What's Changed

Image I/O & metadata

• ZIP archive support: HDRView can now open all images within a ZIP archive
• Extracting PNG text chunk metadata, including embedded ASCII‑hex EXIF
  • Bug fix: Fixed incorrect libpng png_get_text usage that led to a crash
• If EXIF orientation is found, the appropriate rotation/flipping is applied to the pixel data on load
• Improved EXR header extraction and general metadata improvements.
• Display original encoded/numerical metadata values on hover
• More info about the image loading libraries is listed in the Build info tab of the About/Help window

Image display & UI

• Added a Relative subtract (signed) to complement the Relative difference (unsigned) error visualization mode
• Added a "Watched Folders" window to add, remove, and list currently watched folders.
• Added command to watch a folder for future changes, without loading existing images
• Added a right-click context menu for each image in File window, including ability to "Reveal in Finder"
• Bug fix: Fixed shader edge sampling that caused a flickering image border.

Build, packaging & CI

• DMG creation in CI workflow now retries up to 3 times before failing (workaround for flaky create-dmg).

Full Changelog: v2.5.3...v2.6.0-beta.1

Released Files

• Pre-built binary archive (.zip) for Microsoft Windows (extract in your desired location, and run HDRView.exe)
• Pre-built dmg installer for Apple Silicon (HDRView-arm64.dmg) or Intel (HDRView-x86_64.dmg) Macs. Make sure to download the appropriate one for your architecture!
  • The binaries are not signed, so you will get an error "'HDRView' Not Opened. Apple could not verify “HDRView 2” is free of malware that may harm your Mac or compromise your privacy." Click "Done" then go to System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll to the bottom, and click "Open Anyway" next to "HDRView was blocked to protect your Mac."