DICOM viewer for Windows
Open DICOM files on Windows without installing software. Works in Edge and Chrome on Windows 10 and 11. No admin rights, nothing uploaded.
What it does
Windows will not preview a .dcm file. Double-clicking gets you the "How do you want to open this file?" dialog and no useful suggestion, because DICOM support simply is not part of the operating system.
The viewer on this page runs in Edge or Chrome on Windows 10 and 11. It needs no installer and no administrator rights, which matters on a work laptop where you cannot install anything.
No installer and no admin rights
Useful on locked-down work machines where installing software is not an option.
Reads the disc the hospital gave you
Including files with no extension and the ZIP from a patient portal.
Full window and contrast control
The same adjustments a desktop viewer offers.
Nothing left behind
No installed program, no registry entries, no files on a server.
How to use it
Find the files
On a CD they are usually under a DICOM or IMAGES folder.
Open this page in Edge or Chrome
Any recent version works.
Select or drag the files
You can add a whole folder or the downloaded ZIP.
View, adjust and export
Save a PNG of any image you need.
When people use it
The autorun viewer on the CD will not start
Modern Windows blocks autorun, and the bundled software is often years out of date.
You cannot install software at work
A browser is already approved on the machine.
You just need one image
Faster than installing a full imaging suite for a single slice.
Supported files
- Uncompressed DICOM (implicit and explicit VR, little and big endian)
- RLE lossless compression
- JPEG baseline and extended, decoded by your browser
- Files with a .dcm extension, and DICOM files with no extension at all
- ZIP archives containing a whole study or several series
Limitations
- JPEG Lossless, JPEG-LS, JPEG 2000 and deflated transfer syntaxes are not decoded — they need heavy codecs we deliberately do not ship. You will get a clear message instead of a blank screen.
- This is a technical tool. It does not read your scan, does not look for findings and does not produce any diagnosis.
- Very large studies of several hundred megabytes may be slow, because all the work happens on your own machine.
Privacy and security
Processed in your browser — nothing is uploaded
Your files never leave your device. Everything runs inside your browser using JavaScript — there is no upload, no server copy and no queue.
Because nothing is uploaded, there is nothing for us to store or delete. Closing the tab removes the files from memory.
We never put file names, patient identifiers or metadata values into analytics or logs. Product events only count how many files were opened.
If you later choose the paid AI explanation, that is a separate, explicit step: you decide which files to attach and nothing is sent until you confirm.
Frequently asked questions
How do I open a DICOM file on Windows 11?
Windows cannot do it on its own. Either install a DICOM viewer, or drag the file onto this page and view it in your browser.
Do I need administrator rights?
No. Nothing is installed, so no elevated permissions are required.
Why does the viewer on the hospital CD not run?
Autorun is disabled by default on modern Windows, and older bundled viewers frequently fail on Windows 10 and 11.
Are there desktop alternatives?
Yes — RadiAnt, Weasis and MicroDicom are all well-known Windows DICOM viewers if you would rather install one.