Software that displays the contents of a file. File viewers are a quick way of looking into different types of files without having to open each application that created them. A general purpose file viewer is capable of displaying a wide variety of document, database, spreadsheet and graphics formats.

From Windows Explorer and Mac Finder
In the Windows XP version of the Explorer file manager, Microsoft added a Filmstrip mode for viewing images. In Vista, it replaced Filmstrip with variable-sized icons. In Mac OS X 10.5, Apple added its iTunes Cover Flow technology to the Finder file manager for viewing all files. See graphics viewer and document exchange software.