How to Open a DICOM File on PC or Mac

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: June 10, 2019

This wikiHow shows you how to open DICOM files on your Windows PC or macOS. DICOM files are images that come digitally from medical scans, such as MRIs and ultrasounds. You can view these files with a free online viewer called Jack Image viewer on any computer. If you'd prefer an app, you can download MicroDicom (PC only) or open the files in Adobe Photoshop (PC and Mac).

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Using Jack Imaging for Windows or macOS

1
Go to https://beta.jackimaging.com. This viewer is available in your browser so it will work on both PC and Mac.
2
Click Try Our Viewer Now. This will redirect you to another page.

Advertisement
3
Drag your DICOM files to the "Drag and Drop Files Here" box. The files will then appear in a list on the right side.
- If you have an ad-blocker on, the website will ask you to log or create an account. Click Cancel to ignore the message. If you can't get past the message, consider making an account or whitelisting them on your ad-blocker.
4
Click View to view the images. You can click and drag the image around to pan or click the magnifying glass to zoom in and out.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Using Photoshop for Windows or macOS

1
Download and install Adobe Photoshop. You can download a trial version of Adobe Photoshop or you can purchase Photoshop for your PC or Mac.
2
Open Photoshop. The icon is blue with “PS” in it. It will be pinned to the Start menu on Windows and in the Applications folder on a macOS.
3
Click File. It’s located at the top-left corner.
4
Select Open from the drop-down menu. This will open another window.
5
Select your DICOM file and click Open again. This will display all the frames inside of your DICOM file.
6
Select the frames you want to view. You can select multiple frames by holding ⌘ Command (Mac) or Ctrl (PC) as you click each frame.^{[1]
X
Research source}
- If you want to open all of the frames, right-click the area and click Select All.
7
Select Frame Import and click Open. This opens the selected frames on different layers.
- Frame Import inserts your DICOM frames on different layers.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Using MicroDicom for Windows

1
Go to http://www.microdicom.com/downloads.html in a web browser.
2
Click one of the download links under "Installation package." If you need the 64-bit version, click MicroDicom viewer 2.9.2 x 64 to start the download. For the 32-bit version, click MicroDicom viewer 2.9.2 x 86.
- You may have to click Save to start the download if it doesn't begin automatically.
3
Double-click the EXE file to run the installation wizard. Follow the on-screen instructions to finish setting up MicroDicom.
4
Click Launch at the end of the installation. This will open MicroDicom.
5
Click File on the menu. It is located at the top-left corner.
6
Select Open from the drop-down menu. Another window will open showing you files on your computer.
7
Select your Dicom file. This will open a series of images.
8
Press Ctrl+A highlight all the images. Alternatively, you can also hold and drag your mouse across them all to highlight them.
9
Click Open to view the images.