DICOM stands for Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine. It is an international standard for the communication and management of medical images and data. The DICOM image format is widely accepted by the medical industry and is used in different medical fields like radiology, cardiology, oncology, dentistry, etc. You can view a DICOM image with the help of dedicated DICOM Viewer software. In this article, we will list some best free DICOM Viewer software for Windows. If you are a medical student, these software will be beneficial for you as you can analyze different medical images using them.
What program can open DICOM files?
DICOM is an international standard for medical images. The program or software that is used to view or open such files is called DICOM Viewer. If you search online, you will find many free DICOM Viewer software for different platforms including Windows, macOS, and Android. We have included some free DICOM Viewer software for Windows computers in this article.
Best free DICOM Viewer software for Windows PC
You can install the following DICOM Viewer software to view DICOM images on your Windows 11/10 computer:
- MicroDicom
- Onis
- Weasis
- 3DimViewer
- Dicom Image Viewer
Let’s see the features offered by all these free DICOM Viewer software.
1] MicroDicom
MicroDicom is free for non-commercial use. If you are a medical student, you can use it for free. When you run it for the first time, it will ask you to register MicroDicom. Select the desired option. You can open either a DICOM image or select a folder containing the DICOM images.
After opening a DICOM image, you can measure and annotate it. All the tools to annotate the DICOM image are available on the Toolbar or you can click on the Measure and Annotate menu for the same. You can measure the distance and angle between two points on the image and also calculate the Cobb angle.
Apart from the measurement, you can also annotate the DICOM images by inserting text, drawing shapes and curves, drawing free-hand drawings, etc. You can view the patient information and DICOM tags on the right side. You can also apply different presets to the DICOM image, like full dynamic, skull, lung, spine, bone, etc.
It also lets you export the DICOM images in different image formats, including BMP, PNG, JPG, etc. Apart from that, exporting a DICOM image to a video file, DICOM file, text file, and clipboard are also available.
To download MicroDicom, visit its official website, microdicom.com.
2] Onis
Onis is a DICOM Viewer software that has both free and paid versions. You can download the free version from its website, onis-viewer.com. It has an option to upload all the DICOM files from a particular folder at once. You can also create different albums for DICOM images. To upload the DICOM images, click on the Plus icon on the bottom left side and select the Find DICOM files from a folder option. After that, select the folder containing the DICOM images.
After uploading all the DICOM files, select the Viewer tab to view all the DICOM files. Here, you can perform different actions on your DICOM files. If you have uploaded multiple DICOM files, you can play a slideshow with a particular frequency. Different annotation tools are also available on the Toolbar. You can add text to the DICOM files, draw shapes and free-hand drawings, and measure the distance and angle between two points.
The Export option is also available in the software that lets you export the DICOM files into JPG and BMP image formats.
3] Weasis
Weasis is a free medical image viewer software that lets you open DICOM files and images in other formats. To open a DICOM file, go to “File > Open > DICOM.” If you want to open the image files in the formats other than DICOM, go to “File > Open > Image.” You can also import the DICOM files from DICOM CD by using the Import option.
Weasis has multiple language support. The default language is English. To change your language, go to “File > Preferences” or press the Alt + P keys. You will see three tabs on the right side, namely Display, Image Tool, and Draw & Measure.
- Display: The Display tab lets you show and hide DICOM images, annotations, scale, drawings, etc.
- Image Tool: This tab lets you change the properties of the DICOM file. You can change the image rendering level by moving the slider, change LUT shapes, select different LUTs for the DICOM file, rotate the DICOM image, etc.
- Draw & Measure: This tab has annotation and measurement tools. In addition to this, you can also change the unit of measurement. By default, the unit of measurement is set to millimeters.
You can export the DICOM files into PNG, JPEG, and TIFF image formats. You can download it from sourceforge.net.
4] 3DimViewer
3DimViewer is one more free DICOM Viewer software on this list. It lets you view a DICOM image in both 2D and 3D modes. The 2D mode displays a separate view for all three planes, i.e., XY, YZ, and ZX. The 3D view shows the 3D image by combining all these three panes. You can enable and disable a particular plane in the 3D mode.
To view the DICOM file, you can select any of the following layouts:
- 3D View
- Tabs
- Grid
On the right side, you will find different tabs. These tabs have tools that let you perform different actions on the DICOM files. You can change the brightness and contrast levels of your DICOM image, The Ortho Slices tab lets you vary the position and value of three different planes.
The Measurements menu has two types of measurement tools, namely, intensity measurement and distance measurement. The default units to measure intensity and distance are Hu and mm respectively. You can also apply filters to your DICOM image. The following four types of filters are available in the software:
- Gaussian filter
- Median filter
- 3D Anisotropic filter
- Sharpening filter
You can save the edited DICOM image in DICOM format. I did not find the export option in the software. To download 3DimViewer, visit sourceforge.com.
5] Dicom Image Viewer
Dicom Image Viewer is a simple DICOM Viewer software. Unlike the other DICOM Viewer software on this list, this software does not have any additional features. You can use it to open the DICOM files only. Dicom Image Viewer is portable. Hence, you need not install it on your computer.
It is available as a JAR file. Hence, you need to install JAVA on your Windows computer to open the JAR file. To open a DICOM file, click on the File button and select the file from your computer. It automatically loads the patient’s database after uploading the DICOM file. Some image options are available under the Image tab. To view the attributes, click on the Attributes tab. To change the brightness level of the DICOM image, press and hold the left mouse click and move your mouse over the image.
You can download Dicom Image Viewer from softpedia.com.
Read: Best free 3D Human Anatomy software for Windows 11/10.
How do I view a DCM file in Windows?
A DCM is a file extension for DICOM files. You can view the files with the DCM extension on Windows by installing DICOM Viewer software. If you search online, you will find both free and paid DICOM Viewer software. The paid versions of DICOM Viewer software have some advanced features as compared to the free versions. If you are a medical student, you can install the free version of DICOM Viewer software. If you are a medical practitioner, it depends on your needs whether you require the free or paid version of DICOM Viewer software.
That’s it.
Read next: Best Free Hospital Management software for Windows.
