8. Supported file formats

These are the kinds of image files supported by the PIL. The first column gives the PIL file type code, as used in the Image.format attribute and the Image.save() method (although not all types can be saved). The second column shows the file extensions associated with that type. The next two columns show which modes can be read (if any) and written (if any), or the word “None” if that file type cannot be read or written.

Type	Extensions	Read modes	Write modes	Remarks
`"BMP"`	`.bmp .dib`	`1 L P RGB`	`1 L P RGB`
`"DCX"`	`.dcx`	`1 L P RGB`	None	Fax format. Only the first image is read.
`"EPS"`	`.eps .ps`	None	`L RGB`	Encapsulated PostScript
`"GIF"`	`.gif`	`P`	`P`
`"IM"`	`.im`	All	All	Used by LabEye and other applications.
`"JPEG"`	`.jpg .jpe .jpeg`	`L RGB CMYK`	`L RGB CMYK`
`"PCD"`	`.pcd`	`RGB`	None	Photo CD format; will read the 768x512 resolution.
`"PCX"`	`.pcx`	`1 L P RGB`	`1 L P RGB`
`"PDF"`	`.pdf`	None	`1 RGB`	Adobe Page Description Format.
`"PNG"`	`.png`	`1 L P RGB RGBA`	`1 L P RGB RGBA`	Portable Network Graphics format.
`"PPM"`	`.pbm .pgm .ppm`	`1 L RGB`	`1 L RGB`
`"PSD"`	`.psd`	`P`	None	Photoshop format.
`"TIFF"`	`.tif .tiff`	`1 L RGB CMYK`	`1 L RGB CMYK`
`"XBM"`	`.xbm`	`1`	`1`	X bitmap files.
`"XPM"`	`.xpm`	`P`	`P`	X pixmap files with up to 256 colors.

This table includes only some of the more common image formats. Refer to the online documentation for a full list.

Python Imaging Library (PIL)

8. Supported file formats