SageThumbs-2k

<div align="center"> <img src="assets/logo.png" alt="SageThumbs 2K" width="112" /> # SageThumbs 2K ### Real thumbnails where Windows shows a blank icon. A modern, **crash-isolated** Rust shell extension for **Windows 11**: the clean-room revival of the legendary (but decade-abandoned) [SageThumbs](https://sagethumbs.en.lo4d.com/). [](#-install) [](#-how-it-works)  [](https://github.com/LunarWerxs/SageThumbs-2k/releases) [](#-license) [](https://github.com/LunarWerxs/SageThumbs-2k/actions) [](https://discord.gg/PsWpeNUzhk) <a href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/sagethumbs-2k/"><img src="https://a.fsdn.com/con/app/syndication/badge_img_direct/oss-rising-star/oss-rising-star/?variant_id=sf" alt="SourceForge Rising Star award" width="110" /></a> [**⬇ Download**](https://github.com/LunarWerxs/SageThumbs-2k/releases) · [Features](#-features) · [Formats](#-supported-formats) · [FAQ](https://github.com/LunarWerxs/SageThumbs-2k/blob/main/docs/FAQ.md) · [Changelog](https://github.com/LunarWerxs/SageThumbs-2k/blob/main/docs/CHANGELOG.md) · [Build from source](#-build-from-source) <br/> <img src="assets/screenshots/settings.gif" alt="SageThumbs 2K Settings dialog cycling its category tabs: Win11-style nav rail, toggle switches, system-following dark mode" width="600" /> &nbsp; <img src="assets/screenshots/preview2.png" alt="The SageThumbs 2K right-click menu: convert, resize, combine to PDF/CBZ, OCR, set as wallpaper and more" width="200" /> <br/><br/> <img src="assets/screenshots/convert.png" alt="The SageThumbs 2K Convert dialog: batch convert to JPG/PNG/WebP with resize, quality and output-folder options" width="500" /> <br/><br/> <img src="assets/screenshots/preview-collage.png" alt="SageThumbs 2K Quick preview, opened by pressing Space in Explorer: a rendered Markdown document, an email showing its headers and attachment list, a shaded 3D-print model, and a syntax-highlighted source file, side by side" width="840" /> <br/><br/> <img src="assets/screenshots/preview-quicklook.png" alt="SageThumbs 2K Quick preview showing a Rust source file with syntax highlighting, line numbers and the caption toolbar" width="840" /> <br/><br/> <img src="assets/screenshots/preview-pdf.png" alt="SageThumbs 2K Quick preview as a PDF viewer: continuous scrolling through a multi-page document, a clickable page-thumbnail strip, and Ctrl+F text search that jumped to the matching page" width="840" /> </div> SageThumbs 2K is a crash-isolated Rust shell extension for Windows 11 that adds File Explorer thumbnails, a right-click image toolkit, and a QuickLook-style preview for 363 file types Windows can't render natively, including camera RAW, Photoshop PSD, HEIC/AVIF, video, ebooks, comics, and the long tail of obscure formats. --- ## TL;DR - 🖼️ Explorer thumbnails for **363 file types it ignores**: camera RAW, Photoshop, HEIC/AVIF, **video (MKV, WebM, MP4, MOV…)**, JPEG-XR, MS Office, DjVu, ebooks & comics, 3D-print files, and the obscure long tail. - ☁️ **Works in OneDrive, Synology Drive and other cloud folders**, where Windows normally asks only the cloud app for thumbnails. Online-only files are never downloaded just to draw one. - 🛡️ **A corrupt or malicious file can't crash Explorer**: runs out-of-process, panic-guarded, with a sandboxed decoder. - ⚡ **Fast even on huge files**: camera RAW thumbnails come from the embedded preview instead of a slow demosaic (3–13× quicker), multi-gigabyte Photoshop files and archives are read straight off the disk, and no file is allowed to hang a folder. - 🧰 **Right-click toolkit:** convert, resize, lossless rotate, combine-to-PDF/CBZ, system-wide eyedropper, OCR, and more; all non-destructive, and **multi-file jobs run in parallel across every core**. - 👁️ **Press Space to preview** any file, QuickLook-style: **video & audio play**, code is **syntax-highlighted**, Markdown renders, PDFs page, and **email**, **SQLite databases** and **3D models** open read-only. Works in Explorer, on the Desktop, in **[Everything](https://www.voidtools.com/) search results**, and