pillow-heif

Python bindings to libheif for working with HEIF images and plugin for Pillow.

Features:

• Decoding of 8, 10, 12 bit HEIC files.
• Encoding of 8, 10, 12 bit HEIC files.
• EXIF, XMP, IPTC read & write support.
• Support of multiple images in one file and a PrimaryImage attribute.
• Adding & removing thumbnails.
• Grid(tiled) image encoding, like Apple devices do.
• Reading of Depth Images.
• (beta) Reading of Auxiliary Images by johncf
• Adding HEIF support to Pillow in one line of code as a plugin.

Note: The light version pi-heif of this project is discontinued, 1.4.0 is its final release.

Install

python3 -m pip install -U pip
python3 -m pip install pillow-heif

Example of use as a Pillow plugin

from PIL import Image
from pillow_heif import register_heif_opener

register_heif_opener()

im = Image.open("image.heic")  # do whatever need with a Pillow image
im = im.rotate(13)
im.save(f"rotated_image.heic", quality=90)

16 bit PNG to 10 bit HEIF using OpenCV

import cv2
import pillow_heif

cv_img = cv2.imread("16bit_with_alpha.png", cv2.IMREAD_UNCHANGED)
heif_file = pillow_heif.from_bytes(
    mode="BGRA;16",
    size=(cv_img.shape[1], cv_img.shape[0]),
    data=bytes(cv_img)
)
heif_file.save("RGBA_10bit.heic", quality=-1)

8/10/12 bit HEIF to 8/16 bit PNG using OpenCV

import numpy as np
import cv2
import pillow_heif

heif_file = pillow_heif.open_heif("image.heic", convert_hdr_to_8bit=False, bgr_mode=True)
np_array = np.asarray(heif_file)
cv2.imwrite("image.png", np_array)

Accessing decoded image data

import pillow_heif

if pillow_heif.is_supported("image.heic"):
    heif_file = pillow_heif.open_heif("image.heic", convert_hdr_to_8bit=False)
    print("image size:", heif_file.size)
    print("image mode:", heif_file.mode)
    print("image data length:", len(heif_file.data))
    print("image data stride:", heif_file.stride)

Get decoded image data as a Numpy array

import numpy as np
import pillow_heif

if pillow_heif.is_supported("input.heic"):
    heif_file = pillow_heif.open_heif("input.heic")
    np_array = np.asarray(heif_file)

Accessing Depth Images

from PIL import Image
from pillow_heif import register_heif_opener
import numpy as np

register_heif_opener()

im = Image.open("../tests/images/heif_other/pug.heic")
if im.info["depth_images"]:
    depth_im = im.info["depth_images"][0]  # Access the first depth image (usually there will be only one).
    # Depth images are instances of `class HeifDepthImage(BaseImage)`,
    # so work with them as you would with any usual image in pillow_heif.
    # Depending on what you need the depth image for, you can convert it to a NumPy array or convert it to a Pillow image.
    pil_im = depth_im.to_pillow()
    np_im = np.asarray(depth_im)
    print(pil_im)
    print(pil_im.info["metadata"])

More Information

• Documentation
  • Installation
  • Pillow plugin
  • Using HeifFile
  • Image modes
  • Options
• Examples
• Contribute
  • Discussions
  • Issues
• Changelog

Wheels

Wheels table	macOS Intel	macOS Silicon	Windows*	musllinux*	manylinux*
CPython 3.10	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
CPython 3.11	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
CPython 3.12	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
CPython 3.13	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
CPython 3.14	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
CPython 3.14t	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
PyPy 3.11 v7.3	✅	✅	✅	N/A	✅

* x86_64, aarch64 wheels.