The best free software solutions for DICOM images
Sometimes it’s useful to be able to view and manipulate medical images such as X-rays, CT or MRI scans on your own PC, laptop or tablet. This is particularly important when preparing teaching files or practising for your radiology exams. Finding a good free DICOM viewer can be tricky, especially as there are so many options out there. We have tested may different applications (so you don’t have to) and the following are our best picks. We grouped them according to the operating system used because unfortunately there aren’t any free viewers that run on both!
What is DICOM viewing software
Software for Apple MacOS
Radiology Cafe's top pick:
Main features
- Display large range of DICOM files (including multi-frame, enhanced, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MIME Encapsulation, SR, PR, KOS, AU, RT and ECG)
- Viewer for common image formats (TIFF, BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, RAS, HDR, and PNM)
- Image manipulation (pan, zoom, windowing, presets, rotation, flip, scroll, crosshair, filtering…)
- Layouts for comparing series or studies and displaying cross-lines
- Advanced series synchronization options
- Support of Modality LUTs, VOI LUTs, and Presentation LUTs (even non-linear)
- Support of several screens with different calibration, support of HiDPI (High Dots Per Inch) monitors, full-screen mode
- Multiplanar reconstructions and MIP
- Display Structured Reports
- Display and search all DICOM attributes
- Measurement and annotation tools
- Region statistics of pixels (Min, Max, Mean, StDev, Skewness, Kurtosis, Entropy)
- Histogram of modality values
- SUV measurement
- DICOM Send (storeSCU and STOW-RS)
- DICOM Query/Retrieve (C-GET, C-MOVE and WADO-URI) and DICOMWeb (QUERY and RETRIEVE)
- Save measurements and annotations in DICOM PR or XML file
- Import CD/DVD and local DICOM files
- Export DICOM with several options (DICOMDIR, ZIP, ISO image file with Weasis, generate new UIDs, transcoding, TIFF, JPEG, PNG…)
- Magnifier glass with advanced display options
- Native and DICOM printing
- Dicomizer module to convert standard images into DICOM
- more feature details…
System requirements
- OS: Mac OS
- Architecture: X86 64-bit
WEASIS should run on any Mac brought within the last 3 years.
Why we like it
We like WEASIS as it is powerful, opensource and cross-platform DICOM viewer. It is easy to use with many functionalities and can provide web-based access to radiological images.
Visit the WEASIS website to download the WEASIS DICOM viewer!
Radiology Cafe's highly recommended:
Main features
- Intuitive user interface and customisable toolbars
- 64-bit
- Advanced manipulation and measurement tools
- Multi-planar reconstruction (MPR) with thick slab (Mean, MIP, Volume Rendering)
- 3D MIP, 3D Volume rendering, 3D surface rendering
- Image fusion for PET-CT & SPECT-CT
- Reads and displays all DICOM files
- DICOM Editing
- OsiriX migration assistant
- Separate iOS app to view DICOM on mobile devices (requires iOS 13.0 or later)
- more feature details…
System requirements
- OS: MacOS 10.11 or later
Horos should run on any Mac brought within the last 3 years.
Why we like it
Horos is easy to use and as a full 64-bit medical image viewer for Mac there is a huge amount of functionality contained within. We believe Horos is a great free DICOM viewer for Apple MacOS. Interestingly, Horos is named after the Egyptian god Horus, son of Osiris and Isis. Horos is a based on OsiriX (a similar paid-for medical viewer), named after Osiris. The developers obviously appreciate Egyptian and greek mythology!
Visit the Horos website to download the Horos DICOM viewer!
OsiriX-UK user Group
- The OsiriX UK user group are a group of Radiologists in the UK who are keen on digital radiology education and use OsiriX/Horos for teaching. The aim is to achieve a consensus on how cases are collected, organised and used for teaching and thereby achieve a collective common ground/platform/standard for radiology education. The resources on this site are amazing so we recommend you visit it if using Horos.
- http://www.osirix-ukusergroup.org
Radiopaedia plugin for Horos
- There is also a useful Mac plug-in for Horos that allows you to quickly upload selected studies / images to Radiopaedia, a free educational radiology resource with one of the web’s largest collections of radiology cases and reference articles.
- User guide and installation guide: https://radiopaedia.org/articles/uploaders
Software for Microsoft Windows
Radiology Cafe's top pick:
Main features
- Display large range of DICOM files (including multi-frame, enhanced, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MIME Encapsulation, SR, PR, KOS, AU, RT and ECG)
- Viewer for common image formats (TIFF, BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, RAS, HDR, and PNM)
- Image manipulation (pan, zoom, windowing, presets, rotation, flip, scroll, crosshair, filtering…)
- Layouts for comparing series or studies and displaying cross-lines
- Advanced series synchronization options
- Support of Modality LUTs, VOI LUTs, and Presentation LUTs (even non-linear)
- Support of several screens with different calibration, support of HiDPI (High Dots Per Inch) monitors, full-screen mode
- Multiplanar reconstructions and MIP
- Display Structured Reports
- Display and search all DICOM attributes
- Measurement and annotation tools
- Region statistics of pixels (Min, Max, Mean, StDev, Skewness, Kurtosis, Entropy)
- Histogram of modality values
- SUV measurement
- DICOM Send (storeSCU and STOW-RS)
- DICOM Query/Retrieve (C-GET, C-MOVE and WADO-URI) and DICOMWeb (QUERY and RETRIEVE)
- Save measurements and annotations in DICOM PR or XML file
- Import CD/DVD and local DICOM files
- Export DICOM with several options (DICOMDIR, ZIP, ISO image file with Weasis, generate new UIDs, transcoding, TIFF, JPEG, PNG…)
- Magnifier glass with advanced display options
- Native and DICOM printing
- Dicomizer module to convert standard images into DICOM
- more feature details…
System requirements
- OS: Windows 10/11
- Architecture: X86 64-bit
Why we like it
We like WEASIS as it is powerful, opensource and cross-platform DICOM viewer. It is easy to use with many functionalities and can provide web-based access to radiological images.