inside any app's **Open/Save dialog**. - 🔤 **Copy text off your screen**: drag a region and the words land on your clipboard, in an editable window so you can fix a misread. Uses Windows' own recognizer, so it adds nothing to the download. - 🎛️ **Make the menu yours**: **drag-reorder** (and show/hide) every right-click entry *and* its dividers; the context menu mirrors your layout exactly. - 🎨 **Redesigned Settings**: a Win11-style category nav rail with toggle switches, a **search box that finds any setting on any page**, system-following **dark mode**, **36 languages**. - 🦀 100% clean-room **Rust**, **free for personal use** ([PolyForm Noncommercial](#-license)); no GFL. > **[Download the installer →](https://github.com/LunarWerxs/SageThumbs-2k/releases)** Two clicks and your File Explorer just... works. --- ## Note from the Developer > I'm a huge fan of SageThumbs. There are 4 things I always install on a new build, Chrome, XnShell, Everything and SageThumbs. Having noticed multiple system crashes from SageThumbs recently and no update in almost a decade, I decided it was time to right this injustice... > > After about a week, and an embarrassing amount of tokens, we now have a ground-up, rust native, alternative that now supports hundreds of formats, extensive red teaming, obsessively optimized for speed with carefully audited packaging, dozens of iterations through UI/UX for simplicity, menu editors, a color picker, screenshot tool, etc. > > Please tell your friends, star the repo and if you find anything broken, please let me know. --- ## The story The original **SageThumbs** was a Windows legend. It made Explorer show thumbnails for *hundreds* of formats nothing else could. Then it stopped: no updates since ~2017, built on the proprietary, frozen **GFL** library. **SageThumbs 2K rebuilds it from scratch in safe Rust** (a maintained decode pipeline, real crash isolation, and a native Windows 11 look) while keeping the one thing that made it great: **thumbnails for the files nothing else will show.** --- ## ✨ Features | | | |---|---| | 🖼️ **363 formats** | Camera RAW (Canon/Nikon/Sony/Fuji/…), PSD, GIMP XCF, DICOM, OpenEXR, FITS, HEIC/AVIF, JPEG-2000/XL/**XR**, Targa, SGI, and more | | 📚 **Ebooks & comics** | EPUB, MOBI/AZW (Kindle), FB2, CBZ/CB7/CBR/CBT: real covers in Explorer (a native-Rust [DarkThumbs](https://github.com/fire-eggs/DarkThumbs) port). Plain ZIP/RAR/7Z archives within the configured file-size limit get a contact-sheet thumbnail of the images inside, too | | 🎨 **Art / CAD / 3D / design** | PSD/PSB, Affinity, Clip Studio, Krita, OpenRaster, Blender, 3MF, FreeCAD, G-code, **SketchUp, Rhino, AutoCAD DWG, 3ds Max, Adobe XD, InDesign, Visio, CorelDRAW, Fusion 360 (.f3d)**: preview pulled straight from inside the file (no host app needed) | | 📄 **DjVu** | Pure-Rust, zero-GPL decode via [`djvu-rs`](https://crates.io/crates/djvu-rs); scanned books show their text | | 🔊 **Docs & audio** | PDF first page, Microsoft Office (Word/Excel/PowerPoint) & OpenDocument, and album art for MP3/FLAC/Ogg/Opus/M4A/**WMA**/**DSF (DSD)**/… (WMA/ASF and DSD/.dsf via hand-rolled parsers; `lofty` can't read either) | | 👁️ **Space-bar preview** | Tap **Space** in Explorer or on the Desktop for an instant full-size preview of any supported format, plus **video & audio playback**, **syntax-highlighted** code, **rendered Markdown**, a **PDF viewer** with page thumbnails and **Ctrl+F search**, **font specimens**, **archive listings**, **SQLite databases** and **email** (read-only), a **hex dump** for anything else, **Save (Ctrl+S)**, **Print (Ctrl+P)**, **←/→ folder browsing** and **double-click (or F11) full-screen**. Off by default; opt in from Settings | | 🧰 **Right-click toolkit** | Convert (29 targets) with an optional **watermark**, resize, shrink-for-email, **lossless** JPEG rotate/flip, combine→PDF/CBZ (or a **searchable PDF** with an invisible OCR text layer), batch rename from EXIF/tags **or from a pattern you write**, eyedropper, set-as-folder-icon, **set as wallpaper (Fill · Fit · Span · …) or