Like @rich2005, for me it's XnView MP
20+ years with it, and it never let me down.
It is not a Windows specific, and only Windows software.
When I was on Windows, it was there, when I ditched windows for mac, it was there, when I ditched mac for Linux, it is still there for us Linux users.
It read .xcf (.kra as well)! For the thumbnail to go fast it seems to read the bottom layer, but when you click once on it it seems to read the "visible" (see screenshot) for the preview tab (might take a bit of time if you have hundreds of layers, but it might do it)
Pierre Gougelet (the owner/programmer) has always and continue to listening its users very closely and he is very re-active if a problem occurs.
Also XnView is compatible with G'MIC (yep you can install G'MIC for XnView), the UI is also incredibly customizable, you can put any tabs anywhere, literally.
When browsing my .xcf, I just double click on them and they directly open in GIMP (setup for this is extremely easy)
OK, yeah... you might be right to think that I'm an "aficionado" of XnView...
20+ years with it, and it never let me down.
It is not a Windows specific, and only Windows software.
When I was on Windows, it was there, when I ditched windows for mac, it was there, when I ditched mac for Linux, it is still there for us Linux users.
It read .xcf (.kra as well)! For the thumbnail to go fast it seems to read the bottom layer, but when you click once on it it seems to read the "visible" (see screenshot) for the preview tab (might take a bit of time if you have hundreds of layers, but it might do it)
Pierre Gougelet (the owner/programmer) has always and continue to listening its users very closely and he is very re-active if a problem occurs.
Also XnView is compatible with G'MIC (yep you can install G'MIC for XnView), the UI is also incredibly customizable, you can put any tabs anywhere, literally.
When browsing my .xcf, I just double click on them and they directly open in GIMP (setup for this is extremely easy)
OK, yeah... you might be right to think that I'm an "aficionado" of XnView...