wpg

[goldman]

It seems Irfan does not support wpg (corel word perfect) files. Can someone confirm please and if there is a reason not to do so I would also be interested.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

It is hard to find any program that supports the format outside of CorelDraw or Wordperfect, and hard to find a good reason to. Anyone with WPG clipart will also have the application for viewing them.

[J.A.G.]

Do you have WordPerfect? If so, you have (or can inststall) Corel Presentations as well, which will open and edit wpg's and save them in quite a number of formats (wpg, bmp, jpg, png, ...).

[goldman]

With respect I dont follow your logic at all. Firstly, the fact that there is no competitive product to Irfanview that supports the format is surely a good reason for Irfanview to support the format rather than a reason not to. Secondly, the reason for Irfanview I tbought was to be a universal graphics viewer. So its inclusion I would have thought was reason enough. Windows comes with Paint so is that a reason why Irfanview should not view jpg images? Nevertheless, thanks for your answer.

[WellOiledPC]

With respect I dont follow your logic at all. Firstly, the fact that there is no competitive product to Irfanview that supports the format is surely a good reason for Irfanview to support the format rather than a reason not to. Secondly, the reason for Irfanview I tbought was to be a universal graphics viewer. So its inclusion I would have thought was reason enough. Windows comes with Paint so is that a reason why Irfanview should not view jpg images? Nevertheless, thanks for your answer.

Welcome to the Forum, goldman. I do know that IrfanView intends to be a tiny download, lightning-quick to run and a delight to use. What I don't know is whether its author, Irfan, intends it to be a viewer for all graphic formats...

I'm sure you know the story of the two shoe salesmen who were sent deep into Africa for assessing the shoe market there... The first one returns and submits his report, stating that nobody wears shoes in Africa, therefore it would be uneconomical to open offices in Africa. The second one returns all excited and submits his report, which says that the market potential is excellent, since people there went about barefoot! That is an old story really and I quote it to illustrate that there are two sides to any point of view!

Your point of view is that since the competition does not let you view the wpg format, it would be a good thing for IrfanView to have. Bhikkhu and J.A.G. are voicing the opinion that since wpg is so rarely used, what is the point anyways?

There are over 550 file formats (I have put up a list of them at http://www.welloiledpc.com/imagefileformats.htm, with a comment on their popularity as well), so does one want to support all of them?

[J.A.G.]

To correct he above: I did NOT say, nor do I think, that IV should not support wpg or any less used file format because there is no point in it.

I suspect a practical reason why wpg and some other formats are left out: they are vector images, not bitmaps, and Irfan would probably have to start from scratch to include this type.

See for instance

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/aboutgraphics/a/bitmapvector_2.htm

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

XnView doesn't support WPG either. The problem is its not a bitmap format, but a mixed vector and bitmap format like WMF, and it is proprietary — not an open or standard format. That means you have to pay license fees, or do a lot of work to write your own graphics filters.

PagePlus claims to support it for import via the LeadTools graphics library, but almost no WPG files will open in PagePlus — only those that are bitmaps.

When converting vector to bitmap, you really need an option to set the resolution on import.

[MItaly]

XnView doesn't support WPG either. The problem is its not a bitmap format, but a mixed vector and bitmap format like WMF, and it is proprietary — not an open or standard format. That means you have to pay license fees, or do a lot of work to write your own graphics filters.

I too thought this, but atcually turns out that there's a free library to parse wpg files. I had a quick look at that library, and with it it shouldn't be much difficult to write a wpg import plugin.
---Pre-emptive reply---
No, I'm not going to do it.

[Mij]

There is also listed on that link that MItaly posted a program called Perfectspot that claims to convert WPG files to PDF and rasterize WPG pictures to PNG, JPEG or BMP.

[Sam_Zen]

Nice list, WellOiledPC !
But ".hr - TRS-80 Graphic" : Average ?? Are there still people out there running NewDos ?

[matera]

LOL I bet there are still people out there running almost enything that ever was. But I'm content to let them do their own worrying.

If there were a common standard for vector graphics, better support would be worthwhile -- and possible. But all those proprietary formats exist because the owners of the software don't want anyone to be able to use something else. Sad, but that's how it is.

[WellOiledPC]

Nice list, WellOiledPC !
But ".hr - TRS-80 Graphic" : Average ?? Are there still people out there running NewDos ?

Thanks, Sam. Believe me, comments on the popularity of image file formats is tricky and it will be argued about...

But maybe one of these days when I'm feeling less lazy, I'll go change it to 'Rare'!

And I totally agree with you, matera. Look at Apple and their proprietary format for everything, hardware and software! Oh yes the Mac now uses Intel processors and runs Windows too, but their market share continues at about 7%, even after all these years... And this is despite the numerous good things about the Mac...

[goldman]

Average

Welcome to the Forum, goldman. .......
There are over 550 file formats (I have put up a list of them at http://www.welloiledpc.com/imagefileformats.htm, with a comment on their popularity as well), so does one want to support all of them?

Thank you WellOiled. No I dont think one needs to support all formats, but wpg as you know is the format used by Corel Wordperfect and that is still a popular alternative to Word. Even from your list it is classified as "average" which is middle of the road as more popular than the "rare" and "uncommon" formats.

[goldman]

[QUOTE=J.A.G.;27063]To correct he above: I did NOT say, nor do I think, that IV should not support wpg or any less used file format because there is no point in it.

.

My first response was not directed at you, so I was not saying that you said that IV should not support wpg. My remarks were addressed to the msg before yours from the moderator.

I do have WP but no I do not have corel presenations. However, it is not that I lack a program to open and convert wpg files, but rather I lack a program like ifanview which will quickly allow me to view files.

Moreover,converting images to say jpg would be pointless, because any non wpg files imported into wp are then converted by WP down to embedded wpg.

[J.A.G.]

Well, in your earlier posts you didn't say what you wanted to do (only viewing) or whom you addressed (not me), so I could not know. But never mind.

Try a universal viewer like QuickViewPlus (by Avantstar; supports over 300 file formats, among which some 40 graphic formats including wpg). No doubt there are others.