lock screen**, OCR, strip metadata, upload & copy the link (it shows when the link expires), **copy as data URI**. A batch that partly fails can be **retried for just the files that failed** | | ⚡ **Parallel batch** | Multi-file Convert / Resize / Rotate / Strip and Combine-to-PDF fan out across **all CPU cores** (6–15× faster): a tiny dependency-free scoped thread pool, no rayon bloat in the shell DLL | | 🎛️ **Make the menu yours** | The Settings "Menu items" list lets you **drag-reorder** every right-click entry *and* its group dividers: the menu mirrors your layout exactly (WYSIWYG). Tick items off to hide them, or hit **Reset order** for the default | | 🤖 **CLI + MCP server** | `st2k.exe`: `thumbnail · convert · batch · rotate · ocr · pdf · cbz · …` as a scriptable/AI-agent toolbox (`st2k --mcp`); **`batch`** parallel-processes whole folders in one process. The MCP server adds **`view`** (decode any supported format to a PNG block so an AI agent can *see* the file) and **`compress`** tools | | 📇 **Details pane & columns** | An **IPropertyStore** handler surfaces image dimensions, EXIF camera info and audio tags in Explorer's Details pane, hover tooltips, and sortable/groupable columns, for the 363 formats Windows can't read itself. Read-only and panic-isolated, like the thumbnailer | | 🎨 **Colour management** | Embedded **ICC** profiles and wide-gamut images (**Display P3 / Adobe RGB**) render in correct sRGB instead of over-saturated; AVIF/HEIC read their `colr` box (incl. the iPhone-HEIC CICP Display-P3 signal), and **CMYK JPEGs** are colour-managed through their embedded profile; pure-Rust, no C deps | | 🔧 **Repair file associations** | One button in **Settings ▸ Diagnostics** re-registers SageThumbs for every enabled format when another app has hijacked the thumbnails, then clears the thumbnail cache | | 🛡️ **Crash-isolated** | Out-of-process, `catch_unwind` under `panic = "abort"`, sandboxed ImageMagick child (CPU-time budget + kill-timeout), decompression-bomb guards | | 🌗 **Native Win11 UI** | Redesigned **Settings**: a Win11-style category nav rail (General · Appearance · File types · Ebook/comic · Right-click menu · Screenshots · Quick action · Advanced · Quick preview · Data & Backup) with toggle switches, Common-Controls v6, a **search box that finds any setting on any page**, **light/dark theme** (follow Windows, or pick your own), 36 languages | | 🔤 **Screen OCR** | **Copy text (OCR)** from the screenshot editor (**Ctrl+T**), the Quick preview toolbar, the tray or a global hotkey: drag a region and the words land on your clipboard *and* in an editable window, so a misread is fixable before you paste | | 💬 **Send feedback** | A box in the About card mails a suggestion, bug report or format request straight to the developer: no GitHub account, no email address required (leave one only if you want a reply). A failed send puts your text on the clipboard so nothing is lost | | ⌨️ **Keyboard & screen readers** | The Quick preview's caption toolbar and video controls are reachable with **Tab**, walked with the arrow keys and pressed with Enter or Space, with a visible focus ring; **Escape** returns to the content. Every category in the Settings nav rail reports its name and selected state, so Narrator and NVDA announce where you are | | 🔍 **True transparency** | Real premultiplied-ARGB alpha, so Explorer shows the folder background through a transparent PNG instead of a baked-in grey grid. Prefer the classic look? One switch puts the checkerboard back | <div align="center"> <img src="assets/screenshots/preview1.png" alt="Windows Explorer showing real thumbnails for camera RAW, PSD, AVIF, OpenEXR, JPEG-XL, comics and more" width="840" /> </div> --- ## 🧹 One install, a whole stack gone One shell extension and one `st2k.exe` do the jobs of the utilities people reinstall on every new Windows box, with no account and no cloud service. | Instead of installing... | You already have it | |---|---| | A **thumbnail or codec pack** (MysticThumbs, FastPictureViewer, Icaros) | Thumbnails for **hundreds of