Release Date: 2026-08-14

First stable release since v6.22.3. Collects pre-release work through v6.29 plus follow-up fixes on main. Does not include later pre-release experiments (crop, export panel, WebView2 SVG host, WMF/EMF).

• Faster built-in TIFF reader: Replaced WIC TIFF with a compact custom decoder (12.8MP test: ~1.9s → ~360ms). Added CMYK TIFF, more robust LZW, and correct loading of giant 16-bit TIFFs.
• Custom print preview (#220): Replaced the Windows Photo Printing Wizard with a built-in preview, live grayscale, poster/tiling, and remembered printer settings.
• Windows 11 Mica (#219): Native Mica on the window and context menus, with Windows 10-compatible backdrops.
• Filmstrip control: Drag-to-resize height; trigger height, dwell, and exit delay; option to keep the gallery open after a thumbnail click; visual polish.
• Minimap (#224): M to show the map, hover-wheel panning, and correct click/drag on ultra-long or ultra-wide images.
• Settings: Import/export configuration; switch from Pre-release back to Stable; Show OSD toggle; Show in Explorer hotkey; customizable left double-click; higher keyboard pan-step limits; custom overflow-indicator colors.
• Compare (#223): Overflow edges hidden in compare; selection indicator adapted.

• HDR Pro row expands again in the full info panel and compare HUD.
• True 100% zoom uses the image’s real pixel size; Fit/100% work with a locked window; fullscreen zoom and pixel-art stay correct (#221, #231, #235).
• Locked window no longer resizes on smart double-click.
• Closing QuickView restores focus to the previous app; gallery sort follows Explorer (#226, #233).
• Settings controls click correctly; OSD transparency fixed; window no longer jumps or clips when UI scale changes.
• Slideshow crash after device reset; small SVG fit; Titan tiles no longer go missing or peg the CPU.
• Japanese translation update (#227, @coolvitto). JPEG XL updated to libjxl 0.12.0.

Release Date: 2026-07-17

• RAW+JPEG Intelligent Pairing & Folding (#201):
  • Folded same-name RAW+rendered (JPEG/TIFF/etc.) images into single gallery items.
  • Implemented asynchronous, background EXIF capture-time matching and verification to prevent false pairing.
  • Integrated RAW visibility toggle to hot-swap visible layers in gallery, title, and info panels.
  • Supported side-by-side comparison of active pair components with Shift + C shortcut.
  • Implemented three-way deletion handling (delete rendered, delete RAW, or delete both) with Undo support.
  • Introduced configurable whitelists and toggle switch PairRawJpeg under [Image] section in ini settings.
• Detail Loupe (Detail Magnifier) (#201, #216):
  • Added press-and-hold magnifier (default L) using nearest-neighbor rendering.
  • Enabled live magnifier resizing via mouse wheel.
  • Synchronized Loupe viewports across both panes in Compare mode.
  • Added options for circular/square magnifier shapes and high-contrast borders.
  • Resolved coordinate offset mapping issues under EXIF rotation and scaling.
• Interactive Minimap (Navigation Map) (#215, #216):
  • Implemented standalone Minimap window overlays with viewport region tracking.
  • Enabled drag-to-pan viewport controls mapping back to main image.
  • Added high-contrast borders, shadow effects for the close button, and dynamic edge tooltips.
  • Synchronized Minimap viewport scaling and dragging coordinates with EXIF rotations.
• Multi-Level Undo & Trash Actions (#216):
  • Implemented multi-level Undo history for rename, rotate, and flip actions.
  • Added optional Recycle Bin confirmation dialog checkbox.
  • Integrated delete commands directly within the filmstrip gallery context menus.
• Window Scaling & Keyboard Pan (#215, #216):
  • Added hotkey bindings for panning via keyboard with configurable step sizes.
  • Added Fit Window and Fill Window scale options.
  • Blocked Alt+Wheel zoom-bypass edge cases.
• Gallery & Info Panel Enhancements (#216, #203, #144):
  • Added a compact minimal bottom toolbar with a clickable auto-stretch button in FullGrid mode.
  • Added dark background overlay layer to Info Panel Lite with customizable tag-cloud layouts.
  • Restored expand (+) and close (x) contrast colors on Compare HUD overlays and implemented overlap avoidance.

• SIMD RAW Decoding Loop Optimization:
  • Rewrote LibRaw RGB-to-BGRA conversion loops using Google Highway SIMD vector instructions.
  • Applied OpenMP static loop scheduling to maximize CPU core utilization on high-MP RAW decodes.
• Memory-Mapped WIC Pipeline (#206):
  • Implemented memory-mapped IStream loaders for WIC-decoded large TIFF/RAW images to bypass standard disk I/O bottlenecks.
• Exts Classification Centralization (#201):
  • Extracted and centralized RAW/Archive/Image extension metadata into SupportedExtensions.h using constexpr list concatenation.
  • Devirtualized metadata probes and fast-path thumbnail checkers using allocation-free string views.
• DPI-Aware Gallery Hotspots (#144):
  • Scaled hover triggers and thumbnail buffer caches dynamically with g_uiScale.

