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Software · Utilities & files

Hydrus

Organize media on the desktop.

  • Completely free
  • Windows and Linux
  • Open source

At a glance

Hydrus is completely free: it is open source software, and every feature is available without paying or subscribing.

Its licence (WTFPL) is a permissive open source licence: use, modification and redistribution are allowed, including in commercial projects.

Strengths

  • Open source code
  • Commercial use allowed

About

The hydrus network client is a desktop application written for Anonymous and other internet enthusiasts with large media collections. It organises your files into an internal database and browses them with tags instead of folders, a little like a booru on your desktop. Tags and files can be anonymously shared through custom servers that any user may run. Everything is free, nothing phones home, and the source code is included with the release. It is developed mostly for Windows, but builds for Linux and macOS are available (perhaps with some limitations, depending on your situation). Currently importable filetypes are: images - jpg, gif (including animated), png (including animated!), tiff, webp, bmp video - webm, mp4, mpeg, avi, mov, mkv, flv, wmv audio - mp3, flac, ogg, wma misc - swf, pdf, psd, zip, rar, 7z The client can download files and parse tags from a number of websites, including by default: various imageboards, with a thread watcher the popular boorus gallery sites like deviant art, and pixiv tumblr and twitter And can be extended to download from more locations using easily shareable user-made downloaders. It can also be set to 'subscribe' to any gallery search, repeating it every few days to keep up with new results. The program's emphasis is on your freedom. There is no DRM, no spying, no censorship. The program never phones home.

Description from Flathub — AppStream (Flathub)

Sources and checks

  • Facts collected from Official plan pages (pricing, licence, terms) (commercial use) —
  • Facts collected from Flathub (credit card, source code, publisher, licence, free status, platforms, commercial use, version) —
  • Facts collected from Unspecified source (platforms) —
  • Last technical check: 8 November 2026
  • Description from Flathub — AppStream (Flathub)

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