formats**, crash-isolated | | A **preview-pane** add-on | A large **preview handler** in the reading pane and Open dialogs | | A **Space-bar preview** app (QuickLook, Seer) | **Tap Space** for an instant full-size preview | | An **EXIF viewer** (ExifToolGUI, Opanda IExif) | EXIF, GPS and audio tags as **sortable Explorer columns** | | A **batch converter** (XnConvert, IrfanView) | Right-click **Convert** to ~29 formats, batched across every core | | A **resizer** (PowerToys Image Resizer) | Right-click **Resize** presets and **Shrink for email** | | **jpegtran**, or IrfanView's lossless-rotate plugin | **Lossless JPEG rotate / flip** | | A **color picker** (PowerToys, Just Color Picker) | A **system-wide eyedropper** with a 10x loupe | | A **metadata scrubber** (ExifCleaner, BatchPurifier) | Right-click **Strip metadata**, ICC profile kept | | A **screenshot + annotate** app (ShareX, Greenshot, Snagit) | Region or window **capture** with a delay, annotations and quick-save | | An **OCR** tool (Capture2Text, PowerToys Text Extractor) | **Copy text** off a file or any region of the screen; tables keep their columns | | An **image uploader** (ShareX, Imgur apps) | **Upload (copy link)** to a keyless host, no account | | A **PDF / CBZ maker** (PDF24, manual 7-Zip) | **Combine into PDF** or **CBZ** | | **ImageMagick** for scripts and AI agents | `st2k.exe`: a full CLI **and an MCP server** | **A dozen-plus tools in one download**, every decoder isolated from Explorer. Nothing stays running unless you turn on the screenshot hotkey or the Space-bar preview. _{Fine print: a few exotic formats lean on codecs already in Windows (WIC) or the bundled ImageMagick; SageThumbs 2K wires them into Explorer. Several tools above are free too; the point is one install instead of a dozen.} --- ## ⭐ Like it? Help it grow Built in the open by one person, free for personal use, no ads, no paywall. If SageThumbs 2K earns a spot on your "install on every new PC" list, a few seconds of support goes a *long* way: - ⭐ **[Star the repo](https://github.com/LunarWerxs/SageThumbs-2k)**: the single biggest signal that this is worth maintaining. - 📝 **[Leave a review on SourceForge](https://sourceforge.net/projects/sagethumbs-2k/)**: helps people find a thumbnailer they can actually trust. - 👍 **[Like it on AlternativeTo](https://alternativeto.net/software/sagethumbs-2k/about/)**: surfaces it for everyone searching for a SageThumbs / DarkThumbs alternative. Hit a bug, or a format that won't thumbnail? **[Open an issue](https://github.com/LunarWerxs/SageThumbs-2k/issues)**, that helps just as much. --- ## 📦 Install 1. **[Download `SageThumbs2K-Setup-<version>.exe`](https://github.com/LunarWerxs/SageThumbs-2k/releases)** and run it. 2. That's it: open any folder of exotic images. - There is **one payload**: the bundled ImageMagick engine is always installed, so every supported format works out of the box. (Older releases offered a cut-down "Compact" choice that dropped it; upgrading replaces that with the complete engine.) - **ARM64** ships as a separate `SageThumbs2K-Setup-<ver>-arm64.exe` for Windows on Arm, running natively rather than emulated, with the same engine as x64, so format coverage is identical on both. > The installer registers a classic shell extension via `regsvr32` and trusts a self-signed cert for the Win11 modern menu. It's a *classic* extension by design (not an MSIX sandbox) because it spawns ImageMagick as a subprocess. > **First run / SmartScreen:** every release since 3.0.0 is code-signed by LUNARWERX LLC (right-click the installer, Properties, Digital Signatures). A brand-new signed release can still meet a blue **"Windows protected your PC"** screen while it builds download reputation: click **More info → Run anyway**. Every line of the code is right here for you to inspect. ### Installer vs. portable zip Prefer nothing touching the registry outside your own account, or can't run an installer at all? Grab the **portable zip** from the same [releases page](https://github.com/LunarWerxs/SageThumbs-2k/releases) instead. It