New to Telerik UI for WinForms? Download free 30-day trial

Getting Started with WinForms PictureBox

This tutorial will help you to quickly get started using the control.

Adding Telerik Assemblies Using NuGet

To use RadPictureBox when working with NuGet packages, install the Telerik.UI.for.WinForms.AllControls package. The package target framework version may vary.

Read more about NuGet installation in the Install using NuGet Packages article.

With the 2025 Q1 release, the Telerik UI for WinForms has a new licensing mechanism. You can learn more about it here.

Adding Assembly References Manually

When dragging and dropping a control from the Visual Studio (VS) Toolbox onto the Form Designer, VS automatically adds the necessary assemblies. However, if you're adding the control programmatically, you'll need to manually reference the following assemblies:

  • Telerik.Licensing.Runtime
  • Telerik.WinControls
  • Telerik.WinControls.UI
  • TelerikCommon

The Telerik UI for WinForms assemblies can be install by using one of the available installation approaches.

Defining the RadPictureBox

To start using the control you only need to add a RadPictureBox control to the form either at design time by dragging it from the toolbox and dropping it into the form or via code. From the smart tag you can dock the control in parent's container.

By default, the control is shown with no image icon:

WinForms RadPictureBox Default View

Customize Default Look When there is No Image

You can use the DefaultSvgImage/DefaultImage and DefaultText properties to customize both the image icon and text according to your needs:

this.radPictureBox1.DefaultSvgImage = RadSvgImage.FromFile(@"..//..//PictureBox//noimage.svg");
this.radPictureBox1.DefaultText = "No image available";

Me.RadPictureBox1.DefaultSvgImage = RadSvgImage.FromFile("..//..//PictureBox//noimage.svg")
Me.RadPictureBox1.DefaultText = "No image available"

WinForms RadPictureBox Customize Default Look

Load an Image

To load an image in RadPictureBox control you can use SvgImage or Image property:

  • Load an image:
this.radPictureBox1.Image = Image.FromFile(@"..//..//PictureBox//emoticon-happy.png");

Me.RadPictureBox1.Image = Image.FromFile("..//..//PictureBox//emoticon-happy.png")

  • Load SVG image:
this.radPictureBox1.SvgImage = RadSvgImage.FromFile(@"..//..//PictureBox//emoticon-happy.svg");

Me.RadPictureBox1.SvgImage = RadSvgImage.FromFile("..//..//PictureBox//emoticon-happy.svg")

WinForms RadPictureBox Load an Image

See Also

Telerik UI for WinForms Learning Resources

In this article