Directory Opus 9 Logo

Plugins & Media Capabilities

of Directory Opus

See which formats Opus can handle out-of-the-box and which add-ons you can download to make it do more.

Directory Opus is a file manager for Windows. Read my guide, Getting to know Directory Opus, for an introduction.
* Filter
Opus Versions:
Bundled:
x64:
Cost:
Unicode:
Streams:
USB:
Translated:
Columns:
* The List
N P F/N Alt D W SS Au C B 9 8 6 x U S U T C F

< Special > These hook into other installed software to handle multiple formats and, as such, do not fit into one of the other categories.
Name Purpose Formats / Notes Alternative / Related Links Author Cost Bundled Opus Versions x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated Source Code Files
ActiveX + Preview + Office + Web View Various, including Microsoft Office, Open Office, PDF, HTML, Flash, Fonts, AutoCAD, DjVu, Contacts, E-Mail. (Hooks into MS Office, Open Office, Adobe Reader, Foxit, Internet Explorer, Flash Player, preview handlers, etc. Works equally with 32-bit and 64-bit components.) forum web shots Leo Davidson - Bundled 9 ~ - x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated - docs.dll, docsf(32|64).ocx, docsvw(32|64).exe
MultiView View Various; hooks into 3rd party viewer DLLs if available. 64-bit version requires 64-bit DLLs. - forum - - GP Software - Bundled 9 8 6 x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated - multiview.dll
Shell thumbnail extraction Thumb Any thumbnails that Explorer can show Opus should show as well. e.g. PDF files, Office Documents, etc. - - - GP Software - Built-In 9 8 6 x64 Unicode - USB Translated - Built-In

< Documents >
Name Purpose Formats / Notes Alternative / Related Links Author Cost Bundled Opus Versions x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated Source Code Files
Text View Text files. (And any other file as hex data.) Source Code Viewer - - shot GP Software - Bundled 9 8 6 x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated - text.dll
Text-File Thumbnails Thumb Text files. forum web shot Leo Davidson - Bundled 9 8 - x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated C++ Source textthumb.dll
NFO View NFO text files (with proper line-drawing characters) Text, Source Code Viewer forum web shot Leo Davidson - - 9 8 6 x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated C++ Source nfo.dll
CSV-Viewer View CSV files (as a grid of text/data) CSV Chart, Text forum - shot Dinkelhopper - - 9 - - - - - - - - CSVViewer.dll
CSV Chart View, Convert CSV files (as a 2D plot of numeric data) CSV-Viewer, Text forum web shot ScreenSoft / Thomas Schwobe - - 9 8 6 - - - - - - csv.dll
RTF-Viewer View, Edit RTF (rich-text) documents. ActiveX (views RTF with Vista or MSOffice/OpenOffice) forum - shot Dinkelhopper - - 9 - - - - - - - - RTFViewer.dll
RVF File View RVF (RichView Format) documents. forum web shot Sergey Tkachenko - - 9 8 6 - - - - - Delphi Source RVView.dll
Postscript-Viewer View .PS and .EPS Postscript documents. (Hooks into and requires Ghostscript.) forum - - Dinkelhopper - - 9 - - - - - - - - PSViewer.dll
Source Code Viewer View, Edit Text files. Allows you to edit in the viewer pane. Shows source code files with syntax coloring. Note: When installed it will break the ability to display Unicode text files such as .reg registry settings. (Hooks into freeware Scintilla Edit.) Text forum web shot James Dickson - - 9 8 6 - - Streams - - SourceCodeViewer.dll (May also include SciLexer.dll, Scintilla.dll)
EXE/DLL Metadata Metadata Show program version numbers, company names, etc. in file displays. - - shot GP Software - Built-In 9 8 6 x64 Unicode - USB Translated - Built-In
PDF-ActiveX View [Obsolete] PDF files (via Adobe Reader etc.) ActiveX (views PDFs via Adobe Reader, Foxit, etc.) - - - GP Software - - A 8 6 - - Streams - Translated - pdfactivex.dll
PDF-Text View [Obsolete] PDF files (converted to plain text) ActiveX (views PDFs via Adobe Reader, Foxit, etc.) - - - GP Software - - A 8 6 - - Streams - Translated - pdftext.dll

