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VGG Image Annotator

robots.ox.ac.uk

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Spec score 8.2 #8 of 28 in Image Annotation Software

What it is

VGG Image Annotator (VIA) is a suite of lightweight browser tools for manually annotating images, audio, and video. The applications are distributed as single HTML files, allowing offline use without installation or setup. VIA3 handles images, video, audio, and shared or collaborative projects. VIA2 works with image files, does not support shared projects, and remains maintained. Annotation shapes include rectangles, circles, ellipses, points, polygons, and polylines. Projects can import or export annotations as CSV or JSON, while scripts support COCO and Web Annotation formats; a Python package converts VIA projects to COCO. Shared work can use a free public Version File Store maintained by the Visual Geometry Group, or a user-run VFS. VIA is built with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript without external libraries and released under the two-clause BSD license for academic and commercial use. Downloads include ZIP archives and standalone HTML files for versions 2 and 3. The makers provide a guide, FAQ, and email contacts.

Spec sheet

What it does
VIA is a manual annotation suite for images, audio and video.Read 21 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Intended users
The page describes the software as suitable for academic projects and commercial applications, and includes tools for researchers annotating images, audio and video.Read 8 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Support
The makers direct users to an in-app basic guide, a FAQ and email contacts for queries or feedback.Read 8 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
License
VIA is released under the permissive two-clause BSD license for academic and commercial use.Read 21 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Maker
VIA is developed by the Visual Geometry Group in Oxford University's Department of Engineering Science.Read 21 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Annotation attributes
Region descriptions can use free text or predefined checkbox, dropdown, radio-button and image-list values.Read 21 Oct 2026 · zenodo.org
Annotation features
The user guide describes drawing regions such as rectangles, circles and points, and importing or exporting annotations as CSV or JSON.Read 8 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Audio annotation
VIA3 includes an audio annotator for marking speech or other time ranges.Read 21 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Browser operation
The applications run as standalone HTML files in modern browsers without installation or setup.Read 21 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Browser requirements
The project reports testing in Firefox, Chrome and Safari, with users also reporting success in other browsers.Read 21 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Browser support
The makers say they tested the application in Firefox, Chrome and Safari, and report that users have found it works in other browsers too.Read 8 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Bulk editing
The image-grid view supports bulk updating annotations across many images.Read 21 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
COCO interoperability
Official scripts convert or export VIA annotations to COCO and other formats.Read 21 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Dependencies
The core software uses HTML, CSS and JavaScript without external libraries.Read 21 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Documentation
Documentation includes an in-app getting-started guide, FAQ, user guides, JSON-format documentation and per-version code documentation.Read 21 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Downloads
The page offers downloadable ZIP archives and standalone HTML copies for VIA versions 2 and 3.Read 8 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Funding
The project credits UKRI Visual AI and EPSRC Seebibyte research grants for development and maintenance.Read 21 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Image annotation
VIA supports manual annotation of still images for tasks such as object detection and segmentation.Read 21 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Import and export
VIA imports and exports annotation data in CSV and JSON formats.Read 21 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Independent user praise
A Reddit participant described VIA as their preferred tool because it was simple, self-hosted and fast.Read 21 Oct 2026 · reddit.com
Integrations and formats
The page lists scripts for converting or exporting annotations in COCO and Web Annotation formats, and a Python package for converting VIA projects to COCO.Read 8 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Lightweight size
The full VIA application is distributed in a file smaller than 400 KB.Read 21 Oct 2026 · zenodo.org
Limit: manual-only labeling
The Roboflow tutorial says every box is drawn by hand and recommends AI-assisted tools for larger datasets.Read 21 Oct 2026 · roboflow.com
Limit: older-version speed
A Puget Systems review found VIA 1.0.x slow and required labels to be entered in a separate spreadsheet-like interface.Read 21 Oct 2026 · pugetsystems.com
Limit: scale
An independent guide describes VIA as suitable for quick tasks and small datasets rather than complex or large-scale projects.Read 21 Oct 2026 · labellerr.com
Limit: unsaved work
The Roboflow tutorial warns that VIA has no cloud storage or automatic saving, so closing the tab before exporting can lose work.Read 21 Oct 2026 · roboflow.com
Maker and location
VIA is developed at the Visual Geometry Group at the University of Oxford.Read 8 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Offline use
VIA can operate offline because the application is packaged as a single HTML file.Read 21 Oct 2026 · zenodo.org
On-image editor
An on-image annotation editor allows quick updates to region labels and metadata.Read 21 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Praise: lightweight workflow
An independent data-labeling guide highlights VIA's easy use, no setup and low resource footprint for small datasets.Read 21 Oct 2026 · labellerr.com
Praise: simplicity
An independent tutorial characterizes VIA as minimal, fast to open and requiring no server, dependencies or setup.Read 21 Oct 2026 · roboflow.com
Praise: speed
A Puget Systems user reported achieving roughly 15–20 labeled images per minute after adding label buttons.Read 21 Oct 2026 · pugetsystems.com
Privacy and security
The page describes VIA as running offline in a browser, but does not state security certifications or compliance claims.Read 8 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Project origin
The GitLab repository records the VIA project as created on 31 August 2016.Read 21 Oct 2026 · gitlab.com
Python package
The python-via package converts VIA projects between formats including COCO and can download or upload shared projects.Read 21 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Region shapes
Supported image-region geometries include rectangles, circles, ellipses, polygons, polylines and points.Read 21 Oct 2026 · zenodo.org
Release status
The latest listed VIA3 release is version 3.0.13 from 2 July 2024, described as bug fixes and video-frame annotation improvements.Read 21 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Security posture
Because local files are processed in the browser, a tutorial notes that images do not leave the user's machine.Read 21 Oct 2026 · roboflow.com
Self-hosting
Users can download ZIP archives or standalone HTML files and run them locally or from their own web infrastructure.Read 21 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Shared projects
VIA3 supports collaborative shared projects, while VIA2 does not.Read 21 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Shared-project service
The VFS component provides shared-project storage, and VGG offers a public free instance that users can replace with their own.Read 21 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Technology
VIA is built with HTML, CSS and JavaScript using standard modern browser features and no external libraries.Read 8 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
VIA2 limitation
VIA2 supports image files but not shared projects, and the page says it remains maintained.Read 8 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
VIA3
VIA3 supports images, video, audio and shared or collaborative projects.Read 8 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk
Video annotation
VIA3 adds temporal-segment and spatial-region annotation for video.Read 21 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk

Plans and prices

Free Free No charge; BSD-2-Clause open-source software No paid tiers or usage limits stated Read 21 Oct 2026 · roboflow.com
VGG Image Annotator Free Released under the two-clause BSD license · no paid tiers or usage limits stated Read 8 Oct 2026 · robots.ox.ac.uk

Every VGG Image Annotator plan and price →

Strong points and limits

Strong points

  • Runs offline in a browser
  • Supports image, audio, and video annotation
  • Exports CSV, JSON, and COCO
  • Collaborative projects in VIA3
  • Two-clause BSD license

Limits

  • VIA2 lacks shared projects
  • Annotation is manual, not model-assisted
  • No paid tiers or usage limits are stated
  • Shared projects require a VFS

Who it suits

It suits researchers, academic projects, and commercial applications needing manual annotation or collaborative datasets.

Verdict

VIA offers portable, offline annotation with broad media support and standard export formats. Choose VIA3 for collaboration; VIA2 remains an image-focused maintained option.

Where Specifiction places it

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