A 360° photo looks like a strange, stretched rectangle until you open it in a viewer. Most computers will not do that by default: double-click the file and you see a flat, warped image. To look around it you need a 360° viewer, and the simplest one is a browser.
The free 360° photo viewer opens a panorama straight from your device. Drag to look around, save flat photos from any angle, and download a single-file viewer to share. Nothing is uploaded.
What is a 360° photo, technically?
Most 360° cameras and phone apps export an equirectangular image: the whole sphere around the camera, unwrapped into a rectangle exactly twice as wide as it is tall, a 2:1 ratio. The middle row is the horizon. The top edge is straight up and the bottom edge straight down, which is why ceilings and floors look stretched in the flat file.
Cameras such as the Ricoh Theta, Insta360 and GoPro Max export this format, as do many phone panorama apps with a full 360° mode. A partial panorama, such as a wide phone sweep, is not 2:1 and will look stretched in a 360° viewer.
How do you open a 360° photo on a computer?
- Go to the 360° photo viewer.
- Choose Open a 360° photo and pick the JPG, PNG or WebP file.
- Drag to look around. Scroll or pinch to zoom, and use the arrow keys for small moves.
- Use the full-screen button to check details.
The viewer tells you the image size and whether it is a true 2:1 panorama, so you know before you publish whether the file will display properly in a tour.
- 4 phone photosFrom the middle of each room
- UploadStitched to 360°
- Pin to floor planRooms in place
- ShareLink, embed, portals
How do you view a 360° photo on a phone?
The same tool works in a phone browser: open the file from your photo library or files app and drag with one finger to look around, or pinch to zoom. Your camera’s own app will also show it, but a browser is useful when the photo has been sent to you by email or WhatsApp.
What should you check before using a 360° photo in a tour?
Look at the places problems hide:
- Straight down (the nadir). Tripod legs, a shadow or your feet.
- Straight up (the zenith). A blurred ceiling light or a stitching swirl.
- The stitch lines. Most cameras stitch two lenses; look for broken door frames or doubled objects at the sides.
- Mirrors and windows. Your reflection, or a blown-out window.
- The horizon. A tilted horizon makes the whole room feel off. Most camera apps can level it.
- Personal items. Family photos, post with names on, or anything a tenant would not want online.
Fix problems at the shoot if you can: it is usually faster than editing a panorama.
Can you get normal photos out of a 360° image?
Yes. Point the viewer where you want, zoom in a little to reduce distortion, choose a shape such as landscape 3:2, and press Save view. You get a regular JPG of that angle. It is a quick way to get extra listing angles from one 360° capture, such as a corner of a kitchen you did not photograph separately. Then run the photos through the listing photo resizer to get them portal-ready.
How do you share a 360° photo with a client?
You have three options:
| Option | Good for | Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Download the viewer file from the tool | Emailing one panorama, hosting on your own site | One photo, no hotspots |
| Upload to Facebook as a 360° photo | Social posts | The file must keep the camera’s 360° metadata |
| Build a 360° tour | Listings, multiple rooms, floor plans | Needs a tour platform |
The viewer file is a single HTML page with the panorama inside, resized to 4096 pixels wide. It opens in any browser with the same drag-to-look controls, starting from the view you chose.
When do you need a full 360° tour instead?
When buyers need to move between rooms. A single panorama shows one spot. A tour connects many panoramas with hotspots and a floor plan, so a viewer can walk through the property. Splatr builds tours from your panoramas, links them to a floor plan and lets you embed the tour on a website or share it to UK portals. Rooms in a tour can even be restyled with AI. Start with how to create a 360° property tour.
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