ImageMagick

A Word about Colorspaces • Supported Formats • Pseudo Formats • Built-in Images • Built-in Patterns • Embedded Profiles

ImageMagick uses an ASCII string known as magick (e.g. GIF) to identify file formats, algorithms acting as formats, built-in patterns, and embedded profile types. Support for some of the formats are delegated to libraries or external programs. The Installation Guide describes where to find these distributions and any special configuration options required.

To get a complete listing of which image formats are supported on your system, type

magick identify -list format

On some platforms, ImageMagick automagically processes these extensions: .gz for Zip compression, .Z for Linux compression, .bz2 for block compression, and .pgp for PGP encryption. For example, a PNM image called image.pnm.gz is automagically uncompressed.

A Word about Colorspaces

A majority of the image formats assume an sRGB colorspace (e.g. JPEG, PNG, etc.). A few support only linear RGB (e.g. EXR, DPX, CIN, HDR) or only linear GRAY (e.g. PGM). A few formats support CMYK. Then there is the occasional format that also supports LAB (that is CieLAB) (e.g. TIFF, PSD, JPG, JP2). To determine the colorspace of your image, use this command:

$ magick identify -verbose image.jpg Image: image.jpg Format: JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group JFIF format) ... Colorspace: sRGB

OR use the appropriate percent escape

$ magick image.jpg -print "%[colorspace]\n" null: sRGB

When processing an image, be aware of the colorspace. Many image processing algorithms assume a linear RGB colorspace. Although you may get satisfactory results processing in the sRGB colorspace, you may get improved results in linear RGB (essentially sRGB with the gamma function removed). For example,

magick image.jpg -colorspace RGB -resize 50% -colorspace sRGB resize.jpg

As of IM 6.7.8-2 one can properly work in LAB colorspace whether or not Imagemagick is HDRI-enabled. Essentially the A and B channels are stored with a 50% gray bias, to allow it to handle the negatives required by the format.

magick lab.tif -resize 50% resize.jpg

Again, it may not make sense for some image processing operators to work directly in LAB space, but ImageMagick permits it and generally returns reasonable results.

Supported Image Formats

ImageMagick supports reading over 100 major file formats (not including sub-formats). The following table provides a summary of the supported image formats.

Requires jpegsrc.v8c.tar.gz. You can set quality scaling for luminance and chrominance separately (e.g. -quality 90,70). You can optionally define the DCT method, for example to specify the float method, use -define jpeg:dct-method=float. By default we compute optimal Huffman coding tables. Specify -define jpeg:optimize-coding=false to use the default Huffman tables. Specify -define jpeg:arithmetic-coding=true to enable Huffman optimization. Two other options include -define jpeg:block-smoothing and -define jpeg:fancy-upsampling. Set the sampling factor with -define jpeg:sampling-factor. You can size the image with jpeg:size, for example -define jpeg:size=128x128. To restrict the maximum file size, use jpeg:extent, for example -define jpeg:extent=400KB. To define one or more custom quantization tables, use -define jpeg:q-table=filename. These values are multiplied by -quality argument divided by 100.0. To avoid reading a particular associated image profile, use -define profile:skip=name (e.g. profile:skip=ICC). | | JSON | W | JavaScript Object Notation, a lightweight data-interchange format | Include additional attributes about the image with these defines: -define json:locate, -define json:limit, -define json:moments, or -define json:features. Specify the JSON model schema version with -define json:version. The current version is 1.0. Any version less than 1.0, returns the original JSON output which included misspelled labels. | | JXL | RW | JPEG XL image coding system | Requires the JPEG XL delegate library. Use -define jxl:effort=integer to set the effort and -define jxl:decoding-speed=integer to set the decoding speed. To specify a single precision floating-point format, use -define quantum:format=floating-point. Set the depth to 32 for single precision floats and 16 for half-precision. | | JXR | RW | JPEG extended range | Requires the jxrlib delegate library. Put the JxrDecApp and JxrEncApp applications in your execution path. | | KERNEL | W | Morphology kernel format | format suitable for a morphology kernel | | MAN | R | Linux reference manual pages | Requires that GNU groff and Ghostcript are installed. | | MAT | R | MATLAB image format | | | MIFF | RW | Magick multispectral image file format | This format persists all image attributes known to ImageMagick. To specify a single precision floating-point format, use -define quantum:format=floating-point. Set the depth to 32 for single precision floats, 64 for double precision, and 16 for half-precision. | | MONO | RW | Bi-level bitmap in least-significant-byte first order | | | MNG | RW | Multiple-image Network Graphics | A PNG-like Image Format Supporting Multiple Images, Animation and Transparent JPEG. Requires libpng-1.0.11 or later, libpng-1.2.5 or later recommended. An interframe delay of 0 generates one frame with each additional layer composited on top. For motion, be sure to specify a non-zero delay. | | M2V | RW | Motion Picture Experts Group file interchange format (version 2) | Requires ffmpeg. | | MPEG | RW | Motion Picture Experts Group file interchange format (version 1) | Requires ffmpeg. | | MPC | RW | Magick Pixel Cache image file format | The most efficient data processing pattern is a write-once, read-many-times pattern. The image is generated or copied from source, then various analyses are performed on the image pixels over time. MPC supports this pattern. MPC is the native in-memory ImageMagick uncompressed file format. This file format is identical to that used by ImageMagick to represent images in memory and is read by mapping the file directly into memory. The MPC format is not portable and is not suitable as an archive format. It is suitable as an intermediate format for high-performance image processing. The MPC format requires two files to support one image. Image attributes are written to a file with the extension .mpc, whereas, image pixels are written to a file with the extension .cache. | | MPO | R | Multi-picture Object | | | MPR | RW | Magick Persistent Registry | This format permits you to write to and read images from memory. The filename is the registry key. The image persists until you explicitly delete it or the program exits. For example, let's use the MPR to create a checkerboard:

