Comic Book / CBR Reader Apps for PC: 9 Best to Use in 2024
Enjoy your comics with these tools available for PC
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Key notes
- With the new digital age is no wonder that online comic books have gained a lot of popularity in the last few years.
- Our top list will help you choose the right software that will let you view and also organize properly your comics.
- The Adobe suite offers you a great comic book reader if you don't have file types such as CBZ or CBR.
Comics are now widely available in digital format, which sequential image viewer software first established.
As such, there are numerous software packages with which you can open and flick through comics in Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and other platforms.
Those programs support archived comic book file formats such as CBZ, CBR and CB7. These are some of the best digital comic book readers for Windows 10.
What is the best CBR reader for Windows 10 & 11?
Icecream Ebook Reader – Best for casual readers
Icecream Ebook Reader is the right choice for you if you’re an occasional comic reader. The app also packs some very useful features that allow you better manage your library of comic books.
Other reading features include single and double-page support, full-screen reading, zoom, page navigation, continuing from where you left off, and more.
The supported formats should be enough to allow you to read common comic book file formats (CBR and CBZ, FB2, EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and more).
You can also add notes or highlight text if you like a particular page and you would like to read it again. Bookmarks are also supported.
You can also use the copy, translate and search options to select the text, copy it and translate it or search Google.
This tool supports night mode as well, which is perfect is you often read in low light.
Icecream Ebook Reader
If you’re reading a comic book that’s not in a language you speak, use Icecream Ebook Reader to find out the action.Soda PDF – Great for cloud integration
If you’re a comic book enthusiast, you need a safe comic book reader that will allow you to view the latest comics on any device.
Experience an interesting new way of reading comic books with Soda PDF’s innovative 3D page-flipping technology that allows you to read digital comic books on your PC just like a real book.
The Comic Book Reader feature is included in the Soda PDF Standard’s version. This feature has a user-friendly interface that will allow you to easily open and view your CBZ file with beautifully rendered graphics.
Some of its features include:
- Absolute 3D view mode
- Cloud integration: OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, Box
- Bookmarking
- Full-screen mode
- CBZ, CBR, EPUB, and PDF support
Soda PDF Reader
Soda PDF has a built-in 3D reader that gives you the experience of reading a real book.Adobe Digital Editions – Great for smartphones & tabets
Adobe Digital Editions was one of the early adopters of ePub format which is one of the most popular eBook formats today along with PDF and Kindle.
The best part is that it is completely free, and you can use it on your PC, Mac, Tablet, or smartphone with the ability to sync the books across devices.
It supports the most popular comic book type files such as ePub and PDF. Also, you can easily bookmark any favorite parts from the manga you are reading.
Create filtered grouping and custom bookshelves based on author, publisher, or any personal criteria.
Cover – Great free version
Cover is a native Windows 10 app you can download for free on Microsoft Store and it comes with a lot of useful features.
For instance, it allows you to sync your own comics files so you can load your stash of DRM-free files.
However, there’s a catch. You can only load 50 books in the free version and you will have to pay for the full version if you need more space.
On the bright side, if you go for the full version, you also get the chance to upload your content from cloud services like Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox.
All in all, it’s a nice e-book reader that will load all the major comix formats in an elegant manner.
You can customize the reading mode with single/dual page, fit width/height/page, change the background color, cropping, night mode, and more.
MComix
MComix is a fork of the Comix image viewer. This comic book reader has got better and better with more regular updates. This is open-source software compatible with both Windows and Linux.
Note that it’s also a portable program you can run from USB sticks.
The developers have designed MComix to open both western and manga comics in a various archive formats such as CBZ, CBR, CBT, PDF, ZIP, and RAR. It also supports JPEG, PNG, and GIF image file formats.
One great thing about this program is its intuitive UI layout that displays comic page thumbnails running down the left of the window with a large pane on the right that includes the current page.
Users can reconfigure the UI by removing toolbars, adjusting thumbnail scales, selecting background colors and choosing UI parts to include in full-screen mode.
This software also gives users multiple comic views such as double-page, fit image to window or manual zoom modes.
Image tools to enhance pictures with, bookmark support and customizable slideshows are a few more of the great things this program includes.
Comic Seer – Very good support
Comic Seer is multiplatform software freely available for Windows and Linux that has an effective UI design and reasonably extensive options. There’s also a Windows app version you can add to tablets.
With this software, you can open CBZ, CBR, RAR, and ZIP graphical novel file formats.
The program has a straightforward UI that incorporates a tabbed navigation panel with which you can open seven comics in one window.
The main viewer includes handy rotate, zoom, double or single page display, and Browse mode options. Comic Seer also includes a library management panel for you to set up and organize comic book databases with.
The program also automatically saves and reloads comics if you don’t close their files much the same as Chrome restores the previous browsing session tabs.
This can come in handy as it saves you from opening the comics again each time you restart the software.
Furthermore, this software even restores the last-read pages of comics that you close before exiting the software. However, it’s not free.
YacReader – Great features
YacReader is a comic book reader freely available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux that has had some glowing reviews. You can add this program to desktops and laptops.
There’s also a YacReader Portable version for you to add to USB sticks and other external storage.
YacReader can open comics and magazines with RAR, CBR, CBZ, TAR, PDF and CB7 archive formats and image files.
The software also includes plenty of customizable hotkeys for quicker navigation, image adjustment options, a translator dictionary and bookmarks for comics.
The program has a stripped-down UI with minimal toolbars that preserves as much window space for the comic display as possible.
This tool also incorporates novel comic flow transitions into its library manager. These are transition effects displayed when you scroll through cover thumbnails as in the snapshot below.
You can select five alternative effects from the Page Flow tab such as Classic, Stripe, and Roulette Look; and each page flow has advanced customization settings.
MangaMeeya – Ideal for manga fans
Manga are Japanese comics, and MangaMeeya (otherwise MMCE) is software more specifically designed for manga. As this is a portable tool no installation is required.
Even though the developers designed MMCE for displaying manga, you can still open all types of comics as it supports several image formats and CBR, CBZ, ZIP and RAR archives.
This program has quite a few options for users to explore such as three comic display modes, a slideshow mode, filters, and aspect ratio configuration.
It includes a page-flipping animation effect, which is a good touch. As a lightweight application with minimal system requirements, MMCE is a stable and fast program.
The one notable thing this tool lacks is library management options, but aside from that it’s a solid comic book reader.
Comic Collection Browser – Best for all your comics
The Comic Collection Browser is a 2-in-1 software because you can read and also browse and catalog all your loved comics collections.
Setting it up is a child’s play. You just need to point out the folders on your computer where you keep your stash and the app will do the rest.
You can have them in cbz, cbr, pdf, and even zip, and the tool will still be able to access them quickly.
A remarkable thing is that you can even have them stored as separate photos, it will still see them as a comic book. That way, you can make your own collage.
With Comic Collection Browser you will even be able to view the latest, mp4 moving comics and all are fluent and seamless for your enjoyment.
You can now also check out a free version of the software. However, you will be limited to 1 collection with 5 series and a total of 25 comics. It’s a great way to test the product!
So now you can open your favorite digital comics with the above software. Those programs support most archive formats and include extensive display and image adjustment options.
Note that you can also open comics with some ePub readers, but they probably lack some options found in YacReader, MangaMeeya, Comic Seer, MComix and ComicRack.
You may also check out our list of the best online comics websites to enjoy right now.
If you have any suggestions with other software we can include, mention them in the comments section below.
