Oculate is one of the many free, open-source, and cross-platform image viewers out there. At first glance, it might seem like your typical "hobby" project to create an image viewer.

However, upon closer inspection, there's a lot to unpack regarding this particular image viewer as, clearly, someone put a bit of effort into making this app worth everyone's attention.

Let's start with the basics: it's free, open-source, and cross-platform (works on Windows, macOS, and most Linux distros, including FreeBSD and NetBSD).

It also supports a wide range of image formats including all the general ones such as JPEG, JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF, as well as some more "niche" ones such as WebP, DDS, PSD, SVG, EXR, RAW, and HEIC/HEIF.

Another cool aspect is that Oculate is a hardware-accelerated image viewer, meaning it doesn't necessarily rely on the CPU to render (or edit) images. It's also fast - both when it comes to how the GUI feels and the image opening process.

One aspect that makes Oculate a bit different from other hum-drum image viewers is the fact that it also boasts a few image editing tools. It sports basic nondestructive editing such as cropping, painting, rotating, and resizing (as well as a few effects).

There's also a decent File Manager. Don't expect it to be professional grade level, though. It's there to do basic tasks such as accessing recent images or all the images from a folder of your choosing.

Another interesting tool is the dedicated compare tool which also remembers the zoom levels and the image position. Other noteworthy features include configurable image caching (select how many images the app keeps in "memory"), light and dark themes, a color correction display, a Flipbook, and an Inspection tool (precise, pixel-level selection).

A full list of all the app's features (of which there are many), as well as installation instructions and other useful info can be found on the official GitHub repository.

Oculate is a young project, hence, it might not fit everyone's needs and wants. Still, it's quite clear that someone passionate is behind the project as it has, admittedly, a lot of going for it.

While I did enjoy using the app and discovering everything it has to offer, I could not entirely get over the fact that the GUI is, no other way of saying it, its biggest drawback.

It's not that I don't like the somewhat 2000s inspired theme and approach, but the fact that there are a couple of things that need sorting in order to make it more usable.

For instance, upon flicking between multiple images (of different resolutions), the whole "top bar" rearranges itself based on the image resolution. To keep it short, this app desperately needs a GUI overhaul.