STDU Viewer vs Sumatra PDF

March 10, 2025 | Author: Adam Levine
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STDU Viewer
STDU Viewer is a free viewer for multiple file formats. The goal of this software is to replace the multiple document viewers with a single one simple application.
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Sumatra PDF
Sumatra PDF is a free PDF, eBook (ePub, Mobi), XPS, DjVu, CHM, Comic Book (CBZ and CBR) reader for Windows. Sumatra PDF is powerful, small, portable and starts up very fast. Simplicity of the user interface has a high priority.

STDU Viewer and Sumatra PDF are, at first glance, remarkably similar. Both are lightweight, free and capable of opening a baffling number of file formats. If you were to drop either one onto an unsuspecting computer, it would cheerfully oblige by displaying PDFs, DjVus and various eBooks without so much as a grumble. They both have tabs, which is useful if you’re the sort of person who likes to juggle documents like an overenthusiastic librarian. They also let you navigate and bookmark things, which, while hardly a groundbreaking technological achievement, is still better than frantically scrolling through a 300-page document looking for that one equation you swear was here somewhere.

STDU Viewer, hailing from the land of vodka and mysterious software development, was crafted by a Russian company called STD Utility in 2007. It seemed to have been designed with a very specific kind of user in mind—the kind who enjoys meticulously examining technical documents, extracting images and dealing with obscure file formats like TIFF, CBR and FB2, because why not? Unfortunately, STDU Viewer eventually did what many promising pieces of software do: it stopped being updated, last seen wandering the digital wilderness sometime around 2014, leaving behind only the echoes of its once-mighty feature set.

Sumatra PDF, on the other hand, is the brainchild of a Polish developer and first emerged in 2006, presumably from a laboratory dedicated to making software as fast and as lightweight as possible. It doesn’t bother with things like annotations or extravagant toolbars because that would only slow it down. This is a program for people who just want to open a document and get on with their lives. Unlike its Russian counterpart, Sumatra PDF is still very much alive, receiving updates and maintaining its reputation as the digital equivalent of a small but determined speedboat, zipping through PDFs while others sink under the weight of unnecessary features.

See also: Top 10 PDF Readers
Author: Adam Levine
Adam is an expert in project management, collaboration and productivity technologies, team management, and motivation. With an extensive background working at prestigious companies such as Microsoft and Accenture, Adam's in-depth knowledge and experience in the field make him a sought-after professional. Currently, he has ventured into entrepreneurship, owning a thriving consulting and training agency where he imparts invaluable insights and practical strategies to individuals and organizations, empowering them to achieve their goals and maximize their potential. You can contact Adam via email adam@liventerprise.com