covers most of the app, but not quite everything: | | Installer | Portable zip | |---|---|---| | Explorer thumbnails | ✅ | ✅ (per-user, no admin) | | Classic right-click menu | ✅ | ✅ (per-user, no admin) | | Settings, Convert/Resize, Quick preview, screenshots, OCR, eyedropper, CLI | ✅ | ✅ | | Explorer **preview pane** | ✅ | ❌ | | **Details pane** (columns, EXIF/tags) | ✅ | ❌ | | Modern Windows 11 right-click menu | ✅ | ❌ | The three ❌ rows all need machine-wide registration, which is exactly what the portable zip is built to avoid. If you want those too, use the installer. --- ## 🦀 How it works ``` IThumbnailProvider → runs in Explorer's isolated dllhost surrogate │ (first tier that decodes wins; SVG detected up front → resvg) image crate → WIC (OS codecs) → ImageMagick (sandboxed child) → headerless-Targa (safe Rust) HEIC/RAW the obscure long tail fallback AVIF: our own decoder (container + colour code, rav1d for AV1) in a throwaway child │ ▼ premultiplied-BGRA top-down DIB → Explorer (real alpha) ``` One DLL exposes three COM coclasses: the thumbnail provider, the modern `IExplorerCommand` menu, and a classic `IContextMenu` fallback. Settings live in `HKCU\Software\SageThumbs2K`. --- ## 🛠 Built like it matters Most thumbnail handlers are a weekend hack. This one's been put through the wringer: - **Crash-proof by design**: a malformed file can't take down Explorer. - **Zero runtime dependencies**, pure memory-safe Rust core, installs clean every time. - **Zero-warning linting, supply-chain audits, fuzzing, Miri, and a full test + render-regression suite** gate every release. - **Hardened against hostile input** and code-signed by LUNARWERX LLC on every release. - **Color-managed** (ICC/wide-gamut → sRGB) and **obsessively tuned** for speed, size, and a native feel. --- ## 🗂 Supported formats <details open> <summary><strong>363 extensions</strong> across Image, RAW, Ebook/comics, Document, Audio and Video</summary> - **RAW**: 3fr, arw, cr2/cr3/crw, dng, erf, iiq, mef, mrw, nef/nrw, orf, pef, raf, rw2, sr2/srw, x3f, … - **Pro / scientific**: dcm (DICOM), dpx, cin, exr, fits, hdr, pfm - **Photoshop / paint**: psd/psb, xcf, **psp/pspimage** (Paint Shop Pro), **iff/ilbm/lbm** (Amiga ILBM / Deluxe Paint), pcx, miff, cut - **Common + modern**: png, jpg, gif, bmp, tiff, webp, heic/heif, avif, jp2, jxl, **jxr/wdp/hdp** (JPEG XR / HD Photo), **dds** (game textures: every block format BC1 to BC7, HDR BC6H included, decoded natively), **vtf/ktx** (Valve and Khronos textures, through the same decoders), **six/sixel** (terminal graphics), avifs, ico, tga, qoi, svg - **Vector & metafile**: svg/svgz, wmf, emf/emz - **Ebook & comics**: epub, mobi/azw/azw3, **prc** (Mobipocket), fb2/fbz, cbz/cb7/cbr/cbt - **Project / design / CAD**: psd, afphoto/afdesign/afpub, clip, kra, ora, **pxo** (Pixelorama), **aseprite/ase** (Aseprite, rendered), **spla** (SpriteLoop, rendered), **sldprt/sldasm/slddrw** (SolidWorks), **mcworld/mctemplate/mcpack/mcaddon** (Minecraft Bedrock), blend, 3mf, fcstd (plus FreeCAD's fcbak/fcstd1 backups), gcode, **bgcode** (PrusaSlicer binary), **eps** (embedded raster preview only), **sketch, procreate** (digital art), **skp** (SketchUp), **3dm** (Rhino), **dwg** (AutoCAD), **max** (3ds Max), **c4d** (Cinema 4D), **xd** (Adobe XD), **cdr/cdt/cmx** (CorelDRAW / Corel Exchange), **dxf** (AutoCAD preview), **xmind** (mind maps), **nupkg/vsix** (package icons) - **Icons**: ico, cur, **ani** (animated cursors), **icns** (Apple) - **Docs & audio**: pdf, **doc/docx/docm, xls/xlsx/xlsm/xlsb, ppt/pptx/pptm/ppsx** (MS Office), odt/ods/odp, **key/pages/numbers** (Apple iWork), **indd/indt** (InDesign), **vsd/vsdx/vsdm/vstx/vssx** (Visio), **pub** (Publisher), djvu + mp3/flac/ogg/opus/m4a/wma/**dsf** (DSD)/ape/… - **Video**: mkv/webm, mp4/m4v/mov, avi, wmv, flv, mpg/mpeg/m1v/m2v/mpv/mp2v/m2p, vob, 3gp/3g2, ts/m2ts/mts, ogv, divx, …: a representative frame (30% in by default, adjustable in Settings) via the OS **Media Foundation** codecs, plus **FLV** (VP6 / Sorenson Spark), **HDR VP9** (Profile 2/3, 