< Audio >
Name Purpose Formats / Notes Alternative / Related Links Author Cost Bundled Opus Versions x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated Source Code Files
MP3 Metadata, Thumb (CD Covers) MP3 audio. - - shot GP Software - Built-In 9 ~ ~ x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated - Built-In
MP3 Format Sound File Metadata Edit MP3 audio. ActiveX (plays MP3s via Windows Media Player) forum - shot GP Software - Bundled 9 8 6 x64 Unicode - USB Translated - mp3.dll
WMA Metadata WMA audio. ActiveX (plays WMAs via Windows Media Player) - - shot GP Software - Built-In 9 8 6 x64 Unicode - USB Translated - Built-In (uses wma.dll)
WMA Thumbnail Plugin Thumb (CD Covers) WMA audio. - - shot GP Software - Bundled 9 - - x64 Unicode - USB - - wma.dll
WAV Audio player WAV audio. ActiveX (plays WAVs via Windows Media Player) - - shot GP Software - Built-In 9 8 6 x64 Unicode N/A USB Translated - Built-In
Audio Tags Metadata, Thumb (CD Covers) Ogg Vorbis and FLAC audio. Ogg Vorbis & FLAC (before Opus 9) forum web shot Leo Davidson - Bundled 9 A - x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated C++ Source audiotags.dll
Ogg Vorbis & FLAC Metadata [Obsolete] Ogg Vorbis and FLAC audio. Audio Tags (from Opus 9) forum web shot Leo Davidson - - A 8 - - - Streams - - C++ Source ogg.dll
dMC Tags Metadata Various audio formats (including iTunes, APE, MPC); hooks into dBpoweramp (3rd party, commercial tool). Audio Tags (from Opus 9), Ogg Vorbis & FLAC (before Opus 9) forum web shots Leo Davidson - - 9 - - - Unicode - Sort-Of - - dmctags.dll

