What is a clipboard image viewer?

A clipboard image viewer shows the image that is on your clipboard right now. When you take a screenshot, or copy a picture from a web page, an image editor, or a chat, the image goes to the clipboard, but there is no easy way to look at it before you paste it somewhere. A clipboard image viewer lets you check what you copied, see how big it is, and save it as a file.

Tool description

This tool reads the image from your clipboard and shows it on the page, with its type, width and height in pixels, and file size. You can zoom in to check the details of a screenshot and download the image as a file.

Features

  • Pastes the image with Ctrl+V (⌘V on a Mac) anywhere on the page, or with the Paste from clipboard button
  • Shows screenshots and copied images from browsers, image editors, and chat apps
  • Zooms in and out, and fits large images to the view
  • Shows transparent parts on a checkerboard
  • Shows the image type, width, height, and file size
  • Saves the image as a file with the matching extension, such as PNG
  • Runs in your browser, so the image never leaves your device

How it works

The Paste from clipboard button reads the clipboard with the browser's Clipboard API. The first time you use it, the browser asks whether this site may see what you copied. Firefox and Safari show a small Paste button that you click to allow it. Pressing Ctrl+V on the page pastes the image without any prompt.

The tool shows the image data exactly as the clipboard holds it. Large images are shrunk to fit the view, and small ones are shown at their actual size. Zoomed in above 100%, every pixel is drawn as a sharp square.

Notes

  • Browsers usually put copied images on the clipboard as PNG, even when the original was a JPEG, so the type and file size can differ from the original file.
  • Pasting into a text field on the page pastes text as usual and does not change the image.
  • When the clipboard holds no image, such as after copying text, the tool says so and clears the view.