10- and 12-bit) and **MPEG-1/2** (VideoCD-era `.mpg`, bare `.m1v`/`.m2v`, DVD-style `.vob`, and MPEG-2 inside `.ts`/`.m2ts`/`.mts` recordings) decoded by SageThumbs itself in a short-lived helper process *(PostScript without an embedded raster preview and font-only ImageMagick coders are excluded for safety; PDF uses the in-box OS renderer. Video frames normally come from Windows' own Media Foundation codecs. Where Windows has no codec (FLV's VP6 and Sorenson Spark, VP9 Profile 2/3 HDR, 10-bit H.264, and MPEG-1/2 in program, elementary and transport streams), SageThumbs decodes the frame itself in a separate short-lived process, so a corrupt file costs one thumbnail rather than disturbing Explorer. Anything neither side can decode keeps its default icon.)* </details> --- ## 🔧 Build from source Requires the **MSVC** Rust toolchain, VS Build Tools (Desktop C++), and (for the installer) [Inno Setup](https://jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php). ```powershell $env:RUSTFLAGS = '-C target-feature=+crt-static' # static CRT: see note below cargo build --release # sagethumbs2k.dll + SageThumbs2K.exe + st2k.exe .\scripts\build-release.ps1 # full pipeline → dist\SageThumbs2K-Setup-<ver>.exe .\scripts\build-release.ps1 -Architecture arm64 # ARM64 installer ``` > ARM64 cross-builds additionally need the ARM64 MSVC C++ tools installed through Visual > Studio Build Tools. The ARM64 release path produces a separately named > installer; it is not a replacement for the x64 Full build. > `scripts\build-release.ps1` always sets `crt-static` itself, so a release build is > reproducible from a fresh clone either way, but a **plain `cargo build --release`** > without it links the DLL against the MSVC CRT dynamically, which can fail > `regsvr32`/`DllRegisterServer` with `0x8007007E` (`ERROR_MOD_NOT_FOUND`) on a machine > missing the VC++ Redistributable. Set the flag yourself (as above) if you're building > the DLL directly rather than through the release pipeline. --- ## FAQ <details> <summary><b>Is SageThumbs 2K free?</b></summary> Yes, for personal use, under the [PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0](#-license). Commercial use needs a commercial license per Windows installation, sold two ways: **US$2.99 a month**, cancel any time, or **US$49 once** for a perpetual licence with 12 months of updates. On the one-time plan the app keeps working as it is afterwards, and another 12 months of updates is US$29, bought with your key; a monthly licence stops entitling the machine when the subscription ends. Security fixes are delivered to every licensed installation regardless. Bought [monthly](https://go.lunarwerx.com/sagethumbs/buy/monthly) or [once](https://go.lunarwerx.com/sagethumbs/buy) (the checkout page calls what it emails you a "redemption code"; that is the seat key below, same thing). For volume or site licenses, purchase orders or bank transfer, [request a quote](https://github.com/LunarWerxs/SageThumbs-2k/issues/new?template=licence_quote.yml). A business license comes as a seat key (`esk_...`); redeem it under **Settings ▸ Licence** and the app takes it from there. The installer asks whether a copy is for personal or business use, and that answer only changes by reinstalling, there's no toggle for it in Settings. A portable copy has no installer to ask, and counts as business use as soon as a key is redeemed on it. A business copy starts a 7-day evaluation with every feature; after that it asks for a key for 3 more days, then thumbnails, previews and the right-click menu stop until one is entered. Once a key is in, the license check runs quietly in the background and tolerates being offline for about a week. Personal use has no ads and no paywall, just a single free download built and maintained by one person. </details> <details> <summary><b>What are the system requirements?