• PSD/PSB Transparency Rendering (#214):
  • Fixed color noise and incorrect background bleeding in alpha-blended composite PSD layers by enforcing premultiplied alpha math.
  • Resolved UI locks caused by extreme aspect ratios in large PSB canvas decodes.
  • Added zero-alpha RGB fallback heuristics to determine layer transparency.
• Gallery Stutter & Freeze Fixes (#201):
  • Replaced floating-point timers in slideshow filmstrip autoscrolling with system uptime (GetTickCount) to prevent autoscroll freezing during main thread idle.
• Metadata & ICC Profile Integrity (#144, #35601b9):
  • Extended ICC metadata parsing for modern multi-language strings (mluc/text).
  • Prevented WIC fallback decoders from overriding native AVIF/JXL/RAW bit-depth reports.
  • Fixed JXL embedded profile extraction and normalized metadata suffix detections.
• Windows System Integration (#202, #209):
  • Enforced Unicode Win32 APIs across sub-process spawns and resolved taskbar title truncation.
  • Fixed IME shortcut stealing issues and restored rename dialog layout.
• CI Pipelines:
  • Implemented Ninja generator and configured vcpkg cache directories for Windows CI runner.

Release Date: 2026-06-14

• Floating 'Dynamic Island' Window Controls (#199):
  • Redesigned top-right window controls into a floating capsule pill inspired by macOS styling, featuring soft glow hover effects.
  • Reduced caption buttons size to optimize screen real estate and geometry layouts.
• Top-Hover Filmstrip Gallery:
  • Implemented top-hover filmstrip gallery mode with comprehensive UX refinements.
  • Added custom settings to choose trigger modes (Hover, Pinned, Disabled) via ComboBox.
  • Implemented smooth auto-centering scroll animations for the active thumbnail in the filmstrip.
  • Fixed visual gaps and zoom anchor offsets when the gallery is pinned.
  • Restored horizontal auto-scrolling and resolved cropped selection borders.
• Dual-Mode Slideshow (#198):
  • Integrated Slideshow with two modes: Normal Fullscreen and Picasa-style Spotlight mode (dimming background with soft blur).
• Responsive Toolbar Layout (#194):
  • Dynamically hides toolbar buttons based on window dimensions and active display modes.
• Window Resize Magnetic Snap (#90):
  • Implemented 100% magnetic snapping to screen edges during window border resizing.
• Animation Playback & Seek Scrubbing:
  • Implemented asynchronous, debounced animation seeking for zero-latency frame scrubbing on the timeline.
  • Fixed frame counts and distortion issues on large GIF seeking (#197).
• Custom Keyboard Shortcuts & Rebinding:
  • Implemented fully customizable hotkeys support. Users can rebind all core actions and shortcuts directly in the Settings menu.
• Settings & Mapping Adjustments:
  • Localized restore buttons, optimized default hotkeys, and mapped multi-function mouse side-buttons (#191).
  • Added setting to always sort archive directories by name in ascending order, fixing boundary navigation (#193).

• Binary Footprint Compression (Size Optimization):
  • Eliminated C++ stream dependencies (<iostream>, etc.) saving ~18.5 KB in binary size.
  • Consolidated localization string tables to eliminate template code duplication, saving 10.5 KB.
  • Compressed static vector icon coordinates to int16_t format, reducing binary size by 54 KB.
  • Re-architected FileNavigator, devirtualized controllers, and replaced std::function callbacks with lightweight C-style function pointers.
• Core Refactoring:
  • Decoupled and extracted CompareController, DialogController, ZoomAnimation, and AppContext.
  • Integrated ColorMath and resolved Clang 22 feature detection and test compilation issues.
  • Resolved PaneContext callback leaks and reset logic in main.cpp.
  • Removed /MERGE:.rdata=.text from Release-LTO configuration to fix minidump debugging symbols.

• Memory & Crash Fixes:
  • Implemented Hybrid Memory Allocation Strategy to optimize Tile and HeavyLane logic.
  • Resolved memory access violation crashes during rapid image switching.
  • Updated unrar-mini submodule for v6.2.11 compatibility.
• HDR & File Pipelines:
  • Fixed HDR metadata propagation loss in virtual/archive memory decode pipelines.
  • Fixed missing context flags in LoadToFrameFromMemory that prevented HDR float decodes from archive files.
• Format Rendering Fixes:
  • Resolved transparent shadow rendering issues in WebP/AVIF and image distortion in JXL (#195).

