Quick Navigation of Top 10+ Best Free Photo Recovery Software

If you lost your photos, images, or pictures on a memory card, hard drive, SD card, or digital camera, use the reliable and best free photo recovery software. Photo recovery software can recover your deleted or lost pictures. The only thing you need to do is to get the right photo recovery software to perform the recovery photo process. We have tested 30+ photo recovery software. Here is the list of the best ones that stand out.

  1. 1. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
  2. 2. Stellar Data Recovery
  3. 3. Recover My Files
  4. 4. Recuva
  5. 5. Disk Drill
  6. 6. PhotoRec
  7. 7. Remo Recover
  8. 8. R-Studio
  9. 9. Acronis Revive
  10. 10. Puran Data Recovery

How Do We Choose Free Photo Recovery Software

When choosing free photo recovery software, here are some crucial criteria to consider:

📌Effectiveness: The photo recovery program should have a high success rate in recovering lost photos from various storage media such as HDD, USB flash drives, SD cards, cameras, memory cards, etc.

👩‍💻Ease of use: The photo recovery software should be easy to use, even for those who are not tech-savvy. The recovery process should be straightforward and intuitive, with clear instructions and prompts.

👍Compatibility: The recovery software, including PNG and JPEG recovery, should be compatible with common operating systems like Windows, Mac, or Linux.

⛏Features: The photo recovery tool should offer advanced features such as deep scanning, data filtering, file preview, and more.

✅Safety: The tool should be safe and free from viruses, malware, and spyware.

💗User reviews: Check online reviews and ratings from other users to know the software's reliability, effectiveness, and ease of use.

Photo recovery software testing statistics:

🔢How many photo recovery tools tested 10
⏰ How long do we test  1 month
📊Supported photo types JPG, JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF, SR2, WMF, RAW, SWF, SVG, etc.
😒Photo loss scenarios Deletion, formatting, device corruption/RAW, virus attack, etc.

Top 1. Best Photo Recovery Software - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard

Are you looking for a tool to recover deleted photos? EaseUS free data recovery software can help. It recovers photos lost due to various reasons. Did your corrupted devices make the last shooting session inaccessible? Do you want to recover deleted photos from a formatted hard disk? EaseUS can help. Here's why you should choose this data recovery software:

EaseUS has over 72 million happy users and has received many favorable comments.

favorable comments  from pc word

Supported OS Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP, Windows Server, and macOS 10.9+
Supported Image Types PG/JPEG, TIFF/TIF, PNG, BMP, GIF, PSD, CRW, CR2, NEF, ORF, SR2, MRW, DCR, WMF, RAW, SWF, SVG, RAF, DNG, etc. 
Ease of Use Very easy to use

Pros:

  • It supports sorting photos by category.
  • You can search for deleted/lost photos by extension or name.
  • This software allows for identifying the source device of deleted photos and videos.
  • It only takes three steps to recover lost photos from Windows 10.

Cons:

  • The free version allows you to recover up to 2GB of data. You need to upgrade to the pro version if you have more data.

User Guide - How to Recover Deleted Photos with EaseUS

EaseUS photo recovery software is the easiest and most effective way to recover deleted photos on PC. Download this excellent data recovery software and follow the video or step-by-step guide below to get back lost photos or images.

Photo recovery software free download:

Step 1. Choose the location and start scanning

Hover on the SD card, camera, or hard drive partition where you deleted/lost pictures, then click "Scan".

select a location and scan for lost pictures

Step 2. Select the pictures you want to recover

Once the scanning completes, select "Pictures" in the left panel. If you want to locate the lost photos, click "Lost" on the top list. Then, you can find photos according to the devices, types, and dates.

filter the lost photos

Step 3. Recover lost photos

After the preview, click "Recover" and choose another location to save the desired pictures.

Recover lost photos

Top 2. Stellar Photo Recovery

Stellar Photo Recovery recovers photos, videos, and audio files lost due to deletion, corruption, formatting, viruses, inaccessible drives, etc. The preview ability of Stellar Photo Recovery makes the program stand out, as it allows you to preview audio files before they are recovered.

Supported OS Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP and macOS
Supported Image Types CR2/CRW, RAF, K25/KDC/DCR, MRW, MOS, MEF, NEF, NRW, ORF, TGA, JPEG, TIFF, BMP, GIF, PNG, PSD, INDD, PSP, PCT, and JP2.
Ease of Use Easy to use

photo recovery software - stellar photo recovery

Pros:

  • It has a clear interface and a simple recovery guide.
  • This photo recovery software supports scanning a specific folder and searching for files from the scan results.
  • It takes four steps to recover lost photos from any device.

Cons:

  • The scanning of RAW format recovery needs improving

Top 3. Recover My Files

Recover My Files is one of Windows users' best DIY-free photo recovery software. This software enables users to restore photos from a hard drive, SD card, USB zip drive, floppy disk, iPod, and more. It performs well in Recycle Bin recovery, formatted data recovery, OS reinstallation recovery, RAW partition recovery, and more.

