Simple Methods to Fix Windows Photo Viewer Can’t Open Picture Problem

What is Microsoft’s Windows Photo Viewer?

Microsoft’s Windows Photo Viewer is a picture viewer tool for users to open any extension to view its image or picture. In Windows Vista and 7, this application is known as Windows Photo Gallery. You can do Imaging on Windows using this application. You can also view all your images as a slideshow. It supports pictures in JPG, JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PNG and ICO file formats. 

• JPG/JPEG (joint photography expert group),
• BMP (bitmap image),
• GIF (graphics interchange format),
• TIFF (tag image file format),
• PNG (portable network graphics) and
• ICO (icon format)

Viewing pictures using Windows Photo Viewer is sometimes impossible because you get an error while opening/viewing it. This error message may appear:

Common Reasons for ‘Windows Photo Viewer Can’t Open Picture/Image’ Error

The following reasons are often responsible for the Windows Photo Viewer Can’t Open Picture Problem.

• An error may occur due to Windows Photo Viewer not being updated.
• The program does not support the image file.
• The photo is corrupt is also a reason behind this error.
• The Picture has encryption.
• Software conflict or not supported on your computer.

Methods To Fix Windows Photo Viewer Can’t Open Picture Problem

There are several manual techniques To fix the can’t open picture problem. Some of them are easy, and one-or-two may be difficult for non-technical users; that’s why we also suggest you the Image Repair Tool.

Method 1: Update Windows Photo Viewer

The Software updates can also fix the error in some cases. Follow the steps to update your Windows Photo Viewer:

1. Go to Start> open Settings > then Update & Security > Windows Update.
2. Select Check for updates.
3. Check in the box next to the Photo Viewer. Click Install Updates.
4. Wait until the updates finish, and then restart the computer.

Method 2: Open Photo in a Different Application

In the Windows Operating System, Photo Viewer supports only JPEG, TIFF, PNG, GIF, BMP, DIB, and WDP file formats. If the image file is of a different format, open it in another supporting application. Users can use other photo viewers such as Adobe Photoshop, IrfanView, Photo Retouch, Raw Image Viewer etc. Although, this method will compress the large-sized high-resolution photos. But now, users can at least view them in the program.

Method 3: Convert the Image into a Different Format

Suppose your image file format is not compatible with Windows Photo Viewer. In that case, you can also convert the file into other formats to make it friendly with the Windows Photo Viewer Application like JPEG, TIFF, or PNG. It will definitely fix the Windows Photo Viewer Can’t Open Picture Problem. However, this method will compress the file size but give you the proper view.

Method 4: Turn off Encryption in the Image File

Turning off encryption in the image file can quickly fix the Can’t Open Image Problem in Windows Photo Viewer Tool. Follow the steps correctly:

1. Right-click on the photo. Select Properties.
2. Under the General tab, click Advanced.
3. Uncheck the box before Encrypt Contents to Secure Data. Click OK.

Also Know: How to Recover Deleted Photos in Windows 10?

Method 5: An Automated Method to Fix the Windows Photo Viewer can’t Open this Picture Problem

If the above manual methods do not provide the appropriate solution to Fix Windows Photo Viewer Can’t Open Picture Problem completely. You can try the Image Repair Tool by SysInfo because this tool does not only repair JPEG and TIFF but also repairs popular raw camera file formats like CR2, NEF, ORF, DNG etc. and supports all popular formats like BMP, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, MOS, MEF, PSP and so on.

Simple Procedure to Fix the can’t open this picture Problem

1. Download and Install Image Recovery Software.
2. Click on the Add Files button to browse the image that needs to be recovered.
3. Select a file from the displayed image files and click on Open.
4. Now, click on the Browse button to select the destination path.
5. After that, click the Repair and Save option to begin the repair process.
6. A tab pop-up on your screen shows: Repairing Process is completed.

Conclusion

Windows Photo Viewer can’t open images or pictures because the file appears to be damaged is not a new problem due to limited file format support; users commonly face this problem. We have suggested some best techniques to get rid of this problem. Try the manual methods, and if none of these troubleshooting methods work, then try the automated software.