Release Date: 2026-06-01

• Robust Directory Auto-Scanning (#192):
  • Added a dedicated background directory watcher thread using FindFirstChangeNotificationW to monitor file system changes in real-time.
  • Implemented a 300ms debounce loop to handle event storms (e.g. rapid file saving or copying) smoothly.
  • Ensured thread-safe index reconciliation on the main thread to prevent UI locks or rendering glitches during hot-reloading.
• Comic & Archive VFS (#186):
  • Introduced a high-performance Data-Oriented Design (DOD) Virtual File System (VFS) for instant scanning and zero disk-unpacking of .zip, .rar, .cbz, and .cbr files.
  • Integrated custom unrar-mini static library for ultra-fast, thread-safe memory stream extraction.
  • Added Comic Dual Page Mode which automatically stitches adjacent pages in comic archives with smart dynamic scaling and multi-language toolbar tooltips.
  • Full gallery thumbnail and navigation support for virtualized VFS archive files.
• Draggable EXIF Info Panel (#179):
  • Completely re-engineered the EXIF metadata info panel overlay. It is now fully draggable and supports window boundary restrictions.
  • Added coordinate persistence to remember the custom panel position across application restarts.
• Overlay (Tracing) Mode:
  • Implemented a semi-transparent Window Overlay (Tracing Mode) utilizing DirectComposition node opacity control.
  • Enabled Mouse Click-Through (WM_EX_TRANSPARENT) support, allowing digital artists to overlay references on top of drawing canvases.
  • Tracing Shortcuts: Press Ctrl + Shift + O to toggle Tracing Mode, Alt + Up/Down Arrow to adjust overlay transparency, and Shift + Esc to exit mouse click-through.
• Soft-Proof Comparison Optimization:
  • Automatically triggers a side-by-side comparison of the active image before and after soft-proofing (with/without the target ICC profile applied) when entering Compare Mode under active soft-proofing.
• Color Gamut Warning:
  • ICC-accurate gamut warning overlay utilizing a high-precision 65x65x65 3D LUT and D50-XYZ analytical backends.
  • Integrated 1-second debounce algorithm to guarantee zero impact on rapid image switching performance.
• Startup & Placement Stability (#123, #176):
  • Enhanced window positioning engine to remember and restore exact window position, fullscreen state, and maximized state on startup.
  • Fixed issues where initial resize commands could overwrite user-specified window placement.

• HLG OETF & OOTF Corrections:
  • Corrected HLG inverse OETF math and applied CPU-side OOTF system gamma (1.2) for vastly improved luminance accuracy and visual fidelity.
  • Optimized GPU-side HLG calculation with branchless vectorization in shaders, enhancing rendering throughput.
• Advanced Color Exposure Routing:
  • Aligned HDR output exposure with Microsoft scRGB semantics (absolute HDR at gain 1.0, SDR/relative HDR scaled by SdrWhiteLevelInNits / 80.0 as per Microsoft Advanced Color guidelines).
  • Implemented smart tone-map passthrough (spline bypass) when the content peak completely fits within the display peak to avoid unnecessary curve compression and GPU overhead.
• High-Precision 64bpp FP16 Pipeline: Deeply refactored the entire HDR loading and composition pipeline to utilize 64bpp FP16 half-floats and GPU-accelerated matrix transforms.
• PQ Spline Tone-Mapping: Ported a libplacebo-style Spline tone-mapper into PQ space for more consistent peak luminance rendering.
• Highlight Desaturation & BT.2408: Applied standard-aware exposure gain routing and high-dynamic gamut compression to reduce clipping and washed-out highlights.
• Highway SIMD Peak Scanning: Expanded peak luminance estimation scanning to support FP16/U16 formats using Google Highway vector instructions.
• Advanced JXL & AVIF HDR:
  • Switched libjxl decoding output to half-floats to fully resolve HDR display bugs.
  • Resolved AVIF color desaturation and decode latency by pre-computing static EOTF Look-Up Tables (LUTs).
• Reinhard Extended Perceptual Mapping: Upgraded HDR perceptual mapping to Reinhard Extended with customizable Reinhard anchor parameter sliders in Settings.

• GeekGlass Context Menu Optimization:
  • Skipped GeekGlass D2D effect initialization on the DWM acrylic context menu, completely avoiding large WARP JIT memory allocations and eliminating rendering hiccups.
• Dependency & Code Quality Updates:
  • Updated stb_image.h dependency to v2.30.
  • Fixed security CodeQL overflow warnings in ImageLoader.cpp.
• Toolchain Migration (#177):
  • Migrated completely from legacy MSVC .sln/.vcxproj to CMake + Ninja + vcpkg.
  • Switched from MSVC compiler to Clang-cl with Full LTO (Link-Time Optimization) and zero-exception static binary packaging, reducing binary footprint while accelerating performance.
  • Created a custom x64-windows-static-clang triplet for a fully static, standalone build environment.
• Instruction Set Expansion: Added custom Google Highway SIMD dispatch matrices for AVX-512 (AVX3) and emerging AVX10.2 vector lanes.
• Memory Arena Refactoring: Built a specialized Memory Engine Arena and custom ArchiveVFS pool to prevent heap fragmentation during heavy prefetching.
• Event-Driven UI Fluidity: Implemented a robust PostMessage event driver to run gallery thumbnail animations smoothly without blocking the main UI thread.
• Fast-Lane Boot (#172): Re-engineered startup sequences with event-driven window showing to achieve near-instantaneous boot times.

