10 Best Image Zoom jQuery & Vanilla JavaScript Plugins (2026 Update)

by jQueryScript,

What is Image Zoom?

Image Zoom is a widely used web technology which enables the visitor to view the details about product/article/post images on hover or click/tap, just like a magnifying glass effect.

Zooming an image is one of the easiest ways to make a website more interactive. This definitely helps people understand what you're trying to say because an image can tell a thousand words and click interactions can tell another hundred thousand. 

The Best Image Zoom Plugin

Image zoom JavaScript plugin is the best tool for enlarging images on your website. This is a new trend for web designers as there was a time image-enlarging was tricky and even costly to implement. Now it’s as simple as adding a line of code.

There are many image zoom JavaScript libraries available online. Some of them are very light-weight and easy to implement, while others have much more advanced functionalities and require jQuery or other JS frameworks in your website that you might already be using. But, if you had the budget, which one would you use? What criteria will you use to select the best one for your web application?

In this post you will find the 10 best jQuery and Pure JavaScript Image Zoom plugins that enables your visitors to enlarge images within your document in an elegant way. I hope you like it.

Originally Published Dec 17 2017, updated Jan 29 2026

Table of contents:

jQuery Image Zoom Plugins:

Advanced Zoom On Hover Plugin - jQuery Extended Magnify

Extended Magnify is a simple yet fully customizable jQuery image zoom plugin that provides a smooth Zoom On Hover and Inner Zoom experience on your images.

Great for e-commerce websites and online stores where customers can zoom in and inspect the details of items before making a purchase. Also helpful in design/photography portfolios to showcase high-resolution images in their full glory.

Advanced Zoom On Hover Plugin - jQuery Extended Magnify

[Demo] [Download]


Zoom Images On Click/Tap - image-zoom.js

A lightweight (1.8kb minified) and easy jQuery image zoom plugin that enables the visitor to zoom in/out images with mouse and touch events.

Features:

  • Click/tap to zoom in an image.
  • Pan around the zoomed image with mouse movement.
  • Click/tap the zoomed image or move the cursor out of it to reset the zoom.

Zoom Images On Click/Tap - image-zoom.js

[Demo] [Download]


Magnify Images On Mouse Hover - jqZoom

A fast and small jQuery image zoom plugin that applies a mouse-over magnifying glass to any image within the document. The magnified image will be displayed outside of it in a wrapper with configurable size.

Magnify Images On Mouse Hover - jqZoom

[Demo] [Download]


Zoom Image On Hover Using jQuery

A tiny jQuery image zoom script that provides a nice magnifying glass effect when hovering over an image.

Zoom Image On Hover Using jQuery

[Demo] [Download]


Stylish Magnifying Glass Plugin - SergeLand Image Zoomer

A jQuery zoom on hover plugin for zooming images with stylish and smooth magnifying glass effects.

  • Custom image loader.
  • Custom cursor on hover.
  • Supports all major browsers and even IE8.
  • Smooth animations.
  • Inner zoom mode.
  • Mousewheel to zoom in/out.

Stylish Magnifying Glass Plugin - SergeLand Image Zoomer

[Demo] [Download]


Vanilla JS Image Zoom Libraries:

Zoom In/Out Images With JavaScript – zoomist.js

A tiny JavaScript library for zoom and panning images using the mouse wheel & drag. Also supports custom zoom controls like sliders and buttons.

The library allows users to interact with the content of the image by changing its magnification level. It does not require any external dependencies such as jQuery or other libraries that might conflict with your application codebase.

Zoom In/Out Images With JavaScript – zoomist.js

[Demo] [Download]


Zoom in on Image Details with Magnifier Lens Effect in JavaScript

A JavaScript-powered Magnifier Lens Effect that allows you to apply an interactive magnifying glass effect to any image on your webpage. The magnifier lens always follows the mouse cursor and your users can also adjust the lens size and magnification level with the scroll wheel.

This magnifying glass effect provides a user-friendly way to explore specific areas of images without needing a separate image viewer. Think of e-commerce sites displaying intricate product details, medical websites showcasing high-resolution scans, or even art portfolios allowing viewers to appreciate the nuances of a painting.

Zoom in on Image Details with Magnifier Lens Effect in JavaScript

[Demo] [Download]


Zoom Image On Hover – js-image-zoom

A lightweight and zero-dependency JavaScript image zoom library to enlarge part of your image and display the zoomed image in a specific container on mouse hover.

Zoom Image On Hover – js-image-zoom

[Demo] [Download]


Add Smooth Zoom/Pan Interactions To SVGs With svg-pan-zoom Library

A simple JavaScript library that adds interactive zooming and panning to your SVG images. It can be useful for interactive maps, technical diagrams, or any detailed SVG graphics that require closer inspection.

zoom-pan-interactions-svg

[Demo] [Download]


Image Zoom on Mouse Hover – Zoom Effect

A small script that allows you to zoom into an image upon hovering the mouse over it, which is a very effective way to showcase your photos and artwork.

Image Zoom on Mouse Hover – Zoom Effect

[Demo] [Download]


Conclusion:

Here I have published best 10 Image Zoom JavaScript libraries. These are most popular, robust and superb JavaScript libraries for zoom effects. If you want to create stunning jQuery image zoom effects, then use these libraries to beautify your web design elements.

More Resources:

Looking for more jQuery plugins or JavaScript libraries to create awesome Image Zoom Effects on the web & mobile? See jQuery Image Zoom and JavaScript Image Zoom sections for more details.