IrfanView has always been more than "just" an image viewer. With its arsenal of plugins and portable build, it is more like a Swiss Army knife for your image toolbox. Version 4.72 ups the ante with some added features.

First up: multithreaded batch conversions. The batch dialog now supports parallel processing, meaning your conversions can tap into multiple CPU cores. Just a heads-up: some legacy plugins might not play nicely, and your RAM usage could spike like it's on caffeine. But hey, experimentation is half the fun, right?

Also new is a super-handy "Restore Last Selection" command, conveniently tucked into the "Edit" menu - ideal for when you deselect something and immediately regret life choices. And because navigating images is serious business, Ctrl + middle-click now lets you zoom. Useful? Absolutely.

Make sure to get the latest build. Because IrfanView keeps getting better one update at a time.

Changes include:

• New option in Batch dialog: Use Multithreading for conversion
• Note 1: Some old/third party PlugIns do NOT support multithreading!
• Note 2: Save format options with a preview do NOT support multithreading!
• Note 3: Multithreading uses (much) more system memory.
• New Edit menu: Restore last selection
• New zoom feature: CTRL + Middle mouse button click: Fit to window and back
• New option in EXIF dialog: Choose tags for the display (in Context menu)
• A confirmation dialog is shown for the wallpaper change menus
• New effect in Image->Effects menu: Stained Glass (thanks to Mathias Westerdahl)
• Add Border effects can work on selections
• New Add Border effects: Broken lines/frame
• New option in Export Tiles dialog: Add extra space to each tile
• New hotkey: CTRL + F4 = remove current file from slideshow list
• New command line option to replace color (like in dialog Replace Color) /replacecolor=(rOld,gOld,bOld,rNew,gNew,bNew,tolerance,transparency)
• New slideshow hotkeys (for timer slideshow):
• CTRL + SHIFT + "," (comma): Reduce timer by 0.5 sec
• CTRL + SHIFT + "." (point): Increase timer by 0.5 sec
• Support for more DNG subformats (CamRAW PlugIn, 64-bit only)
• Loading issues in CADImage PlugIn fixed (thanks to Trend Micro)
• Several PlugIns are changed/updated, please install the newest versions: https://www.irfanview.com/plugins.htm