magick \( -size 15x15 canvas:black canvas:white -append \) \ \( +clone -flip \) +append -write mpr:checkers +delete \ -size 240x240 tile:mpr:checkers -delete registry:checkers board.png

| | MRW | R | Sony (Minolta) Raw Image File | Set -define dng:use-camera-wb=true to use the RAW-embedded color profile for Sony cameras. | | MSL | RW | Magick Scripting Language | MSL is the XML-based scripting language supported by the conjure utility. MSL requires the libxml2 delegate library. | | MTV | RW | MTV Raytracing image format | | | MVG | RW | Magick Vector Graphics. | The native ImageMagick vector metafile format. A text file containing vector drawing commands accepted by magick's -draw option. | | NEF | R | Nikon Digital SLR Camera Raw Image File | | | ORF | R | Olympus Digital Camera Raw Image File | | | ORA | R | open exchange format for layered raster based graphics | | | OTB | RW | On-the-air Bitmap | | | P7 | RW | Xv's Visual Schnauzer thumbnail format | | | PALM | RW | Palm pixmap | | | PAM | W | Common 2-dimensional bitmap format | | | CLIPBOARD | RW | Windows Clipboard | Only available under Microsoft Windows. | | PBM | RW | Portable bitmap format (black and white) | | | PCD | RW | Photo CD | The maximum resolution written is 768x512 pixels since larger images require huffman compression (which is not supported). Use -bordercolor to specify the border color (e.g. -bordercolor black). | | PCDS | RW | Photo CD | Decode with the sRGB color tables. | | PCL | W | HP Page Control Language | Use -define to specify fit to page option (e.g. -define pcl:fit-to-page=true). | | PCX | RW | ZSoft IBM PC Paintbrush file | | | PDB | RW | Palm Database ImageViewer Format | | | PDF | RW | Portable Document Format | Requires Ghostscript to read. By default, ImageMagick sets the page size to the MediaBox. Some PDF files, however, have a CropBox or TrimBox that is smaller than the MediaBox and may include white space, registration or cutting marks outside the CropBox or TrimBox. To force ImageMagick to use the CropBox or TrimBox rather than the MediaBox, use -define (e.g. -define pdf:use-cropbox=true or -define pdf:use-trimbox=true). Use -density to improve the appearance of your PDF rendering (e.g. -density 300x300). To specify direct conversion from Postscript to PDF, use -define delegate:bimodel=true. Use -define pdf:fit-page=true to scale to the page size. To immediately stop processing upon an error, set -define pdf:stop-on-error to true. To set the page direction preferences to right-to-left, try -define pdf:page-direction=right-to-left. By default, the PDF is printed using "screen" for annotations and images. Use -define pdf:printed=true to instead utilize the printer options. Use -alpha remove to remove transparency. When writing to a PDF, thumbnails are included by default. Generate thumbnails with -define pdf:thumbnail=true. To enable interpolation when rendering, use -define pdf:interpolate=true. | | PEF | R | Pentax Electronic File | Requires an explicit image format otherwise the image is interpreted as a TIFF image (e.g. pef:image.pef). | | PES | R | Embrid Embroidery Format | | | PFA | R | Postscript Type 1 font (ASCII) | Opening as file returns a preview image. | | PFB | R | Postscript Type 1 font (binary) | Opening as file returns a preview image. | | PFM | RW | Portable float map format | | | PGM | RW | Portable graymap format (gray scale) | | | PHM | RW | Portable float map format 16-bit half | | | PICON | RW | Personal Icon | | | PICT | RW | Apple Macintosh QuickDraw/PICT file | | | PIX | R | Alias/Wavefront RLE image format | | | PNG | RW | Portable Network Graphics | Requires libpng-1.0.11 or later, libpng-1.2.5 or later recommended. The PNG specification does not support pixels-per-inch units, only pixels-per-centimeter. To avoid reading a particular associated image profile, use -define profile:skip=name (e.g. profile:skip=ICC). Set the maximum chunk size with -define png:chunk-malloc-max=value. | | PNG8 | RW | Portable Network Graphics | 8-bit indexed with optional binary transparency | | PNG00 | RW | Portable Network Graphics | PNG inheriting subformat from original if possible | | PNG24 | RW | Portable Network Graphics | opaque or binary transparent 24-bit RGB | | PNG32 | RW | Portable Network Graphics | opaque or transparent 32-bit RGBA | | PNG48 | RW | Portable Network Graphics | opaque or binary transparent 48-bit RGB | | PNG64 | RW | Portable Network Graphics | opaque or transparent 64-bit RGB | | PNM | RW | Portable anymap | PNM is a family of formats supporting portable bitmaps (PBM) , graymaps (PGM), and pixmaps (PPM). There is no file format associated with pnm itself. If PNM is used as the output format specifier, then ImageMagick automagically selects the most appropriate format to represent the image. The default is to write the binary version of the formats. Use -compress none to write the ASCII version of the formats. | | POCKETMOD | RW | Pocketmod personal organizer format | Example usage: magick -density 300 pages?.pdf pocketmod:organize.pdf | | PPM | RW | Portable pixmap format (color) | | | PS | RW | Adobe PostScript file | Requires Ghostscript to read. To force ImageMagick to respect the crop box, use -define (e.g. -define eps:use-cropbox=true). Use -density to improve the appearance of your Postscript rendering (e.g. -density 300x300). Use -alpha remove to remove transparency. To specify direct conversion from PDF to Postscript, use -define delegate:bimodel=true. | | PS2 | RW | Adobe Level II PostScript file | Requires Ghostscript to read. | | PS3 | RW | Adobe Level III PostScript file | Requires Ghostscript to read. | | PSB | RW | Adobe Large Document Format | | | PSD | RW | Adobe Photoshop multispectral bitmap file | Use -define psd:alpha-unblend=off to disable alpha blending in the merged image. Use -define psd:additional-info=all|selective to transfer additional information from the input PSD file to output PSD file. The 'selective' option will preserve all additional information that is not related to the geometry of the image. The 'all' option should only be used when the geometry of the image has not been changed. This option is helpful when transferring non-simple layers, such as adjustment layers from the input PSD file to the output PSD file. This define is available as of Imagemagick version 6.9.5-8. Use -define psd:preserve-opacity-mask=true to preserve the opacity mask of a layer and add it back to the layer when the image is saved. | | PTIF | RW | Pyramid encoded TIFF | Multi-resolution TIFF containing successively smaller versions of the image down to the size of an icon. Use -define ptif:pyramid to specify the min-base and levels of the pyramid, e.g. 64x4. | | PWP | R | Seattle File Works multi-image file | | | QOI | RW | Quite OK Image Format | Fast, lossless image compression. | | RAD | R | Radiance image file | Requires that ra_ppm from the Radiance software package be installed. | | RAF | R | Fuji CCD-RAW Graphic File | | | RAW | R | Raw | | | RGB | RW | Raw red, green, and blue samples | Use -size and -depth to specify the image width, height, and depth. To specify a single precision floating-point format, use -define quantum:format=floating-point. Set the depth to 32 for single precision floats, 64 for double precision, and 16 for half-precision. | | RGB565 | R | Raw red, green, blue pixels in the 5-6-5 format | Use -size to specify the image width and height. | | RGBA | RW | Raw red, green, blue, and alpha samples | Use -size and -depth to specify the image width, height, and depth. To specify a single precision floating-point format, use -define quantum:format=floating-point. Set the depth to 32 for single precision floats, 64 for double precision, and 16 for half-precision. | | RGF | RW | LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Robot Graphics File | | | RLA | R | Alias/Wavefront image file | | | RLE | R | Utah Run length encoded image file | | | SCT | R | Scitex Continuous Tone Picture | | | SFW | R | Seattle File Works image | | | SF3 | R | The SF3 image format is part of the Simple File Format Family. | SF3 is designed to be lightweight and easy to parse, with a human-readable text-based structure that focuses on simplicity over compression. It’s especially useful for fast prototyping or environments where minimal overhead is key. | | SGI | RW | Irix RGB image | | | SHTML | W | Hypertext Markup Language client-side image map | Used to write HTML clickable image maps based on