< Images / Videos / Fonts >
Name Purpose Formats / Notes Alternative / Related Links Author Cost Bundled Opus Versions x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated Source Code Files
Aura/Mirage View, Thumb, Convert DEEP format brushes (.dip); Aura/Mirage project files (.aur, .mir). - web shot YoungMonkey / Dhomas Trenn US$20 - 9 8 6 ? ? ? ? ? - Unknown
BMP View, Thumb, Convert Windows bitmaps. (Output format as well.) - - - GP Software - Built-In 9 8 6 x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated - Built-In
DirectDraw Surface (DDS) View, Thumb, Convert DirectDraw Surfaces (DDS). DXT1, DXT3, DXT5, RGB(A) texture formats. (Alpha channels currently ignored.) forum - - Heiko Achilles - - 9 8 6 x64 - - - - - dds.dll
EXIF Metadata Metadata Optional automatic rotation by EXIF tags. Display of EXIF metadata such as shooting time and focal length. Use of EXIF metadata when moving/renaming files. - - shot GP Software - Built-In 9 8 ~ x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated - Built-In
Font-Viewer View Font files (Note: On Vista and above, the bundled ActiveX plugin will view fonts.) ActiveX (views fonts on Vista and above) forum - shot Dinkelhopper - - 9 - - - - - - - - FontViewer.dll
Font thumbnails Thumb, Convert Fonts (.fon, .ttf, .ttc, .otf.) - - shot GP Software - Built-In 9 8 6 x64 Unicode - USB Translated - Built-In
GIF View, Thumb, Convert GIF images (Output format as well.) (Including alpha channel.) (Built-in GIF support normally overridden by the Animated GIF plugin.) Animated GIF - - - GP Software - Built-In 9 8 6 x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated - Built-In
Animated GIF View, Thumb, Convert Animated GIF images. (Supports transparency. Can "flatten" animations into a single large image.) built-in GIF forum web shot Leo Davidson - Bundled 9 8 6 x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated C++ Source gifanim.dll
Icons and Cursors View, Thumb, Convert Windows icons/cursors. - - shot GP Software - Built-In 9 8 ~ x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated - Built-In
IFF ILBM and .Info Icons View, Thumb, Convert Image and icon formats used on the Amiga. Maya IFF - - - GP Software - Built-In 9 8 6 x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated - Built-In
JPEG View, Thumb, Convert JPEG images. (Output format as well.) (Lossless JPEG rotation supported where possible.) - - - GP Software - Built-In 9 8 6 x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated - Built-In
JPEG 2000 View, Thumb, Convert JPEG 2000 Images: JP2, J2K, J2C, etc. JP2, TGA, PNM, RAS, DCRaw (before Opus 9) forum web shot Leo Davidson - Bundled 9 A - x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated C++ Source j2k.dll, j2k-codec_(08|16).lld
JP2, TGA, PNM, RAS, DCRaw View, Thumb, Convert [Obsolete] JPEG 2000, TGA, PNM, Rasterfile, Raw camera images. Raw Digital Camera, JPEG 2000 and Targa (from Opus 9) forum web shot Leo Davidson - - A 8 - - - Streams - - C++ Source jp2raw.dll
Maya IFF View, Thumb, Convert Maya IFF images. (Including alpha.) Built-in IFF ILBM forum web shot Leo Davidson - - 9 - - x64 Unicode Streams USB - C++ Source maya_iff.dll
Movie View, Thumb Videos (anything you have a codec for). 64-bit version requires 64-bit codecs. ActiveX - - shot GP Software - Bundled 9 8 - x64 Unicode - USB Translated - movie.dll
PaintShop Pro (PSP) View, Thumb, Convert Paintshop Pro images. - - - GP Software - Built-In 9 8 - x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated - Built-In
PCX (Zsoft Paintbrush) View, Thumb, Convert PCX images. - - - GP Software - Bundled 9 8 6 x64 Unicode Streams USB - - pcx.dll
Photoshop (PSD) View, Thumb, Convert Photoshop images (must be saved with a flat copy, as is the default) - - shot GP Software - Built-In 9 8 6 x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated - Built-In
PNG View, Thumb, Convert PNG images. (Output format as well.) (Including alpha channel.) - - shot GP Software - Built-In 9 8 ~ x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated - Built-In
Raw Digital Camera View, Thumb, Convert Raw camera images: DNG, CRW, CR2, RAW, NEF, KDC, etc. JP2, TGA, PNM, RAS, DCRaw (before Opus 9) forum web shots Leo Davidson - Bundled 9 A - x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated C++ Source dcrawrap.dll
TGA (Truevision TARGA) View, Thumb, Convert TGA images. (Including alpha and pre-multiplied alpha.) JP2, TGA, PNM, RAS, DCRaw (before Opus 9) - - - GP Software - Bundled 9 8 6 x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated C++ Source targa.dll
SGI Image View, Thumb, Convert SGI images (.rgb, .rgba, .int, inta, .sgi) (Including alpha.) forum - - joctee - - 9 8 6 x64 - - - - - rgb.dll
Sony Mavica 411 Thumb .411 YCbCr format images from Sony Mavica camera. web shot YoungMonkey / Dhomas Trenn ? - 9 8 6 ? ? ? ? ? - Unknown
SWF Helper Thumb Flash animations. (Note: This is just for thumbnails. The ActiveX viewer which comes with Opus should mean you can already play Flash files within the viewer pane.) Warning: Seems to run very slowly, and even crash, when it tries to process some Flash files. ActiveX (views SWF files) forum web shot Alexander Mazuruk - - 9 8 6 - - - - - - swfh.dll
TIFF View, Thumb, Convert TIFF images. - - - GP Software - Built-In 9 8 6 x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated - Built-In
Video Toaster View, Thumb, Convert RTV1 and RTV2 (.rtv) multimedia files. - web shot YoungMonkey / Dhomas Trenn US$20 - 9 8 6 ? ? ? ? ? - Unknown
Visible Human View, Thumb, Convert Images from the Visible Human Project (.fro, .fro, .pd, .t1, .raw) - web shot YoungMonkey / Dhomas Trenn US$20 - 9 8 6 ? ? ? ? ? - Unknown
Windows Clipboard View, Thumb, Convert .CLP (Images only; created via the Windows ClipBook/Clipboard Viewer) - - - GP Software - Built-In 9 8 6 x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated - Built-In
Windows Metafile View, Thumb, Convert .WMF and .EMF images (typically used for clipart) - - shot GP Software - Built-In 9 8 6 x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated - Built-In

