Extract thumbnail for any file in Windows using C#

Extract thumbnail for any file in Windows using C#

You can extract a thumbnail for any file in Windows using C# by using the ShellFile class from the Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.Shell namespace. Here's an example:

using Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.Shell;
using System.Drawing;

// Get the path to the file you want to extract a thumbnail for
string filePath = @"C:\example\file.pdf";

// Use the ShellFile class to get a thumbnail for the file
var shellFile = ShellFile.FromFilePath(filePath);
var thumbnail = shellFile.Thumbnail.ExtraLargeBitmap;

// Convert the thumbnail to a Bitmap object
var bitmap = thumbnail.ToBitmap();

// Use the Bitmap object as needed

In this example, we first define a filePath variable that contains the path to the file we want to extract a thumbnail for. We then use the ShellFile.FromFilePath method to create a ShellFile object from the file path.

Once we have a ShellFile object, we can use its Thumbnail property to access the thumbnail for the file. In this example, we get the extra-large thumbnail by accessing the ExtraLargeBitmap property of the Thumbnail object.

We then convert the thumbnail to a Bitmap object using the ToBitmap method of the System.Drawing.Icon class, which is returned by the ExtraLargeBitmap property. The resulting Bitmap object can be used as needed.

Note that this approach requires the Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.Shell package to be installed in your project. You can install this package using the NuGet Package Manager in Visual Studio.

Examples

  1. "C# extract thumbnail for any file"

    • Description: Learn how to extract a thumbnail for any file using C# and the Shell API.
    string filePath = "C:\\Path\\To\\Your\\File.pdf";
Bitmap thumbnail = ExtractThumbnail(filePath);

    public static Bitmap ExtractThumbnail(string filePath)
{
    ShellFile shellFile = ShellFile.FromFilePath(filePath);
    return shellFile.Thumbnail.ExtraLargeBitmap;
}

  2. "C# get thumbnail for image file"

    • Description: Explore code examples for extracting thumbnails specifically for image files using C#.
    string imagePath = "C:\\Path\\To\\Your\\Image.jpg";
Bitmap thumbnail = GetImageThumbnail(imagePath);

    public static Bitmap GetImageThumbnail(string imagePath)
{
    ShellObject shellObject = ShellObject.FromParsingName(imagePath);
    return shellObject.Thumbnail.ExtraLargeBitmap;
}

  3. "C# extract thumbnail for video file"

    • Description: Learn how to extract thumbnails specifically for video files using C#.
    string videoPath = "C:\\Path\\To\\Your\\Video.mp4";
Bitmap thumbnail = GetVideoThumbnail(videoPath);

    public static Bitmap GetVideoThumbnail(string videoPath)
{
    ShellObject shellObject = ShellObject.FromParsingName(videoPath);
    return shellObject.Thumbnail.ExtraLargeBitmap;
}

  4. "C# generate thumbnail for PDF file"

    • Description: Explore code examples for generating thumbnails for PDF files using C#.
    string pdfPath = "C:\\Path\\To\\Your\\Document.pdf";
Bitmap thumbnail = GetPdfThumbnail(pdfPath);

    public static Bitmap GetPdfThumbnail(string pdfPath)
{
    ShellObject shellObject = ShellObject.FromParsingName(pdfPath);
    return shellObject.Thumbnail.ExtraLargeBitmap;
}

  5. "C# extract thumbnail for document files"

    • Description: Learn how to extract thumbnails for various document files using C#.
    string docPath = "C:\\Path\\To\\Your\\Document.docx";
Bitmap thumbnail = GetDocumentThumbnail(docPath);

    public static Bitmap GetDocumentThumbnail(string docPath)
{
    ShellObject shellObject = ShellObject.FromParsingName(docPath);
    return shellObject.Thumbnail.ExtraLargeBitmap;
}

  6. "C# extract thumbnail for executable files"

    • Description: Explore code examples for extracting thumbnails for executable files (e.g., .exe) using C#.
    string exePath = "C:\\Path\\To\\Your\\Program.exe";
Bitmap thumbnail = GetExecutableThumbnail(exePath);

    public static Bitmap GetExecutableThumbnail(string exePath)
{
    ShellObject shellObject = ShellObject.FromParsingName(exePath);
    return shellObject.Thumbnail.ExtraLargeBitmap;
}

  7. "C# get thumbnail for compressed files"

    • Description: Learn how to get thumbnails for compressed files (e.g., .zip) using C#.
    string zipPath = "C:\\Path\\To\\Your\\Archive.zip";
Bitmap thumbnail = GetCompressedFileThumbnail(zipPath);

    public static Bitmap GetCompressedFileThumbnail(string zipPath)
{
    ShellObject shellObject = ShellObject.FromParsingName(zipPath);
    return shellObject.Thumbnail.ExtraLargeBitmap;
}

  8. "C# extract thumbnail for audio files"

    • Description: Explore code examples for extracting thumbnails for audio files (e.g., .mp3) using C#.
    string audioPath = "C:\\Path\\To\\Your\\Audio.mp3";
Bitmap thumbnail = GetAudioThumbnail(audioPath);

    public static Bitmap GetAudioThumbnail(string audioPath)
{
    ShellObject shellObject = ShellObject.FromParsingName(audioPath);
    return shellObject.Thumbnail.ExtraLargeBitmap;
}

  9. "C# generate thumbnail for custom file types"

    • Description: Learn how to generate thumbnails for custom file types using C#.
    string customFilePath = "C:\\Path\\To\\Your\\CustomFile.custom";
Bitmap thumbnail = GetCustomFileThumbnail(customFilePath);

    public static Bitmap GetCustomFileThumbnail(string customFilePath)
{
    ShellObject shellObject = ShellObject.FromParsingName(customFilePath);
    return shellObject.Thumbnail.ExtraLargeBitmap;
}

  10. "C# extract thumbnail for any file using WIC"

    • Description: Explore code examples for extracting thumbnails for any file using Windows Imaging Component (WIC) in C#.
    string filePath = "C:\\Path\\To\\Your\\File.any";
Bitmap thumbnail = ExtractThumbnailWithWIC(filePath);

    public static Bitmap ExtractThumbnailWithWIC(string filePath)
{
    // Implementation using WIC
    // ...
}

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