Note: Press F1 at any time to open the interactive help panel and view shortcuts or new operations.

Release Date: 2026-04-23

• Full UI Vectorization: Migrated all UI icons (Toolbar, Context Menu, Window Controls) to the high-performance GeekIcon vector engine. Removed all legacy font dependencies for pixel-perfect, hardware-accelerated rendering.
• Windows Integration (#168): Added native support for registering QuickView as a default photo viewer in Windows Settings.
• Animation UX (#167):
  • Added Animated Frame Counter to the playback scrubber (e.g., "5 / 20").
  • Refined scrubber as a modern "capsule" style.
  • Improved toolbar auto-hide logic with precision hit-testing.
• Interaction Refinement:
  • Hand Cursor Panning (#160): Added hand cursor support for intuitive image dragging.
  • Thumb Wheel Support (#156): Full support for horizontal and vertical mouse thumb wheels.
  • 3-State Zoom Cycle: Refined double-click and zoom hotkeys (Fit -> 100% -> Restore).
  • Edge Navigation Hand Cursor (#144): Improved visual feedback for edge navigation.
• WinGet Submission (#130): Added automated CI workflow for WinGet package management.

• Unified Rounded Corners: Centralized "Rounded Corners" toggle in the Theme tab, now applied to both the main window and context menus.
• OSD Shadow Sync (#144): Synchronized OSD shadow intensity with global theme settings and fixed visual glitches when disabled.
• Portable Mode UI (#168): Improved clarity for portable mode settings and cleanup behavior.

• HDR Peak Luminance Handling (#131): Initial implementation to prioritize WinRT/DXGI hardware detection over ICC metadata to address "washed out" colors on some HDR monitors (Experimental).
• SDR Tone-Mapping: Updated shaders for color rendering on non-HDR displays.

• Ghost Image Cleanup: Resolved residual thumbnail artifacts during Titan mode transitions.
• Window Lock Stability: Fixed Z-order and expansion logic conflicts during image navigation.
• HiDPI Polish: Fixed cursor flickering and layout artifacts on high-resolution displays.
• Overlay Expansion (#142): Unified overlay window resizing logic for empty states.

Release Date: 2026-04-17

• Unified Decoding Pipeline: Refactored ImageLoader to enforce native buffer codec checks, eliminating redundant WIC fallbacks.
• Format Support: Added case-insensitive WebP detection for the Titan engine.
• CMYK Fidelity: Improved high-fidelity CMS handling for CMYK JPEGs by routing them to the specialized file path loader.
• Cleanup: Resolved compiler warnings in memory loading lambdas and tightened TileTypes definitions.

Release Date: 2026-04-17

• Animation Fast-Path (#145): Implemented high-performance zero-copy scanning for APNG (acTL chunk) and GIF (multi-frame descriptors) to ensure static images bypass animation loops.
• Titan Stability Optimization: Implemented ImageID active-locking in HeavyLanePool to prevent prefetch tasks from triggering destructive resource resets.
• Pipeline Consolidation: Unified decoding paths into LoadBufferUnified, eliminating redundant memory allocations.

• Security & AV (#149): Resolved Microsoft Defender false positives by refactoring registration logic with O(1) INI-based validation and idle-deferred registry I/O.
• Titan UI Regression: Fixed an issue where the context menu appeared empty when the prefetch system was active for large images.
• WebP Animation Fix: Resolved a regression where heavy animated WebP files (MMF path) failed to initialize the animator.
• Startup Deadlock: Fixed a race condition in ImageEngine that could cause hangs when starting the application with a massive image.
• Prefetch Trigger: Replaced legacy fixed timers with a robust 500ms continuous idle detection mechanism for smoother transitions.

Release Date: 2026-04-15

• Comprehensive Animation Engine (#92):
  • High-performance, multi-threaded decoding for .gif, .webp, .apng, and .avifs.
  • Introduced Frame Inspector mode: Pause animations and step frame-by-frame (Alt + Left/Right).
• Personalized Theme System (#129):
  • New Theme Settings page with Dark, Light, and System Sync modes.
  • Granular control over Accent Colors and Text Colors.
  • Ambient Dimmer: Innovative background dimming logic for distraction-free viewing.
• Professional Debug Tools:
  • Implemented Dirty Rect visualization for animations, allowing designers to see precisely what regions are refreshing.
• Geek Context Menu Overhaul:
  • Refactored right-click menu architecture for faster indexing and cleaner layout.
• Interaction Evolution (#132, #129):
  • Added professional Vertical Drag Zoom (Right Mouse Button).

