# SageThumbs 2K

> A free, crash-isolated Windows 11 (and Windows 10) shell extension that adds File
> Explorer thumbnails for 334 file types Windows can't preview on its own: camera RAW,
> Photoshop PSD/PSB, HEIC/AVIF, video, ebooks, comics, 3D-print models and archives,
> plus a right-click image toolkit, a spacebar Quick Look preview, and a
> command-line / MCP tool for scripts and AI agents.

Last updated: 2026-09-09. Current version: 3.0.0. Publisher: LunarWerx Studios.
Homepage: https://sagethumbs.lunarwerx.com/

## What it is

SageThumbs 2K is a modern, clean-room rebuild of the classic SageThumbs by Nikolay
Raspopov (GPL-2.0, discontinued since 2019). It runs inside explorer.exe but is
sandboxed at every COM boundary with a panic guard on each call, so a malformed or
hostile file cannot crash Explorer. Written in memory-safe Rust.

## Who it's for

Photographers and designers with RAW/PSD folders, anyone with HEIC photos from a
phone, video editors who want frame thumbnails without opening a player, ebook/comic
collectors, 3D printing hobbyists with folders of look-alike STL files, and developers
or AI agents that need a CLI or MCP tool to view formats they otherwise can't open.

## Key facts

- 334 supported formats across 7 categories: Image (202), Document (43), Camera RAW
  (34), Video (22), Audio (18), Ebook and comics (12), Archive (3).
- Marquee formats: camera RAW (CR2, NEF, ARW, RAF and more), Photoshop PSD/PSB, HEIC,
  AVIF, JPEG XL, OpenEXR/HDR, DICOM, SVG, video frames (MP4, MKV, MOV, WebM), ebook and
  comic covers (EPUB, MOBI, CBZ), 3D-print models (STL, OBJ, PLY), Android APKs, audio
  album art and waveforms. Flash video and 10/12-bit HDR VP9 are decoded by SageThumbs
  itself, since Windows ships no codec for either.
- Windows 11 and Windows 10, 64-bit only. Single-file installer. Both the modern and
  classic Explorer right-click menus are supported.
- Free for personal and non-commercial use, source-available under the PolyForm
  Noncommercial 1.0.0 license. Commercial deployment needs a commercial licence per Windows installation, sold two ways:
  US$2.99 per month, or US$49 one-time for a perpetual licence with 12 months of updates. On the one-time
  plan the app keeps working as it is afterwards; another 12 months of updates is US$29, bought with your
  key. A monthly licence stops entitling the machine when the subscription ends. Security fixes are
  delivered to every licensed installation regardless. Monthly bought at https://checkout.connections.icu/licence/c16cca94-53a4-4e7a-b434-0737fdfc21bb?slug=sagethumbs and cancelled at https://checkout.connections.icu/manage;
  one-time bought at https://checkout.connections.icu/licence/24544461-9530-4edb-84e5-4f3471876d98?slug=sagethumbs

## Features

- Explorer thumbnails, on demand and cached by Windows; fast paths are pure Rust,
  heavy decodes run out of process; max file/thumbnail size capped in Settings.
- Spacebar Quick Look: full-size preview. Video/audio play with a seek bar; code is
  syntax-highlighted; Markdown renders GitHub-style; PDFs scroll with thumbnails,
  zoom and Ctrl+F search; archives list contents; SQLite opens as read-only tables;
  email files (.eml and Outlook .msg) show sender, subject, date, the message body and
  the attachment list; 3D models are rendered and shaded. Each window carries its own
  light/dark button, so a dark photo or a bright scan can be read against whichever
  background suits it without changing the app theme.
- Right-click toolkit: Convert (~29 formats incl. AVIF, JPEG XL, PSD, DDS, EXR,
  batched across every core), Resize (never upscales), lossless JPEG rotate/flip,
  Combine to PDF or CBZ, EXIF/GPS/audio tags as sortable Explorer columns.
- Screen OCR: drag a region, text lands on the clipboard, using Windows' own in-box
  recognizer, no bundled model, no network call. A table in the captured region is
  reconstructed as a table rather than flattened into one run-on line.
- System-wide eyedropper with a 10x loupe; Space copies #RRGGBB from anywhere.
- Metadata stripping (EXIF/IPTC/XMP/GPS + Content Credentials/C2PA), losslessly,
  across JPEG, PNG, WebP, SVG, HEIC and AVIF.
- Screen capture: drag a region, or point at a window and capture just that window,
  with an optional delay for shots that need a menu open first. HDR is tone-mapped
  per monitor. Annotation editor included. Upload and copy a share link to a keyless
  host, no account.
- `st2k` CLI: batch thumbnail/convert whole folders, OCR, PDF tools. Speaks MCP
  (`st2k --mcp`), so an AI agent can view any of the 334 formats as a real image.
- Thumbnailing is read-only by default; the toolkit writes only when asked, creating
  new files rather than overwriting originals. Email attachments are listed only,
  never opened, extracted or written out. Everything runs locally except the optional
  link-upload tool, which needs internet.