a the output of montage or a format which supports tiled images such as MIFF. | | SID, MrSID | R | Multiresolution seamless image | Requires the mrsidgeodecode command line utility that decompresses MG2 or MG3 SID image files. | | SPARSE-COLOR | W | Raw text file | Format compatible with the -sparse-color option. Lists only non-fully-transparent pixels. | | STRIMG | RW | String to images and back | | | SUN | RW | SUN Rasterfile | | | SVG | RW | Scalable Vector Graphics | By default, ImageMagick renders SVGs with inkscape if it is in your execution path; otherwise RSVG. If neither is available, ImageMagick reverts to its internal SVG renderer (called MSVG). The default resolution is 96 dpi. Use the -size command line option to specify the maximum width and height. (-size is currently ignored by the Inkscape renderer due to a limitation on the Inkscape side). The SVG standard expects to draw over a transparent background. Set -background none to comply with the standard. If you want to substitute entities and you trust the SVG source, enable this option: -define svg:substitute-entities=true. If you want to render a very large SVG and you trust the source, enable this option: -define svg:parse-huge=true. Enable embedding if your SVG embeds another SVG and you trust the source: -define svg:embedding=true. If RSVG is installed and you want to render an SVG using RSVG, add rsvg: just before the file name. If you want to render an SVG using MSVG, add msvg: just before the file name. | | TEXT | R | text file | Requires an explicit format specifier to read, e.g. text:README.txt. | | TGA | RW | Truevision Targa image | Also known as formats ICB, VDA, and VST. Use -define tga:preserve-orientation=true to preserve the image orientation. | | TIFF | RW | Tagged image file multispectral format | Also known as TIF. Requires tiff-v3.6.1.tar.gz or later. Use -define to specify the rows per strip (e.g. -define tiff:rows-per-strip=8). To define the tile geometry, use for example, -define tiff:tile-geometry=128x128. To specify a signed format, use -define quantum:format=signed. To specify a single-precision floating-point format, use -define quantum:format=floating-point. Set the depth to 64 for a double-precision floating-point format. Use -define quantum:polarity=min-is-black or -define quantum:polarity=min-is-white toggle the photometric interpretation for a bilevel image. Specify the extra samples as associated or unassociated alpha with, for example, -define tiff:alpha=unassociated. Set the fill order with -define tiff:fill-order=msb|lsb. Set the TIFF endianness with -define tiff:endian=msb|lsb. Use -define tiff:exif-properties=false to skip reading the EXIF properties. Use -define tiff:gps-properties=false to skip reading the GPS properties. You can set a number of TIFF software attributes including document name, host computer, artist, timestamp, make, model, software, and copyright. For example, -set tiff:software "My Company". If you want to ignore certain TIFF tags, use this option: -define tiff:ignore-tags=comma-separated-list-of-tag-IDs. Since version 6.9.1-4 there is support for reading photoshop layers in TIFF files, this can be disabled with -define tiff:ignore-layers=true. To preserve compression of the source image, use: -define tiff:preserve-compression=true. | | TIM | R | PSX TIM file | | | TTF | R | TrueType font file | Requires freetype 2. Opening as file returns a preview image. Use -set if you do not want to hint glyph outlines after their scaling to device pixels (e.g. -set type:hinting off). | | TXT | RW | Multispectral raw text file | Use -define to specify the color compliance (e.g. -define txt:compliance=css). | | UBRL | W | Unicode BRaiLle | Uses juxtaposition of 8-dot braille patterns (thus 8x2 dot matrices) to reproduce images, using the Unicode Braille encoding. | | UBRL6 | W | Unicode BRaiLle 6 dots | Uses juxtaposition of 6-dot braille patterns (thus 6x2 dot matrices) to reproduce images, using the Unicode Braille encoding. | | UHDR | RW | Ultra HDR | Requires the libultrahdr delegate library. Recognized defines include uhdr:hdr-color-gamut, uhdr:hdr-color-transfer, uhdr:sdr-color-gamut, uhdr:gainmap-quality, uhdr:gainmap-gamma, uhdr:gainmap-min-content-boost, uhdr:gainmap-max-content-boost, and