes and corresponding file formats are:
- Images: all major graphics formats: JPG, BMP, ICO, GIF, PNG, WMF, TIF, PSD…, over 40 formats. Also, RAW images from 400+ cameras are supported.
- Multimedia: all major media formats: AVI, MPG, WMV, MP3, MP4, FLV, MKV…, over 170 formats.
- Microsoft Word file formats: DOC and DOCX.
- Excel: file types of MS Office Excel: XLS, XLSX.
- PDF: Adobe PDF format, in addition to DJVU, XPS, CBR, and CBZ formats.
- RTF: Rich Text format.
- Internet: all file types supported by MS Internet Explorer: HTML, XML, MHT…
- Text: View for unknown file types. Unlimited file sizes are supported, and files larger than 4 GB can be displayed. All major text encodings are supported. Unicode/UTF-8 views are present.
- Plugins: all file types are supported by Total Commander Lister plugins.
Universal Viewer Pro additional features:
- support for Word and Excel files (including DOCX, XLSX). MS Office is not needed.
- preinstalled PDF plugin; Adobe or Foxit Reader is not required.
- a new multimedia player that supports over 170 formats; external codecs are not required. (UV Free only shows multimedia files supported by the Windows Media Player engine).
- support for complex RTF files (with images, tables…).
- support for RAW images (from 400+ cameras).
- image panel with the “Convert to” feature.
- options added:
- option “Fit window to media size” for media mode
- search option “Highlight all matches” for text mode
Universal Viewer – Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| ✓ Opens a wide variety of file types, including documents, PDFs, images, multimedia files, fonts, and text, from a single application. | ✗ Available only for Windows, with no native support for macOS or Linux. |
| ✓ Supports hundreds of image, RAW camera, and multimedia formats without requiring separate viewing software or external codecs in the Pro edition. | ✗ Editing capabilities are minimal since the software is designed primarily for viewing files rather than modifying them. |
| ✓ Integrates with Windows Explorer and compatible file managers for quick access through the context menu. | ✗ The Pro edition offers advanced features, including enhanced multimedia support and Microsoft Office document viewing. |
| ✓ Handles very large text files, supports multiple text encodings, and provides full Unicode and UTF-8 compatibility. | ✗ Does not replace dedicated productivity or media applications for advanced document editing or multimedia playback features. |
| ✓ Includes portable versions that let you run the application without installation on compatible Windows systems. | ✗ Support for specialized file formats may depend on compatible plugins or the Pro version for the best experience. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Universal Viewer edit files or only view them?
Universal Viewer is primarily designed for viewing files rather than editing them. While it offers basic functions such as copying text or viewing file contents, you will need dedicated editing software to modify documents, images, or multimedia files.
What is the difference between Universal Viewer and File Viewer Plus?
Both applications support viewing many different file formats from a single interface. Universal Viewer focuses on fast, lightweight file viewing, while File Viewer Plus also includes editing, conversion, and file-saving features for many supported formats.
Can Universal Viewer open very large text files?
Yes. It supports viewing very large text files, including files larger than 4 GB, without requiring them to be fully loaded into memory. This makes it useful for examining large log files, source code, and other oversized text documents.
Can Universal Viewer be used as the default file viewer in Windows?
Yes. You can associate supported file types with Universal Viewer so they open by default when you double-click them in Windows. It also integrates with the Windows Explorer context menu for quicker access.
Official Homepage – http://www.uvviewsoft.com/uviewer
Supported Operating Systems: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11.
