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Looking through a folder full of photos in a file manager means tiny icons and lots of double-clicking. Open the folder here and you get a fast gallery of every image and video, including those in subfolders, plus a folder tree, filters and a fullscreen viewer you can drive with the keyboard.
Processing locally on your device
Overview
There are two ways to open a folder. In Chrome, Edge and Opera, the File System Access API opens a native folder picker and the gallery reads the folder and all its subfolders directly. Other browsers use the standard folder picker (the webkitdirectory attribute), which gives the page the same list of files. Either way, the files are read on your device and the page sees only the folder you chose. Hidden files and system folders such as $RECYCLE.BIN are skipped.
Huge folders stay responsive. The scan reports results in batches of 150 files, so the gallery starts filling in while the rest of the folder is still being read. Thumbnails are made only for tiles near the screen, three at a time, at 320 pixels. Tiles you scroll past quickly are skipped and made later if you come back. The grid itself renders 240 tiles at a time and adds more as you scroll, so a folder with 20,000 photos opens as quickly as one with 20.
The folder tree shows how many media files each folder contains. Click a folder to view just that folder, or turn on Include subfolders to see everything beneath it. Filter by photos or videos, search file names and paths, and sort by name (natural order, so IMG_2 comes before IMG_10), date modified, size or type. The panel below shows how many photos and videos are in view and their total size, which helps you spot the folders that take up the most space.
Click any tile to open the fullscreen viewer. Use ← and → to move, + and − to zoom, R to rotate and Esc to close. On touch screens, swipe. Videos play inline, and HEIC photos are converted in the browser for display. Hover over a tile to see its path, size and modification date. When you'd rather sit back, Slideshow sends the photos in the current view straight to the Slideshow Viewer.
| Browser | Folder picker | Subfolders | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chrome, Edge, Opera (desktop) | Native folder picker | Yes | Fastest; streams results while scanning |
| Firefox | Folder upload dialog | Yes | Browser may confirm the folder first |
| Safari (macOS) | Folder upload dialog | Yes | Works the same way, files read locally |
| Mobile browsers | Usually no folder picking | — | Select multiple files instead |
Click Choose folder and pick a folder. Subfolders are included automatically.
Watch the gallery fill in as the scan runs, then use the folder tree to narrow the view.
Filter by photos or videos, search names, and sort by name, date, size or type.
Click a thumbnail to view it fullscreen, and use ← and → to move through the folder.
Press Slideshow to present the photos currently shown.
Use cases
Open the DCIM folder from your camera's SD card and skim every shot and clip as large thumbnails before deciding what to import or delete.
Point the gallery at a backup drive with years of nested folders, turn on Include subfolders and sort by date to find photos from a particular trip.
Browse a shared photo folder at work or a NAS share mounted on your computer and preview files without copying them first.
On a computer where you can't install a photo viewer, a browser tab is enough to look through a folder of images and videos, and nothing is copied to the internet.
Pro tips
Answers to common questions about the folder gallery.
Neither. Your browser gives the page read access to the files in the folder you picked, and thumbnails are made in memory on your device. Closing the tab releases everything.
Thumbnails come from the browser's own decoder. Formats it can't play, such as some AVI or HEVC files in certain browsers, show a placeholder icon instead. The Universal Media Viewer can make playable copies of those.
No. The gallery is built for quick browsing and forgets the folder when you close the tab. The Local Media Library remembers linked folders, tags and favourites.
Folders with tens of thousands of files work, because files are scanned in batches, thumbnails are made only for what you see, and the grid renders in pages. The first scan of a slow network drive can still take a while.
No. Access is read-only on purpose, so nothing in your folder can be changed by accident. Use your file manager for deleting and renaming.
Yes. The folder gallery is free to use with no sign-up, no watermarks and no daily limits.
Open any image, video or audio file.
Organize media stored on your device.
Step through video frame by frame.
Audio playback with waveform.
Compare two images with a slider.
Present photos as a slideshow.