DJV 3.5: free VFX viewer moves to the open standards OpenImageIO and OpenColorIO

Grizzly Peak 3D has updated DJV, the free image sequence viewer and video player used for shot reviews in VFX and feature animation. The updates from 3.1 to 3.5 broaden its reliance on open industry standards: OpenTimelineIO at the core, OpenImageIO for reading and writing images, OpenColorIO for color management.

The player is positioned as a free alternative to commercial tools such as Autodesk RV, which now ships as part of the Flow Production Tracking platform.

What changed in versions 3.1 through 3.5

OpenImageIO support gives the player a single API for reading and writing images. DJV's own list of formats is wide as it is: Cineon, DPX, JPEG, OpenEXR, PNG, PPM, SGI, TGA, BMP and TIFF for sequences, MJPEG for video, FLAC, MP3 and WAV for audio.

OpenColorIO support has been extended: DJV reads the OCIO environment variable and includes built-in OCIO configurations. That makes it possible to view color accurately within a production pipeline.

The remaining changes concern everyday work scenarios:

• the built-in file browser shows a sequence on a single line with its frame range indicated — by the developer's own assessment, the most noticeable of the workflow improvements;
• support for incomplete sequences has been added;
• the A/B version comparison system has gained a “butterfly” mode and the ability to export a comparison;
• SVG reading and the loading of custom fonts have been added — including for interfaces in different languages.

It is now possible to decode video through the ffmpeg command line. This allows custom codecs to be plugged in without compiling DJV from source.

USD support has been removed from the compiled versions — it remains only when building from source. Experimental work with USD was one of the notable items of the DJV 3.0 release.

Where to get it and what it runs on

Ready-made builds of DJV 3.5 are available free of charge for Windows 10, Ubuntu 22.04 Linux and macOS 14.0 and above. The source code is open under the three-clause BSD license, and instructions for building it yourself are in the project's online documentation.

Why a tool of this class is in demand again

DJV was created by former Lucasfilm engineer Darby Johnston. After a pause of more than five years, development resumed with version 3.0, which introduced a new high-performance core built on OpenTimelineIO, experimental USD support and A/B comparison of shot versions. The return comes at a time when the familiar review viewers are moving inside large subscription platforms, and a free option is becoming more visible to small studios, freelancers and educational institutions.

The bet on open standards is probably tied to a calculation about compatibility: as long as the player relies on OpenTimelineIO, OpenImageIO and OpenColorIO, it stays aligned with pipelines that have adopted the same standards, and the developer does not need to catch up with commercial competitors on the number of supported formats. Against that backdrop, removing USD from the binary builds looks like a way to limit the volume of dependencies.