</b></summary> Windows 11, 64-bit. It ships as a native x64 installer, plus a separately built native ARM64 installer for Windows on Arm with the same format coverage. There's also a portable zip for per-user use with no admin rights. No other software is required: the installer bundles everything it needs, including the ImageMagick engine used for the more obscure formats. </details> <details> <summary><b>Does it replace File Explorer, or install its own file browser?</b></summary> Neither. It's a shell extension that plugs into the existing File Explorer: same windows, same navigation, just real thumbnails, a right-click toolkit, and a Space-bar preview added on top. Nothing about how you browse files changes. </details> <details> <summary><b>Why did Windows or my antivirus flag the installer?</b></summary> **3.0 and later are code-signed by LUNARWERX LLC** through Azure Artifact Signing, every installer, the shell extension, the app and the command-line tool. Right-click the file, Properties, Digital Signatures, and the signer is there to check. The signature is what removes the machine-learning "unknown binary" verdicts that releases up to 2.5 collected. Releases before 3.0 were unsigned, and every release is a brand-new file the world has never seen. That is a *reputation* verdict, not a finding about the code, and the detection names say so themselves: Microsoft's `Wacatac.B!ml` ends in `!ml`, its own marker for "a machine-learning model guessed"; Fortinet reports `PossibleThreat`; Rising reports `Undefined`; Skyhigh reports `BehavesLike`. None of them claims to have recognised anything specific. Two measurements, taken on 2026-08-31 on the unsigned builds, if you would rather not take our word for it. They are dated on purpose: these numbers move, which is the entire point being made. - **The count moves on its own, with no change to the software.** A freshly built installer, the same product, scanned the same day: **2 of 71** engines. The published build of that identical version, four days and a few hundred downloads later: **9 of 71**. Same program, same code, engines simply score a file more as it circulates. Older releases settle back down again (1.2.2 sits at 1 of 75). - **Removing half the installer changes nothing.** We built a variant with the entire bundled ImageMagick engine stripped out, halving the download, and scanned both within ten minutes of each other: 2 of 71 with it, 3 of 70 without. The size and contents are not what is being scored. Every release is code-signed by LUNARWERX LLC and lists each file's SHA-256, so you can check that the file you downloaded is the one published. For the current engine ratio and the exact detection names, look that SHA-256 up on VirusTotal rather than trusting one popup's opinion. If your antivirus quarantines it, reporting it as a false positive to *your* vendor genuinely helps, those reports are what clear it for everyone else using that product, and since 3.0 there is a signed publisher for them to attach it to. SmartScreen's "Windows protected your PC" screen is a separate thing: it is a no-history-yet reputation prompt rather than a malware verdict, and a signature does not silence it on day one. Reputation is earned per publisher over downloads, so it can still appear for a while after 3.0. Click **More info**, then **Run anyway**. </details> <details> <summary><b>How is it different from the original SageThumbs, or a tool like MysticThumbs?</b></summary> It's a clean-room rebuild of the classic, decade-abandoned SageThumbs (2004-2017, GPLv2, no GFL reused), written from scratch in memory-safe Rust. Compared to a codec-pack style thumbnailer like MysticThumbs, its thumbnail provider runs out-of-process and panic-guarded, so a corrupt or hostile file can't take down Explorer the way an in-process crash can. </details> <details> <summary><b>Does the Space-bar preview work with the Everything search tool?</b></summary> Yes, both Everything 1.4 and 1.5, installed or portable. Click a result first, since Space typed into the search box just types a space. If Everything itself runs as administrator, Windows blocks the keypress from reaching any normal program; binding a hotkey with Ctrl, Alt, or Shift in Settings works around that, because Windows delivers hotkeys differently than typed keys. </details> <details> <summary><b>How many formats does it support, and can more be added?