---
obj: application
repo: https://github.com/atanunq/viu
rev: 2024-03-15
---

# viu
A small command-line application to view images from the terminal written in [Rust](../../dev/programming/languages/Rust.md). It is basically the front-end of [`viuer`](https://github.com/atanunq/viuer). It uses either iTerm or Kitty graphics protocol, if supported. If not, lower half blocks (`▄` or `\u2584`) are displayed instead.

Based on the value of `$TERM`, `viuer` decides which protocol to use. For half blocks, `$COLORTERM` is inspected. If it contains either `truecolor` or `24bit`, truecolor (16 million colors) will be used. If not, it will fallback to using only ansi256. A nice explanation can be found in this [gist](https://gist.github.com/XVilka/8346728).

## Features
- Native iTerm and Kitty support
- Animated GIF support
- Accept media through stdin
- Custom dimensions
- Transparency
- Experimental Sixel support (behind the `sixel` feature flag)

## Options
Usage: `viu [OPTIONS] [file]...`

| Option                                 | Description                                                                                                                  |
| -------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `-w, --width <width>`                  | Resize the image to a provided width                                                                                         |
| `-h, --height <height>`                | Resize the image to a provided height                                                                                        |
| `-x <x>`                               | X offset \[default: 0]                                                                                                       |
| `-y <y>`                               | Y offset \[default: 0]                                                                                                       |
| `-a, --absolute-offset`                | Make the x and y offset be relative to the top left terminal corner. If not set, they are relative to the cursor's position. |
| `-r, --recursive`                      | Recurse down directories if passed one                                                                                       |
| `-b, --blocks`                         | Force block output                                                                                                           |
| `-n, --name`                           | Output the name of the file before displaying                                                                                |
| `-t, --transparent`                    | Display transparent images with transparent background                                                                       |
| `-f, --frame-rate <frames-per-second>` | Play the gif at a given frame rate                                                                                           |
| `-1, --once`                           | Loop only once through the gif                                                                                               |
| `-s, --static`                         | Show only the first frame of the gif                                                                                         |