| Type | Preview support |
|---|---|
| Text and code | Plain text, source code with syntax highlighting, Markdown, logs, and source-like HTML. |
| Structured data | JSON, JSONC, JSON5, YAML, TOML, .env files, CSV/TSV, and SQLite metadata. |
| Documents | PDF, EPUB, MOBI, AZW3, Office/OpenDocument files, and Apple Pages metadata where supported. |
| Media | Image metadata and inline previews, audio metadata and covers, and video metadata and thumbnails. |
| Folders and archives | Directories, ZIP/TAR/RAR/7z archives, CBZ/CBR comics, torrents, ISO images, and similar containers. |
| Binary files | Metadata-focused previews for non-text files when richer previewers do not apply. |
Previews
Preview coverage, image support, terminal multiplexers, and SSH behavior.
COVERAGE
What elio can preview
Optional preview tools
Install preview tools for rendered PDFs, video thumbnails, album art, SVGs, comic archives, and extra archive formats.
View optional toolsIMAGE PREVIEWS
Inline visual previews
Terminal support
| Terminal | Protocol | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Kitty | Kitty Graphics Protocol | Auto-detected |
| Ghostty | Kitty Graphics Protocol | Auto-detected |
| Warp | Kitty direct-placement protocol | Auto-detected |
| WezTerm | iTerm2 Inline Protocol | Auto-detected |
| iTerm2 | iTerm2 Inline Protocol | Auto-detected |
| Konsole | Kitty direct-placement protocol | Auto-detected |
| foot | Sixel | Auto-detected |
| Windows Terminal | Sixel | Auto-detected |
Notes
- On an unrecognized terminal with Kitty Graphics Protocol support, set
ELIO_IMAGE_PREVIEWS=1to force-enable image previews. - Sixel terminals can render large or first-time previews more slowly than Kitty Graphics or iTerm2 Inline backends.
- In Konsole, inline previews are temporarily cleared while modal popups are open to avoid rendering artifacts.
TERMINAL MULTIPLEXERS
Using elio inside tmux or Zellij
tmux
elio enables tmux passthrough automatically for the current pane when image previews are active.
Zellij
In Zellij 0.45+, image previews work with Kitty, Ghostty, WezTerm, and Sixel-compatible terminals.
SSH
Using elio over SSH
Remote preview behavior
Text and code previews work well over SSH. Rich visual previews depend on image protocol support in the local terminal and optional preview tools on the remote host. Terminal apps chosen through Open With run inside the current SSH session, while GUI/default openers use the remote host opener stack.