The default and official image viewer for the GNOME desktop is called Eye of GNOME. It integrates with the GIMP ToolKit (GTK) look and feel of GNOME, and supports various image formats such as BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, SVG, TIFF, and many more for viewing single images or images in a collection.
The user interface for the Eye of GNOME image viewer is basic. Eye of GNOME allows to view the images in a fullscreen slideshow mode or set an image as the desktop wallpaper. This application also provides basic effects for improved viewing, such as zooming, rotation, and transparent image background control.
Eye of GNOME reads the camera tags to automatically rotate your images in the correct portrait or landscape orientation. It also has many official plug-ins to extend its features or change its behavior.
Table of Contents
Key features of Eye of GNOME
- Pictures open in a new window
- Enlarge the picture on the screen
- Show all of the pictures in a folder as a slideshow
- Supports many image formats
- Convert pictures from one image format to another
- Print images
- Install plugins to access more features
This article explains two methods of installing Eye of GNOME on Ubuntu 20.04.
Choose the installation method that is most appropriate for your environment.
Method 1: Installing Eye of GNOME as a Snap Package
The easiest way to install Eye of GNOME on Ubuntu 20.04 is by using the snap packaging system.
A snap package is a type of universal Linux package that you can enjoy irrespective of the distro. Its an self-contained software packages that include the binary all dependencies needed to run the application.
All you need is the snap service pre-configured, In the case of Ubuntu 20.04, it comes with snap pre-installed.
If snapd package is not already installed then you can install it by running following command.
$ sudo apt install snapd
Note: Snap packages can be installed from either the command-line or via the Ubuntu Software application.
This is actually the Snap version of the Eye of GNOME. It can be used on any Linux distribution that has Snap support.
Open your terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T
) and type the following command to install the Eye of GNOME package.
$ sudo snap install eog
At this step, you have successfully installed Eye of GNOME on Ubuntu 20.04 system.
Type the following command to update Eye of GNOME package.
$ sudo snap refresh eog
Method 2: Installing Eye of GNOME from Ubuntu apt repository
Eye of GNOME is included in Ubuntu 20.04. Follow the step by step guide to install the application.
Step #1
Type the following command to update the apt sources.
$ sudo apt update
Step #2
Now execute this command to install the Eye of GNOME package.
$ sudo apt install eog
With the help of &&
you can write both the commands in a single line. Something like this:
$ sudo apt update && sudo apt install eog
Once installed, launch it from your system application menu.
Starting Eye of GNOME
Eye of GNOME can be launched from the command line by typing eog
or In the Activities search bar type “EOG” and click on the icon.

Eye of GNOME User Interface:

How to Uninstall Eye of GNOME from Ubuntu 20.04
For some reason, If you want to uninstall Eye of GNOME, refer following methods.
Method #1
If you have installed Eye of GNOME via Snap type the following command:
$ sudo snap remove eog
Method #2
If you have installed the application from default ubuntu apt respository then uninstall by running the below command:
$ sudo apt remove eog
Conclusion
I hope that now you have a good understanding of How to install Eye of GNOME on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa.
If anyone does have any questions about what we covered in this guide then feel free to ask in the comment section below and I will do my best to answer those.