QuickLook is an open-source Windows version of the OS X “Quick Look” file preview feature.

There’s no installation required. Run QuickLook, select a file in Explorer, hit the space bar and a window appears with a preview.

The program supports images, videos, archives, PDFs, markdown files, HTML documents, text files, Office documents if you have Office installed, and more.

Once the preview window is visible, you’re able to use the up, down, left and right arrows to preview another file, or hold down Ctrl and spin the mouse wheel to zoom in and out.

A plugin interface enables other developers to expand QuickLooks viewing capabilities.

Preview videos, images, PDFs, text files and more

QuickLook is very new, and has plenty of bugs and issues. It previewed most of our images perfectly, but one GIF made it crash, and in another case, just dragging the window made it cycle through other images.

Still, if you’re interested in the concept, QuickLook could be worth a few minutes of your time. Right now updates are appearing every few days with bug fixes and new features, and as the program doesn’t require installation, you can try it without any risk.

QuickLook is available for Windows 7 and later.