• JXL Pipeline Optimization (#137): Optimized memory-mapped file reuse and thread local storage management in JPEG XL decoding.

• HDR Fidelity (#131): Fixed "washed out" colors on HDR monitors by implementing a robust 16-bit float scRGB color path.
• Decoding Stability (#137): Fixed a regression in the JXL decoder causing memory accumulation during fast scrolling.
• Visual Accuracy (#127): Resolved sub-pixel blurring issues on 1080p displays for native 1:1 image scales.
• UI Logic: Fixed SettingsOverlay focus stealing and Z-order issues with modal dialogs.
• Navigation: Resolved edge navigation clicking dead-zones on high-DPI monitors.

• @SpaceInMe: For the sharp-eye bug report on 1080p display blurring.
• @1kari-s: For the suggestion and implementation of the vertical drag-to-zoom logic.

Release Date: 2026-04-05

• Google Highway SIMD: Modernized core architecture using Google Highway SIMD abstraction.
  • Expanded hardware support (SSE4, AVX2, AVX-512, NEON).
  • Native ARM64 (Windows on ARM) support with optimized image processing.
• Advanced HDR Pipeline:
  • Professional-grade Ultra HDR (Gain Map) GPU composition pipeline.
  • Full 32-bit float scRGB linear pipeline for maximum precision and color fidelity.
  • Hardware-accelerated HDR decoding for HEIF/AVIF via native WIC.
• HDR Info Panel:
  • Integrated real-time peak luminance estimation (SIMD-accelerated).
  • Detailed "HDR Pro" metadata parsing for EXR, JXL, WDP, and RAW.
• GPU-driven CMS & Soft Proofing:
  • Unified hardware-accelerated CMS for all rendering paths.
  • Global Soft Proofing feature using Direct2D dual-node CMS.
  • Support for Adobe RGB (1998), Grayscale, and ICC v4 Compact profiles.
• Navigation & Sorting (#118):
  • Implemented advanced natural/custom sorting and cross-folder loop navigation.
  • Decoupled 'Loop' and 'Traverse Subfolders' into independent toggles.
• UI/UX:
  • Modernized toolbar icons for comparison and gallery modes.
  • Added interactive tooltips for complex settings.

• SIMD Optimized Ops: Re-engineered core rendering operators with Highway for consistent 5x-10x speedups across architectures.
• HeavyLanePool: Optimized worker lane scheduling and resource recycling.

• Stability: Fixed HeavyLanePool starvation deadlock during rapid navigation (#85).
• Layout: Fixed window resizing logic (center-based expansion) and Info Panel constraints (#88).
• Formats: Fixed SVG dimension parsing for complex viewports (#87).
• HDR: Fixed AVIF HDR gain map decoding crash (#124).
• Interaction: Fixed window resize direction after manual rotation during zoom (#91).
• UI: Fixed settings menu text overflow and button alignment issues (#89).
• Core: Fixed persistent zoom/pan state loss when switching color spaces or RAW mode.

• @Dimmitrius: For the comprehensive optimization of the Russian translation.
• @hortiSquash: For continuous bug reporting and UX feedback.

Release Date: 2026-03-22

• Compare Mode: Full implementation featuring:
  • Synchronized zoom, pan, and rotation between dual panes.
  • RGB visual envelope and dual-curve histograms.
  • Interactive HUD with Lite/Full modes and 'C' shortcut.
  • Compare metrics for Entropy, Sharpness, and File Info (Winner labels).
  • Smart transparency for Compare divider and edge navigation guards.
• Gallery Improvements: Added context menu for thumbnails (Compare Mode / New Window).
• Navigation: Map Home/End to first/last image, PgUp/PgDn to prev/next.
• UI Indicators: Added zoom edge indicators for better viewport orientation.
• Window Management:
  • Refined Window Lock logic with detailed configurability in Settings.
  • Implemented drag-to-exit fullscreen and unified double-click zoom logic.
• Rendering: Added smart interpolation algorithm with automatic Pixel Art mode detection.

• SIMD JXL: Optimized pixel swizzling in JXL decoders using SIMD.
• SVG Engine: Optimized interactive SVG viewport redraws and string replacement performance.

• HUD: Enhanced OSD messages and layout padding for localized text.
• Settings: Support for scrollbar and improved segment button width consistency.
• Orientation: Unified zoom and rotation coordinate systems for better stability.

• Thumbnails: Fixed EXR thumbnail blinking and cache exhaustion issues.
• Interaction: Fixed edge navigation overlapping with HUD/Settings and hover interaction areas.
• Scaling: Resolved zoom anchor behavior issues (#25, #40) and resize flicker.
• Build: Fixed compilation errors related to AdjustWindowToImage and LockWindowSize.