Supported OS Windows only
Supported Image Types JPEG, TIF, TIFF, GIF, BMP, PNG, WMF, and more
Ease of Use Easy to use

photo recovery software - recover my files

Pros:

  • Conventional storage devices like hard drives, SD cards, USBs, and iDevices like an iPod are supported.
  • The software supports scanning the backup (image file) of a partition.
  • You can sort files by date.

Cons:

  • Old-fashioned software interface

Top 4. Recuva

Recuva is free photo recovery software that can recover files that have been permanently deleted and marked as free space by the operating system. Recuva recovers files from your Windows computer, Recycle Bin, digital camera card, or MP3 player easily and quickly.

Supported OS Windows only
Supported Image Types JPG, JPEG, TIF, TIFF, GIF, BMP, PNG, WMF, and more
Ease of Use Simple to use

photo recovery software - recuva

Pros:

  • This software works well in JPG file recovery.
  • It has excellent privacy protection and removes tracking files.
  • It has a Preview screen before the final recovery.

Cons:

  • The free version has limited features
  • There's no support for the free version

Top 5. Disk Drill

There are countless ways to lose your data. Power failure, failed boot drives, partition damage, an accidentally emptied Recycle Bin, or a virus attack. But you can get lost data or pictures back with the help of Disk Drill. It is a professional data recovery program that ranks high in the information technology industry.  It works well on Windows computers and performs even better on Mac.

Supported OS Windows and macOS
Supported Image Types PTIF, TIFF, JPG, JPEG, GIF, BMP, PNG, WMF, and more
Ease of Use Easy to use

photo recovery software - Disk Drill

Pros:

  • Has auxiliary features like data protection and a backup drive
  • Organizes files found by category
  • Filters the results by size and data

Cons:

  • Only free for 500MB
  • The scanning takes too long compared to the previous equivalents, and fewer files are found.

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Top 6. PhotoRec

PhotoRec is a free and open-source program that works very well in data recovery on older operating systems like OS X, Linux, Free BSD, Net BSD, Open BSD, and Windows. It can retrieve data even when the file system has been corrupted.

Supported OS Windows/macOS/Linux
Supported Image Types Commonly used photo formats
Ease of Use Hard for beginners

photo recovery software - photorec

Pros:

  • It supports data recovery cross-platform---Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, etc.
  • It can restore data on most devices.
  • This software works for many file formats and not just images.

Cons:

  • Recovers many files but not all
  • Slightly complicated usage instructions

Top 7. Remo Recover

This photo recovery software offers a complete file repair solution and data recovery for every scenario. Remo Recover thoroughly scans your drives and recovers deleted files and folders, which can be saved at any location you choose.

Supported OS Windows and macOS
Supported Image Types Commonly used photo formats 
Ease of Use Easy to use

photo recovery software -  Remo recover

Pros:

  • It has a high recovery rate for production images

Cons:

  • It failed to recover any of the camera's raw images during the reformatted drive test.

Top 8. R-Studio

Equipped with the new unique data recovery technologies, R-Studio is the most comprehensive data recovery solution to recover files from NTFS, NTFS5, ReFS, FAT12/16/32, exFAT, HFS/HFS+, and APFS (Macintosh). This software works well in recovering data from various real-life data loss situations.

Supported OS Windows, macOS, and Linux
Supported Image Types Nearly all file types
Ease of Use Easy to use

r-studio - ptoto recovery software

Pros:

  • Enables data recovery from various data loss situations.
  • Exclusively supports data recovery from network drives.
  • Allows to create image files and recover files from image files.
  • It only takes five steps to get back lost pictures.

Cons:

  • It has an old-fashioned and relatively complex interface.
  • It takes a long time for a simple scan.

Top 9. Acronis Revive

Acronis also provides us with data recovery software. Acronis Revive can recover files that are accidentally deleted or prematurely removed. Whether the file was trashed by accident, lifted by a virus, or was intentionally deleted and needed later, this powerful utility can help bring it back to life. (Note: The company has now removed the software, you cannot use this tool.)

Supported OS Windows only
Supported Image Types Commonly used photo formats
Ease of Use Hard to use

free photo recovery software - Acronis

Pros:

  • Intuitive wizard-style interface
  • Recognizes localized file names
  • Supports dynamic disks
  • Creates an image file

Cons:

  • It can only find and view deleted files with the free version; you must upgrade to the paid one to recover photos

Top 10. Puran Data Recovery

Puran Data Recovery is another photo recovery software worth trying. It can recover deleted photos (and videos and audio) from both computer hard drives and portable storage devices. No matter how you lose your images, you can use this software.

