Which photo and video formats does firelet.media Gallery support?

firelet.media Gallery indexes JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, BMP, TIFF, AVIF, HEIC/HEIF and SVG photos, and MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, WebM, M4V, WMV and 3GP videos. Camera RAW files are not supported yet: the scan counts them and skips them, while the JPEGs your camera saves alongside are indexed as normal. On Windows, a few formats need a free or paid Microsoft Store codec.

Supported photo formats (indexed)#

These are the photo formats the gallery adds to your library when it scans a folder:

JPEG motion photos from Google and Samsung phones are ordinary JPEGs to the library; on Windows the viewer can also play their motion with Play the motion (L).

Video formats#

The gallery indexes .mp4, .mov, .avi, .mkv, .webm, .m4v, .wmv and .3gp. Video tiles play a muted preview when you hover over them, and videos play in the viewer.

Whether a particular video plays depends on the codec inside it, which Windows decodes:

For videos that won't play or show no preview, see videos show no preview or won't play.

Camera RAW: not supported yet (keep the JPEGs)#

RAW files from cameras are recognised but not added to the library. When a scan finds some, it tells you, for example "12 camera RAW file(s) found — .nef is not supported yet". Imaging → Import skips them too, and the Pairs button on the toolbar has nothing to pair.

HEIC, AVIF, WebP and video codecs on Windows#

firelet.media Gallery ships no codecs of its own; it uses the ones Windows provides. When one is missing, the viewer tells you which extension to get:

1. Double-click the tile to open the picture or video in the viewer.
2. Read the panel that explains why it can't be shown, such as "This photo is HEIC".
3. Click the Store button in that panel, for example Get HEIF Image Extension — free, and install the extension.
4. For iPhone HEIC photos, also install the HEVC Video Extensions from the Microsoft Store.
5. Press Alt+1 and click Retry unrenderable files under Previews.

The last step matters: the gallery remembers files Windows couldn't draw and skips them, so it only tries them again when you ask. HEIC photos don't show on Windows has the details for iPhone photos.

Files that show 'no preview'#

A tile that shows only its extension and "no preview" means Windows couldn't draw the picture. The viewer names the reason:

• A missing codec ("This photo is HEIC", "This photo is AVIF", "This image is WebP"): install the extension it offers, then Retry unrenderable files.
• "Windows has no decoder for this image": nothing on the Store adds one. Use Open in default app.
• "This image could not be opened": Windows read the file but couldn't decode it, so it is most likely incomplete or damaged.
• A cloud badge ("Online only — stored in the cloud, not on this PC"): the file isn't downloaded yet. Tick Download previews for online-only files in the Library panel if you want previews.

To see exactly which formats are in your library, open Filters (Alt+2) and expand File types: every extension is listed with a count, and you can untick any of them.

Differences on macOS and Linux#

The macOS and Linux builds are being finished and aren't available yet. When they are, they index the same list of formats, and RAW files are likewise recognised but not added. The differences:

• Video plays in the app's built-in engine. The optional, free FFmpeg supplies each video's length, size and preview frames; without it, videos are still indexed with their name, size and date. Installing FFmpeg doesn't make HEVC, AVI or WMV videos play inside the app.
• HEIC grid tiles come from the system's own tools on macOS and from the libheif tools on Linux, but the full-size viewer can't open HEIC yet and offers Open in default app.
• Motion photos don't play on macOS or Linux.

To add the folders these formats live in, see how to add your photo folders to the library.