• Community Support: @hortiSquash for providing critical testing assistance and bug reports throughout the development of this major update.

Release Date: 2026-03-13

• Titan Aspect Ratio: Fixed a critical bug where images Viewed in Titan mode would report incorrect aspect ratios when re-viewed from cache (srcWidth/srcHeight persistence).
• RAW Orientation: Resolved an issue where RAW files would lose their EXIF orientation when hitting the image cache or during pre-decoding (Propagated exifOrientation through heavy lane).
• RAW Stability: Fixed a double-free crash that occurred when the embedded JPEG preview extraction failed for certain RAW files.

• Temporary RAW Toggle: The "RAW" button in the toolbar now only affects the current viewing session. It no longer modifies the global system default, ensuring settings revert to user preference on restart or navigation.
• Rendering: Refined bitmap surface upgrades and texture promotion logic to eliminate micro-flicker during high-quality LOD transitions.
• Feedback: Added "(Temporary)" tag to RAW toggle OSD messages for clearer state communication.

Release Date: 2026-03-10

• Smart Zoom Toggle: Implemented a 3-state toggle (Initial -> Fit Screen -> 100%) for intuitive scaling control.
• Window Management: Fixed "creeping" window bug on systems with top taskbars (#26).
• HUD Gallery: Resolved thumbnail desync issues after image deletion (#21).
• Settings: Support for dragging the Settings Window and fixed combobox resizing metrics.

• Titan Optimization: Improved tile triggering logic by removing threshold quantization.
• Wait Cursor: Eliminated unnecessary OS wait cursor during prefetch operations.
• UI Performance: Fixed progress bar rendering overhead and eliminated exit stutter when using Esc.

• SVG Engine: Fixed random disappearance of SVG nodes during dynamic scaling.
• Format Support: Removed unsupported .raw format to prevent navigation lag and decoding failures.
• Layout: Refined font sizes and spacing for improved system consistency.

Release Date: 2026-03-06

• Gigapixel Tiling (Titan Tile): Introduced the "Titan System," a dynamic tiling engine for ultra-massive imagery, capable of loading images previously blocked by memory limits.
• Single-Decode-Then-Slice: Drastically reduces peak memory usage on massive images by slicing decoded bounds natively into chunks.
• Smart Pull Architecture: Only renders and decodes map-regions actually visible on screen (Map First & Touch-Up Prefetch).
• Direct-to-MMF Decode: Utilizes Memory Mapped Files for zero-copy streaming of massive cache components.
• Dynamic HeavyLanePool: Dynamically scales worker concurrency based on system IO and CPU throttling limits.

• Native JPEG XL (JXL): Complete libjxl integration with multi-threaded, parallel tile runner decoders.
• Pro Formats: Added full support for Large Document Format (PSB) and instantaneous PSD preview extraction.
• Always Fullscreen Mode: Added options to automatically start in fullscreen (Off / Large Only / All) with intelligent auto-exit policies.
• Gallery Acceleration: Integrated Windows Shell caching (Explorer cache) into the Gallery mode, delivering near-instant 0-latency thumbnails for thousands of files.
• PerMonitorV2 DPI: Re-engineered the UI with explicit D2D UI scaling, granular UI scale presets (100%-250%), and better multi-monitor mixed DPI handling.

• SIMD Acceleration: Optimized ResizeBilinear using AVX2/AVX-512 unrolled 4-pixel paths. Native high-quality downscaling for AVIF and Ultra-HD LOD0 regions.
• Async GC (Phase 5): Complete implementation of asynchronous garbage collection for tile pools to eliminate UI stuttering on massive context switches.
• Coordinate Topology: Refactored DirectComposition coordinate system to a "Center-to-Center Topology" solving edge-smearing and tile gaps.

• SVG Engine: Fixed SVG CSS transparency bugs and regex-based crashes on extremely massive SVG nodes.
• Threading: Fixed multiple race condition crashes with Titan tiles, DC stage swizzle races, and rapid-switching access violations.
• Window/OS: Fixed issue where launching new instances wouldn't focus the window correctly (fixed using AttachThreadInput).
• Image Scaling: Prevented image stretching anomalies and window jumps during "Phase 1" metadata peeking events.

Release Date: 2026-01-26

• Span Displays: Added multi-monitor spanning support (Video Wall mode).
• Rename Dialog: Replaced system dialog with native Direct2D dark-themed input.
• Help Overlay: Added global F1 shortcut overlay.
• Visual Customization: Added toggle for Window Rounded Corners.
• System: Added AVX2 CPU instruction set detection.