uhdr:target-display-peak-brightness. | | UIL | W | X-Motif UIL table | | | UYVY | RW | Interleaved YUV raw image | Use -size and -depth command line options to specify width and height. Use -sampling-factor to set the desired subsampling (e.g. -sampling-factor 4:2:2). | | VICAR | RW | VICAR rasterfile format | | | VIDEO | RW | Various video formats | Video formats such as APNG, AVI, MP4, WEBM, etc. Refer to defines for a description of these defines: video:intermediate-format, video:pixel-format, and video:vsync defines, that can affect the operation on these video formats. | | | VIFF | RW | Khoros Visualization Image File Format | | | WBMP | RW | Wireless bitmap | Support for uncompressed monochrome only. | | WDP | RW | JPEG extended range | Requires the jxrlib delegate library. Put the JxrDecApp and JxrEncApp applications in your execution path. | | WEBP | RW | Weppy image format | Requires the WEBP delegate library. The muxing delegate library is required to read animated Webp image containers. Specify the encoding options with the -define option See WebP Encoding Options for more details. | | WMF | R | Windows Metafile | Requires libwmf. By default, renders WMF files using the dimensions specified by the metafile header. Use the -density option to adjust the output resolution, and thereby adjust the output size. The default output resolution is 72DPI so -density 144 results in an image twice as large as the default. Use -background color to specify the WMF background color (default white) or -texture filename to specify a background texture image. | | WPG | R | Word Perfect Graphics File | | | X | RW | display or import an image to or from an X11 server | Use -define to obtain the image from the root window (e.g. -define x:screen=true). Set x:silent=true to turn off the beep when importing an image. | | XBM | RW | X Windows system bitmap, black and white only | Used by the X Windows System to store monochrome icons. | | XCF | R | GIMP image | | | XPM | RW | X Windows system pixmap | Also known as PM. Used by the X Windows System to store color icons. | | XWD | RW | X Windows system window dump | Used by the X Windows System to save/display screen dumps. | | X3F | R | Sigma Camera RAW Picture File | | | YAML | W | human-readable data-serialization language | Include additional attributes about the image with these defines: -define yaml:locate, -define yaml:limit, -define yaml:moments, or -define yaml:features. Specify the JSON model schema version with -define yaml:version. The current version is 1.0. | | YCbCr | RW | Raw Y, Cb, and Cr samples | Use -size and -depth to specify the image width, height, and depth. | | YCbCrA | RW | Raw Y, Cb, Cr, and alpha samples | Use -size and -depth to specify the image width, height, and depth. | | YUV | RW | CCIR 601 4:1:1 | Use -size and -depth command line options to specify width, height, and depth. Use -sampling-factor to set the desired subsampling (e.g. -sampling-factor 4:2:2). |

Pseudo-image Formats

ImageMagick supports a number of image format specifications which refer to images prepared via an algorithm, or input/output targets. The following table lists these pseudo-image formats:

Built-in Images

ImageMagick includes a number of built-in (embedded) images which may be referenced as if they were an image file. The magick: format tag may be used via the syntax magick:name to request an embedded image (e.g. magick:logo). For backwards compatibility, the image specifications GRANITE:, LOGO:, NETSCAPE:, and ROSE: may also be used to request images with those names.

Built-in Patterns

ImageMagick includes a number of built-in (embedded) patterns which may be referenced as if they were an image file. The pattern: format tag may be used via the syntax pattern:name to request an embedded pattern (e.g. pattern:checkerboard). The pattern size is controlled with the -size command line option.

Embedded Image Profiles

ImageMagick provides a number of format identifiers which are used to add, remove, and save embedded profiles for images which can support embedded profiles. Image types which may contain embedded profiles are TIFF, JPEG, and PDF.

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