< Archives & FTP >
Name Purpose Formats / Notes Alternative / Related Links Author Cost Bundled Opus Versions x64 Unicode Streams USB Translated Source Code Files
RAR Virtual File-System Open RAR archives as if they were folders (read-only) forum - shot GP Software - Bundled 9 8 - x64 Unicode N/A USB Translated C++ Source rar.dll, unrar.dll
FTP Virtual File-System Open FTP sites as if they were folders (read/write) - - shot GP Software - Built-In 9 8 6 x64 Yes (if site supports) N/A USB Translated - Built-In
SFTP/SSH, FTPS Virtual File-System Open SFTP/SSH, FTPS sites as if they were folders (read/write) - - shot GP Software AU$10 Built-In 9 8 - x64 Yes (if site supports) N/A USB Translated - Built-In
Zip Virtual File-System Open Zip archives as if they were folders (read/write) - - shot GP Software - Built-In 9 8 6 x64 Yes (but not inside zips, yet...) N/A USB Translated - Built-In
* Notes

Column meanings:

  • Opus Versions: Some plugins/features require newer versions of Opus. Some plugins became obsolete with newer versions of Opus. Where '~' appears in version column it means the plugin/feature was in that version but was significantly improved in later versions. Where 'A' appears it means an alternative plugin exists for that version which performs a similar purpose.

  • Bundled: Support for many formats is built into Opus or provided by plugins which come bundled with Opus. Support for other formats is provided by plugins which you can download separately. Filter on the "bundled" column if you're only interested in what you get out-of-the-box or what you can add-on separately. Turn on the Author column if you want to see which plugins are made by third-party authors.

  • x64: The x64 column indicates the plugins/features supported on the 64-bit version of Opus. Everything is supported on the 32-bit version but some plugins do not have 64-bit versions.

  • Cost: Almost all of the plugins/features are free (assuming you have paid for Opus itself) but a handful of them cost extra at the plugin/feature author's discretion.

  • Unicode: Plugins which support Unicode are able to handle file paths with "international" characters. Lack of Unicode support is usually not a problem as Opus will attempt to pass those plugins the "short" version of the file path.

  • Streams: Plugins which support Steams are able to handle files within archives (Zip, RAR) and on FTP sites. That is, you can view a file from within an archive or FTP site without having to extract/download it first, if the plugin supports it.

  • USB: The USB column indicates which plugins are safe for export to a portable USB copy of Opus. Plugins which flag themselves as USB-safe must not modify the registry and must store their configuration (if any) in a specific way that allows it to travel with USB copies. When you do a USB export you will be asked which USB-safe plugins you wish to include. You can manually copy "unsafe" plugins after doing a USB export if you know they are safe or don't care that they may modify the registry.

  • Translated: Opus itself is translated into several different languages and the same is true for some of its plugins. Many plugins do not display any text beyond their name and description in the plugin list, so lack of translation is usually not a big deal. Most of the plugins that have complicated GUIs have been translated.

* Purposes

These things may appear in the Purpose colum:

  • View: Lets you to view files in the preview pane and standalone viewer windows.

  • Thumb: Generates small images for display in Thumbnails and Tiles modes.

  • Convert: Enables conversion from the format(s) it handles to BMP, GIF, JPEG or PNG.

  • Edit: Allows you to edit files in the preview pane (e.g. using an embedded text editor).

  • Metadata: Extracts data from files for display in Opus columns and tooltips. This data can also be used when renaming; for example, you can insert the time a picture was taken, or the title of a piece of music, into filenames.

  • Metadata Edit: Allows you to view and modify metadata in the preview pane.

  • Virtual File-System: Lets you browse things like archives and FTP sites as if they were normal directories.