Visit the WEASIS website to download the WEASIS DICOM viewer!
Radiology Cafe's one to watch:
Main features
- Simple and intuitive interface with full-screen mode
- Standard manipulation and measurement tools
- Browse several series concurrently in multiple windows with automatic synchronization between series and cross reference lines in series with different image planes
- Display of dynamic sequences/series (CINE)
- Multiplanar Reconstruction (MPR)
- Fusion of series with different modalities (e.g. PET-CT) or different protocols (e.g. MRI T1/T2–DWI)
- Huge range of DICOM file types supported and support for DICOM overlays
- Export DICOM files to JPEG, BMP and WMV.
- Copy and paste directly into Word or PowerPoint documents
- Read DICOM studies from CD/DVD/BluRay disks and local or network folders
- Asynchronous reading (browse images while they are being opened)
- Multi-core and multi-processor support, and advanced memory management system which facilitates concurrent opening of studies with thousands of images
- Multi-touch support for touchscreen devices
- Universal installer (32 and 64-bit)
- Multilingual interface (>20 languages)
- Multi-touch support
- more feature details…
System requirements
- OS: Windows 10/8.1/8/7
- Processor: Intel or AMD 1GHz or faster (3GHz or faster with four or more cores recommended)
- Memory: 1GB of RAM (4GB+ recommended)
- Hard Disk Space: 10MB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required for image caching
- Screen Resolution: 1024×768 minimum
Why we like it
We like RadiAnt as it is free, simple, easy to use and very fast. The one negative aspect is the slow start-up time unless you pay to upgrade. The application is small and can even run directly from a USB stick which can be handy. This basic DICOM viever does all the things you would expect and is perfect for revision purposes for radiology trainees.
Visit the RadiAnt website to download the RadiAnt DICOM viewer!
Online Software
Radiology Cafe's top pick:
Main features
- Drag and drop upload, store and view DICOM imaging
- Multi-platform (Windows, MacOS, Linux, IOS, and Android) support and mobile friendly
- One click anonymization of DICOM images
- Annotate, share, post and embed images in a simple viewer
- Very simple and easy to use (no VPN, retrieving archived images etc)
- Download the anonymised full quality DICOM files at any time
- Cross-reference lines for comparable imaging
- Standard measurement tools
- Enter custom descriptions to cases
- Generate links to share studies with anyone
- more feature details…
System requirements
- The following operating systems and internet browsers are supported:
- Windows: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox
- Mac OS: Apple Safari, Google Chrome
- Linux: Google Chrome
- iOS: Apple Safari, Google Chrome
- Android: Google Chrome
Why we like it
We really like the simplicity of Pacsbin. It is fantastic for teaching as it is so quick and easy to use. All images are automatically anonymized when uploaded. You can share your cases or groups of cases to anyone via a link without them having to login. It is free for up to 20 cases, easy to use and fast. As it is cloud based, you can access it on pretty much any device. Anyone can use the service.
Visit the Pacsbin website to use the Pacsbin Radiology viewer!
Radiology Cafe's one to watch:
Main features
- Unlimited cloud storage space to store medical images
- Multi-platform (Windows, MacOS, Linux, IOS, and Android) Support
- Upload, store and view DICOM files
- Fast Cloud DICOM imaging loading
- Automatic synchronization of compatible series with showing cross-reference lines
- Standard measurement tools
- Multiplanar Reconstruction (MPR)
- View DICOM metadata
- Share, tag and comment on cases with other professionals
- Enter custom descriptions to cases
- WebGL browser rendering
- PACS integration using the Collective Minds® Proxy
- One click case upload using the Collective Minds® Proxy
- more feature details…
System requirements
- The following operating systems and internet browsers are supported:
- Windows: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox
- Mac OS: Apple Safari, Google Chrome
- Linux: Google Chrome
- iOS: Apple Safari, Google Chrome
- Android: Google Chrome
Why we like it
We like Collective Minds Radiology as it is a bit different to other sites. It’s a radiology collaboration service and centered around sharing cases with other professionals for expertise, advice or teaching. It is free with unlimited storage, easy to use and fast. As it is cloud based, you can access it on pretty much any device. The service is restricted to medical professionals and sharing can be applied to specific groups within the website e.g. your hospital community. The ability for users to comment and tag images is particularly unique and great for learning and teaching.
Visit the Collective Minds website to use the Collective Minds Radiology viewer!
So there you have it!
Radiology Cafe’s ‘top pick’ and ‘one to watch’ free DICOM viewers for Microsoft Windows, Apple MacOS and online. Please send us your suggestions for other great free DICOM viewers!