## How it compares

- Classic SageThumbs (Raspopov, GPL-2.0): free, image-formats-only via the GFL
  library, discontinued since 2019. SageThumbs 2K is its Rust-rewritten, actively
  maintained successor with 334 formats plus the toolkit.
- MysticThumbs: paid (14-day trial, then a license); covers RAW, PSD, HEIC/AVIF, audio
  waveforms and ebook covers, but no video thumbnails. It has a Space-bar QuickView
  that can convert files; it does not offer resize or OCR.
- Microsoft PowerToys: free, open source, useful but separate utilities (Image
  Resizer, Color Picker, Text Extractor, Peek preview). Its Explorer thumbnails cover
  SVG, PDF, Markdown and code; RAW/PSD/HEIC are open feature requests, not built in.
- QuickLook (QL-Win): free, open source (GPL-3.0) spacebar preview tool. Does not
  generate Explorer thumbnails at all.

## Install

the approved ImageMagick runtime. Since 3.0 the installer and every program in it are
code-signed by LUNARWERX LLC (Azure Artifact Signing). SmartScreen may still show its
new-publisher warning while that reputation builds: click "More info" then "Run anyway",
or build from source.

- Download: https://github.com/LunarWerxs/SageThumbs-2k/releases/latest
- Source: https://github.com/LunarWerxs/SageThumbs-2k

## Pricing

Free for personal and non-commercial use. Business and commercial use is priced per
installation (one Windows machine) and sold two ways, both unlocking exactly the same app.

Monthly: US$2.99 per installation per month. Cancel whenever you like at https://checkout.connections.icu/manage
(sign in with the email you paid with); it runs to the end of the month already paid for, then
the machine stops being entitled. Buy at https://checkout.connections.icu/licence/c16cca94-53a4-4e7a-b434-0737fdfc21bb?slug=sagethumbs

One-time: US$49 per installation. Perpetual licence with 12 months of updates. Afterwards the
app keeps working as it is; another 12 months of updates is US$29, bought
with your key at https://checkout.connections.icu/licence/24544461-9530-4edb-84e5-4f3471876d98/renew
Security fixes are delivered to every licensed installation regardless.
Buy at https://checkout.connections.icu/licence/24544461-9530-4edb-84e5-4f3471876d98?slug=sagethumbs
(card payment via Stripe; one redemption key per installation is emailed on payment).
Redeem under Settings > Licence (version 3.0 and later). Volume, site licences, purchase orders or bank transfer:
request a quote with the form at https://sagethumbs.lunarwerx.com/#pricing (Request a quote)
See /pricing.md for the machine-readable version.

## FAQ

Full Q&A is on the homepage (#faq) and mirrored in its FAQPage schema. Short version:
free for personal/non-commercial use (PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0); safe to run
(memory-safe Rust, crash-isolated, bomb guards); doesn't slow Explorer (on-demand,
cached, out-of-process decodes); works fully offline; SmartScreen warns only because
SmartScreen may still warn while the signed publisher's reputation builds; needs Windows 11 or 10, 64-bit; run `st2k formats` for the
live format list; replaces a thumbnailer, converter, resizer, colour picker,
screenshot tool, OCR utility, EXIF viewer, metadata stripper, uploader, file
previewer, email viewer, 3D-model viewer, CLI and MCP server.

## Limitations

Windows only, 64-bit only, no macOS or Linux build. The installer is code-signed since 3.0;
SmartScreen may still warn on first run until the publisher has download history. Some exotic formats lean on Windows' own WIC codecs or
the bundled ImageMagick engine rather than a pure-Rust decoder. Email preview reads
the message and lists attachments; it does not extract or open them, and it is a
viewer, not a mail client. Commercial/business deployment needs a separate license
from LunarWerx.

## Links

- Home: https://sagethumbs.lunarwerx.com/
- Source: https://github.com/LunarWerxs/SageThumbs-2k
- Download: https://github.com/LunarWerxs/SageThumbs-2k/releases/latest
- License: https://github.com/LunarWerxs/SageThumbs-2k/blob/main/.github/LICENSE.md
- Pricing (machine-readable): https://sagethumbs.lunarwerx.com/pricing.md
- Buy a commercial licence: https://checkout.connections.icu/licence/24544461-9530-4edb-84e5-4f3471876d98?slug=sagethumbs
- Short brief: https://sagethumbs.lunarwerx.com/llms.txt
- Publisher: https://lunarwerx.com/