Showing an image from console in Python

Using the awesome Pillow library:

>>> from PIL import Image                                                                                
>>> img = Image.open('test.png')
>>> img.show() 

This will open the image in your default image viewer.


Since you are probably running Windows (from looking at your tags), this would be the easiest way to open and show an image file from the console without installing extra stuff like PIL.

import os
os.system('start pic.png')

In Xterm-compatible terminals, you can show the image directly in the terminal. See my answer to "PPM image to ASCII art in Python"

ImageMagick's "logo:" image in Xterm (show picture in new tab for full size viewing)


In a new window using Pillow/PIL

Install Pillow (or PIL), e.g.:

$ pip install pillow

Now you can

from PIL import Image
with Image.open('path/to/file.jpg') as img:
    img.show()

Using native apps

Other common alternatives include running xdg-open or starting the browser with the image path:

import webbrowser
webbrowser.open('path/to/file.jpg')

Inline a Linux console

If you really want to show the image inline in the console and not as a new window, you may do that but only in a Linux console using fbi see ask Ubuntu or else use ASCII-art like CACA.

Tags:

Python

Image