5 Best Free Open Source Gerber Viewer Software for Windows

Here is a list of Best Free Open Source Gerber Viewer Software for Windows. These are basically free viewer software for Gerber files. Along with setup files of these free software, you also get source code of these as they comes with an open source license. You can download, view, analyze, and modify source code of any of these freeware as per your need.

These software let you import and view multiple Gerber files as layers at once. You can easily manage imported layers with various options such as toggle layer visibility, change layer color, invert layer color, etc. Furthermore, you can also find zoom in, zoom out, scale to fit, fullscreen,  rotate, pan, measure, and more view features in these software. Plus, you can render PCB layout design in normal, fast, high quality, and other modes. Some software also provide additional tools including Gerber & Drill Analysis Reports, Export options, and more. All in all, you get sufficient number of features that enable you Gerber files.

My Favorite Free Open Source Gerber Viewer Software for Windows:

I like Gerbv as it provides most number of features and tools to let you view and analyze Gerber files.

You can also use KiCad EDA as it is a feature rich PCB layout design software that also provides a dedicated Gerber Viewer module.

You may also checkout lists of best free Open Source PCB Design Software, Circuit Simulation Software, and Open Source Diagram Software for Windows.

Gerbv

Gerbv is a dedicated free open source Gerber viewer for Windows, BSD, and Linux. It is clean and featured software that let you view PCB designs stored in Gerber files. Along with providing multiple tools, another added advantage of this Gerber file viewer is that it comes in a portable package. So, you can quickly run it on the go and view Gerber file. Now, lets checkout its key features that enable you view and analyze Gerber files properly.

Key Features of Gerbv:

• It lets you open and view several Gerber files together on the top of one another as layers.
• It also offers several Layer customization features such as toggle visibility, all on, all off, invert color, change color, edit layer (translate, scale, rotate, mirror), edit file format, etc.
• You can select a rendering mode to visualize Gerber files including fast, fast (with XOR), normal, and high quality.
• It provides all standard Gerber view tools that include fullscreen, zoom in, zoom out, zoom to fit, pan, change background color, pointer tool, and measure tool (length).
• You can also view properties of selected objects in a Gerber file, such as object type, exposure, aperture type, diameters, etc.

Additional Features:

• You can analyze Gerber and drill layers including errors, G codes, D codes, M codes, miscellaneous codes, aperture definitions, aperture usage, and drill usage.
• It lets you export a Gerber file to several formats including PNG, SVG, PDF, PostScript, Excellon Drill, ISEL NCP Drill, RS-274X, etc.

Conclusion:

It is one of the best open source Gerber viewer software which provides all required tools and features to view and analyze multiple Gerber files at once.

KiCad EDA

KiCad EDA is another free open source Gerber viewer for Windows. Apart from Windows, it is available for Mac, Ubuntu, Debian, Linux, and more platforms. It is primarily an Electronics Design Automation Suite that comes with multiple modules including  a Gerber Viewer. You can use its Gerber Viewer module to view and analyze Gerber files. Apart from that, you also get Page Layout editor, PCB designer, etc.

Key Features:

• You can open multiple Gerber files as layers and view them all at once.
• It also offers all basic and essential view tools including zoom in/ out, rotate, etc.
• It provides a Layer Manager which lets you view and manage all imported Gerber files.
• You can also enable or disabled various items related to PCB layout e.g., footprints front, footprints back, tracks, hidden text, anchors, worksheets, etc.
• It provides an Inspect feature that lets you view a list of connected components.
• You also get a measure tool in it.

Additional Features:

It provides a lot of editing tools, export feature, design rule check tool, 3D viewer, and various other features.

Conclusion:

It is a powerful electronics design automation software which also comes with a Gerber Viewer .

GerberView

GerberView is the next free open source Gerber viewer software for Windows. It is a nice and clean software in which you can visualize PCB layout designs by importing Gerber files. Like most software on this list, it also lets you open and view multiple Gerber files at a time. You can find all necessary tools in it to visualize Gerber files.

Main Features of GerberView:

• It offers standard zoom in/ out and scale to fit features.
• You can also view Gerber file in full screen as well as customize background color.
• You can render PCB layout in normal, high speed, or high quality mode.
• It provides various layer management features including change layer color, invert layer color, toggle layer visibility, show/ hide all layers, etc.

Additional Feature:

• You can fetch and analyze Gerber and Drill reports in it.

Conclusion:

It is another free open source Gerber file viewer that comes in a portable and lightweight package.

Note: You can find the application file at this location- \GerberVS-master\GerberVS-master\GerberView\bin\Debug

GerbEx

GerbEx is yet another free open source Gerber viewer software for Windows. You can open and view GBL Gerber files in it. It lets you load multiple layers and view them on the same canvas. It offers some basic and standard tools to view Gerber files. Let’s checkout what are those features.

Key Features:

• You can find zoom in and zoom out features to properly view PCB layout from Gerber files.
• It lets you enable or disable visible layers as per your requirement, such as GKO Gerber, GKO Tracks, PCB Area, GTL Gerber, GTL Isolation, DRL Holes, DRL Indicators, etc.
• You can enable antialiasing rendering mode.
• To view  Gerber file, you can switch between Gerber loading and Milling modes.

Conclusion:

It is a decent open source Gerber viewer that provides only a few basic features to view and analyze PCB layout designs.

Gerber Viewer

Gerber Viewer is another free, portable, open source Gerber viewer for Windows. It is like other standard Gerber viewer that lets you view PCB design with multiple layers saved in Gerber files. It supports Gerber 274X and IPC 2581 formats to view PCB designs. While importing a Gerber file, you can customize a few parameters including type (absolute/ incremental), zero (leading/ trailing/none), digital, decimal, file type, etc. Let’s checkout its other features that let you view Gerber files.

Main Features of this Open Source Gerber Viewer:

• It lets you import and view multiple Gerber files at once.
• You can customize view mode to Top Parts or Bottom Parts.

Limitations:

Some of its feature didn’t work during my testing. Also, it lacks most of viewing tools.

Conclusion:

It is a quite a basic open source software that help you view Gerber files.