</b></summary> 363 as of this README, across image, camera RAW, ebook/comic, document, audio, and video; run `st2k formats` for the live, per-category count. New formats are considered when they can be read without a heavy dependency, many "project" file formats bake in a preview image that's cheap to extract. Request one through Send Feedback in the app or a GitHub issue. --- </details> ## 📜 License **[PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0](https://github.com/LunarWerxs/SageThumbs-2k/blob/main/.github/LICENSE.md)**: free to use, modify, and share for any **noncommercial** purpose. **Commercial use requires a separate license**, per Windows installation, sold two ways: **US$2.99 a month** (cancel any time; the machine stops being entitled when the subscription ends) or **US$49 once** for a perpetual licence with 12 months of updates. On the one-time plan the app keeps working as it is afterwards; another 12 months of updates is US$29, bought with your key. Security fixes are delivered to every licensed installation regardless. Bought [monthly](https://go.lunarwerx.com/sagethumbs/buy/monthly) or [once](https://go.lunarwerx.com/sagethumbs/buy) (card via Stripe; one key per installation is emailed on payment). It comes as a seat key (`esk_...`), redeemed under **Settings ▸ Licence**. For volume or site licences, purchase orders or bank transfer, [request a quote](https://github.com/LunarWerxs/SageThumbs-2k/issues/new?template=licence_quote.yml). The installer asks Personal or Business up front and that choice only changes by reinstalling; a business copy gets a 7-day evaluation with every feature, then 3 days of reminders, then thumbnails and previews stop until a key is entered; once it is, the background license check tolerates about a week offline. © 2026 Lunarwerx. SageThumbs 2K is a **clean-room rewrite**, **not** a derivative of the GPLv2 C++ original, and it uses **no GFL**. Every decoder is pure-Rust or an OS codec (RAR/CBR comics use the pure-Rust [`rars`](https://crates.io/crates/rars) crate, no proprietary UnRAR), so the project's own code is entirely original and its dependencies are permissively licensed, which is what lets us license it as we choose. The optional bundled ImageMagick (for the exotic long tail) ships under its own permissive license and runs only as a sandboxed subprocess. ## 🙏 Credits A from-scratch successor to Nikolay Raspopov's original **[SageThumbs](https://github.com/raspopov/SageThumbs)** (2004–2017, GPLv2, now unmaintained), rebuilt clean-room in Rust, with our thanks for the classic that inspired it. Built on [image-rs](https://github.com/image-rs/image), [resvg](https://github.com/linebender/resvg), [windows-rs](https://github.com/microsoft/windows-rs), [djvu-rs](https://crates.io/crates/djvu-rs), and [ImageMagick](https://imagemagick.org/). With thanks to the projects that shaped specific features: - [**DarkThumbs**](https://github.com/fire-eggs/DarkThumbs): the model for the ebook & comic cover thumbnails (EPUB / MOBI / FB2 / CBZ…). - [**Flameshot**](https://flameshot.org/): inspiration for the screenshot capture + annotation flow. - [**XnShell / XnView**](https://www.xnview.com/): inspiration for the right-click image toolkit and shell-menu UX. - [**Calibre**](https://calibre-ebook.com/): reference for ebook formats and cover extraction. <div align="center"> Made by [LunarWerx Studios](https://lunarwerx.com): also see [RepoYeti](https://repoyeti.com), [QuickDictate](https://quickdictate.lunarwerx.com), and [WatchArr](https://watcharr.lunarwerx.com). _{Made with 🦀 for people who have too many weird files.} </div> ## ⭐ Star history <a href="https://www.star-history.com/?repos=lunarwerxs%2Fsagethumbs-2k&type=date&legend=bottom-right"><img src="https://api.star-history.com/svg?repos=lunarwerxs%2Fsagethumbs-2k&type=Date&theme=dark&legend=bottom-right" width="100%" alt="SageThumbs 2K GitHub stars over time"></a>