• Text Truncation: Implemented Binary Search algorithm for pixel-perfect filename shortening in Info Panel/Dialogs.
• Smart Double-Click: Added context-aware double-click: Auto-Fits in Windowed mode, Exits in Fullscreen mode.
• 100% Zoom Fix: Resolved scaling inaccuracies to ensure true 1-to-1 pixel rendering for all image sizes.
• Auto-Hide: Fixed WM_MOUSELEAVE logic to ensure UI elements hide 100% reliably on fast exit.
• Zoom Experience: Added Zoom Damping and Info Panel Zoom display.
• Navigation: Improved navigation arrow visibility logic and animation speed.

• Window Controls: Unified Min/Max/Close buttons into UIRenderer pipeline.
• Zoom Logic: Refactored and decoupled zoom mechanics from window resizing.
• Portable Mode: Improved state transition logic.

• RAW Toggle: Fixed setting persistence.
• Gallery: Fixed 0x0 tooltip dimensions.
• DPI Scaling: Fixed scaling artifacts at unusual factors.
• Layout: Fixed Settings UI back button displacement.

Release Date: 2026-01-20

• True Fullscreen: Replaced legacy "Maximized" fullscreen with exclusive-mode-like "True Fullscreen" (no borders, covers taskbar).
• Interaction Guards:
  • Edge Lock: Completely disabled window edge resizing and cursor changes while in fullscreen.
  • Drag Lock: Prevented accidental window dragging (WM_LBUTTONDOWN) in fullscreen.
  • Zoom Lock: Fixed window resizing/jumping when zooming via mouse wheel in fullscreen.
• Intuitive Exits:
  • Double-Click: Double-clicking anywhere on the background (or image, if configured) now exits fullscreen.
  • Maximize Button: Clicking the specialized Maximize button in the hover controls now reliably exits fullscreen.

• Toolbar Pinning: Fixed an issue where the toolbar pin button state (and visual icon) would not update immediately upon clicking.
• Settings Refresh: Fixed "Lock Toolbar" setting toggle not applying in real-time.

All notable changes to QuickView will be documented in this file.

Release Date: 2026-01-18

• Localization: Added support for 6 key languages: Chinese (Simplified/Traditional), Japanese, Russian, German, and Spanish.
• Resources: Added proper Application Icon and Version Info resources.

• Rotation Engine: Complete rewrite of the rotation logic using Direct2D transforms, fixing multiple state-desync bugs.
• UI Cleanliness: Removed redundant filename OSD display; users should rely on the Info Panel.
• Zoom Architecture: Unified zoom and rotation coordinate systems.

• Critical Stability: Fixed application hang (Use-After-Free) when clicking "Reset All Settings".
• File Associations: Fixed registry logic to ensure QuickView appears correctly in "Open With" menu.
• Rotation: Fixed issue where images would get stuck in a rotated state or double-rotate.
• Rendering: Fixed pan jitter and OSD positioning in non-English locales.

Release Date: 2026-01-16

• Unified Scheduling & Decoding (Quantum Flow): Introduced a "Fast/Slow Dual-Channel" architecture (FastLane + HeavyLanePool) that isolates instant interactions from heavy decoding tasks.
• N+1 Hot-Spare Architecture: Implemented a "Capped N+1" threading model where standby threads are kept warm for immediate response, maximizing CPU throughput without over-subscription.
• Deep Cancellation: Granular "On-Demand" cancellation logic allowed for heavy formats (JXL/RAW/WebP), ensuring stale tasks (e.g., during rapid scrolling) are instantly terminated to save power.
• Direct D2D Passthrough: Established a "Zero-Copy" pipeline where decoded RawImageFrame buffers are uploaded directly to GPU memory, bypassing GDI/GDI+ entirely.

• DirectComposition (Game-Grade Rendering): Completely abandoned the legacy SwapChain/GDI model in favor of a DirectComposition Visual tree.
  • Visual Ping-Pong: Implemented a double-buffered Visual architecture for tear-free, artifact-free crossfades.
  • IDCompositionScaleTransform: Hardware-accelerated high-precision zooming and panning.
• Native SVG Engine: Replaced nanosvg with Direct2D Native SVG rendering.
  • Capabilities: Supports complex SVG filters, gradients, and CSS transparency.
  • 2-Stage Lossless Scaling: Vector-based re-rasterization during deep zoom for infinite sharpness.
  • (Requirement: Windows 10 Creators Update 1703 or later).

• Arena Dynamic Allocation: Switched to a TripleArena strategy using Polymorphic Memory Resources (PMR). Memory is pre-allocated and recycled (Bucket Strategy) to eliminate heap fragmentation.
• Smart Directional Prefetch:
  • Auto-Tuning: Automatically selects Eco, Balanced, or Performance prefetch strategies based on detected system RAM.
  • Manual Override: Full user control over cache behavior.
  • Smart Skip: Prevents "OOM" in Eco mode by intelligently skipping tasks that exceed the cache budget.