Supported OS Windows only
Supported Image Types Commonly used photo formats
Ease of Use Easy to use

puran data recovery for photo recovery

Pros:

  • Copy entire drives or individual files and folders
  • Drag and drop is supported
  • Different speed levels included

Cons:

  • You cannot preview the result
  • You cannot filter the files you want to recover

Which One Is the Best for Me

How to tell which is the best professional data recovery software for you from the top 10 photo recovery software listed above? We analyzed from three different criteria, i.e. scanning time found files and file size. You can find out more about free photo recovery software with this table:

Product Name Recover My Files Recuva Disk Drill Stellar Data Recovery EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
Scanning Time 1h > 1h > 1h 37min 27min
Files Found 321,297 files 111,213 files 2,254 files 414,170 files 784,741 files
File Size 13.80GB no size is shown 1.92GB 19.84GB 38.53GB

Other Photo Recovery Solutions (Android or iPhone)

What if you lost photos on your smartphone? What can you do to restore lost photos from your phones easily? No matter if you are using an Android phone or iPhone, EaseUS can help you out. We have products to bring back pictures from cell phones.

For Android Users:

If you want to directly recover lost Android photos, videos, or other data on the phone without using a computer, the best Android data recovery app - EaseUS MobiSaver for Android, can help you.

More details: Recover Deleted or Lost Android Photos.

recover android photos

For iPhone Users: Recover Deleted or Lost iPhone Photos

If you want to retrieve iPhone photos, we can also help you. EaseUS MobiSaver is a tool that completely fits your need to recover lost photos from an iPhone, iPad, or iPod. All you have to do is download it and follow the instructions.

Detailed guides are given below.

Step 1. Connect iPhone to Your PC

Launch EaseUS MobiSaver, choose "Recover from iOS Device" on the left, and click "Start".

Recover Photos from iPhone - 1

Step 2. Scan for Lost iPhone Photos

EaseUS MobiSaver will automatically scan iPhone 13/12/11/X/XR/XS/8/7/6/5/4, and find present pictures and even some lost photos for you.

Recover Photos from iPhone - 2

Step 3. Preview and Restore Photos

Tick the "Photos" on the left. You can clearly see the photos in your phone and select the ones you need to recover. Choose "Recover to PC" or "Recover to Device" to start recovering photos.

Recover Photos from iPhone - 3

Relevant Reading: Why It's Possible to Recover Photos

Here is the explanation. When files are deleted from the computer, their directories disappear for the moment. However, their contents weren't immediately destroyed. Windows simply marks the hard drive space as available by changing one character in the file table. The file entry won't be displayed in My Computer or a command line DIR command, etc. Hence, If your photos have been accidentally formatted, don't be panic. Formatting a partition only erases the address table, not the data itself. There is still a chance to recuperate from a formatted partition with such a hard drive recovery tool.

In addition, if hard drives or partitions have disappeared,  the data area would not be erased. It's still possible to use the same method to make a deleted photo recovery from a lost or deleted partition. With the help of free and easy data recovery software, you can recover essential images without any technical knowledge.

Conclusion

Do not worry if you have lost precious photos from your desktop, Mac, iPhone, or Android. There is always a solution for you to get back lost or deleted pictures from any device. EaseUS free photo recovery software can help you out in your situation. The sooner you use it, the higher the chance you will get your files back.

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People Also Ask These Questions About Photo Recovery

Find reliable photo recovery software to recover photos and videos from an SD card, iPhone, or Android. Whenever you are faced with an image loss issue, tackle it with the following FAQs:

1. How do I recover photos?

To restore photos on your PC:

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, hover over the partition or storage device where you deleted photos and click Scan.

Step 2. Wait until the scan finishes. Then, select the deleted photos you want to recover. To locate the target photos faster, click Filter and select Pictures.

Step 3. Click Recover and choose a location on another hard drive to save the photos.

2. Which is the best photo recovery software?

Best Photo Recovery Software in 2023 - Our Picks:

  • EaseUS data recovery software
  • Stellar Data Recovery
  • Recover My Files
  • Recuva
  • Disk Drill
  • PhotoRec
  • Remo Recover
  • R-Studio
  • Acronis Revive
  • Puran Data Recovery

Among these, EaseUS free photo recovery software stands out due to its compatibility and excellence. The software can recover all kinds of multimedia files, including raster, vector, RAW camera files, videos, and audio files.

3. Can you recover deleted pictures from your phone?

If you want to recover lost Android photos, videos, or other data on the phone without using a computer, the best Android data recovery app - EaseUS MobiSaver for Android can help. Full guide>>

Also, if you want to retrieve iPhone photos, we can also help. EaseUS MobiSaver is a tool that completely fits your need of recovering lost photos from an iPhone, iPad, or iPod. All you have to do is download it and follow the details. Full guide>>

4. Can I recover deleted photos from a digital camera?

Yes, you can recover deleted photos from any brand of digital camera like Nikon, Sony, Canon, Samsung, etc., by using free photo recovery software.

Step 1. Choose the location and start scanning.

Step 2. Select the photos you want to recover.

Step 3. Recover the deleted photos.

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Updated by Dany

Dany is an editor of EaseUS who lives and works in Chengdu, China. She focuses on writing articles about data recovery on Mac devices and PCs. She is devoted to improving her writing skills and enriching her professional knowledge. Dany also enjoys reading detective novels in her spare time.

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Approved by Mahesh Makvana

Mahesh is an experienced computer tech writer. He's been writing tech how-to guides for about 8 years now and has covered many topics. He loves to teach people how they can get the most out of their devices.

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