• Metadata Architecture Refactor: Decoupled "Fast Header Peeking" (for instant layout) from "Async Rich Metadata" parsing (Exif/IPTC/XMP), solving UI blocking issues.
• Debug HUD: Added a real-time "Matrix" overlay (F12) visualizing the topology of the cache, worker lane status, and frame timings.

Release Date: 2025-12-27

• Configuration Overhaul: Complete unlocking of engine settings via new Settings UI.
  • Input Mapping: Customizable Mouse actions (Middle Click, Wheel, Side Buttons) and separation of Drag/Pan logic.
  • Viewport: Professional background options (Black, White, Grid, Custom) and Smart Layouts (Always on Top, Auto-Hide).
  • Portable Mode: Toggle between the global User Directory or the Local Program Folder to make QuickView truly portable..
  • Image Control: Options for Force RAW Decode and Transparency Tuning.
• Native Auto-Update System:
  • Zero-Interruption: Silent background detection and download.
  • Install on Exit: Instant application on close.

• Multi-Threaded JXL: Rewrote JPEG XL decoder to use parallel runners, delivering 5x-10x faster decoding for high-res images.

• Stability: Fixed potential race condition when rapid-switching large images.
• Layout: Fixed sidebar clipping on small windows with intelligent constraint adaptation.

This major release marks a complete departure from the legacy JPEGView codebase. QuickView 2.0 is built from scratch to be the fastest, most modern image viewer for Windows.

• Direct2D Rendering: GPU-accelerated rendering pipeline for silky smooth zooming and panning (60fps+).
• Modern C++: Utilizing modern C++ standards, RAII, and smart pointers for robust stability.

• Dual-Lane Scheduling: Revolutionary "Fast/Slow" queue system ensures the UI never freezes, even when processing 200MB+ Raw files.
• TurboJPEG integration: SIMD-optimized JPEG decoding.
• Google Wuffs: State-of-the-art secure and fast decoding for PNG and GIF.
• libwebp: Multithreaded WebP decoding.
• Instant Preview: Direct extraction of embedded JPEGs from RAW (ARW, CR2, DNG, etc.), HEIC, and PSD files for instant viewing.

• Virtualization: Handle folders with 10,000+ images effortlessly.
• Smart Caching: Dual-Layer (RAM + VRAM) cache with strict 200MB limit.
• Hover Info: Instant inspection of file dimensions and size by hovering over thumbnails.

• Auto Format Fix: Detects mismatched extensions (e.g., PNG saved as .jpg) via Magic Bytes and repairs them with one click.
• Enhanced Copy: Quick copy for File Path and Image Content.

• Memory Safety: Cache hard limit set to 200MB.
• Resolution Limit: Images larger than 16384x16384 (268 MP) are currently skipped to prevent OOM.

• Chrome-style Floating Buttons:
  • Added floating Minimize/Restore/Close buttons that appear when hovering near the top of the window
  • Works in both Fullscreen and Borderless Windowed modes
  • Provides a modern, browser-like experience for window management

• Fullscreen Interaction:
  • Fixed an issue where the window could be dragged in Fullscreen mode
  • Fixed missing top buttons in Fullscreen mode due to incorrect position calculation

• Narrow Border Mode: Configurable thin border (width and color) that appears only in borderless windowed mode
  • Settings: NarrowBorderWidth (0-100, default 2) and NarrowBorderColor (RGB, default 128 128 128)
  • Draws after all UI elements for clear visibility
  • Automatically disabled in fullscreen mode

• Configuration File Renamed: JPEGView.ini → QuickView.ini

  • User config location: %AppData%\Roaming\JPEGView\QuickView.ini
  • Global config location: <EXE path>\QuickView.ini

• Improved Zoom Display:

  • Removed duplicate zoom percentage from filename area
  • Enhanced bottom-right zoom display with semi-transparent background using AlphaBlend
  • Better readability with 60% opacity background

• Smart Fullscreen Exit:

  • Double-click on background (not on image) to exit fullscreen mode
  • Double-click on image retains original behavior
  • More intuitive user interaction

• Window Dragging: Added ability to drag window when image fits the window size

  • Previously only worked when image was larger than window
  • Now works in both scenarios for consistent behavior
  • Fixed issue where left-click dragging was disabled in borderless mode

• Zoom Functionality:

  • Fixed broken zoom with mouse wheel and keyboard shortcuts
  • Fixed window resizing not triggering when zooming ("Fit Window to Image")
  • Restored "Fit Window to Image" context menu toggle functionality

• Startup Stability:

  • Fixed crash on startup due to uninitialized pointer
  • Fixed Access Violation related to const-correctness in settings provider

• Code Cleanup: Removed legacy "JPEGView" comments and updated to "QuickView"

• Updated all internal references from JPEGView to QuickView
• Improved codebase maintainability
• Updated INI template (QuickView.ini.tpl) with new settings

Based on JPEGView-Static fork, which itself is based on sylikc's JPEGView fork of the original JPEGView by David Kleiner.