# Supported Formats

Note

If you just want to know if a specific extension/format is supported you can search this page using `Ctrl+F` and then type the name of the extension or format.

ImageIO reads and writes images by deligating your request to one of many backends. Example backends are pillow, ffmpeg, tifffile among others. Each backend supports its own set of formats, which is how ImageIO manages to support so many of them.

To help you navigate this format jungle, ImageIO provides various curated lists of formats depending on your use-case

- Formats by Plugin
- Video Formats

## All Formats

Below you can find an alphabetically sorted list of all extensions/file-formats that ImageIO is aware of. If an extension is listed here, it is supported. If an extension is not listed here, it may still be supported if one of the backends supports the extension/format. If you encounter the latter, please create a new issue so that we can keep below list up to date and add support for any missing formats.

Each entry in the list below follows the following format:

    extension (format_name): plugin1 plugin2 ...

where the plugins refer to imageio plugins that can handle the format. If you wish to use a specific plugin to load a format, you would use the name as specified here. For example, if you have a PNG file that you wish to open with pillow you would call:

    iio.imread("image.png", format="PNG-PIL")

Format List

Note

To complete this list we are looking for each format’s full name and a link to the spec. If you come across this information, please consider sharing it by creating a new issue.

- .264 (raw H.264 video): `pyav`

- .265 (raw HEVC video): `pyav`

- .3fr (Hasselblad raw): `RAW-FI`

- .3g2 (3GP (3GPP file format)): `pyav`

- .3g2 (3GP2 (3GPP2 file format)): `pyav`

- .3g2 (MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14)): `pyav`

- .3g2 (QuickTime / MOV): `pyav`

- .3gp (3GP (3GPP file format)): `pyav`

- .3gp (3GP2 (3GPP2 file format)): `pyav`

- .3gp (MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14)): `pyav`

- .3gp (QuickTime / MOV): `pyav`

- .A64 (a64 - video for Commodore 64): `pyav`

- .IMT (IM Tools): `pillow` `IMT-PIL`

- .MCIDAS (McIdas area file): `pillow` `MCIDAS-PIL`

- .PCX (Zsoft Paintbrush): `pillow` `PCX-FI` `PCX-PIL`

- .SPIDER: `pillow` `SPIDER-PIL`

- .XVTHUMB (Thumbnail Image): `pillow` `XVTHUMB-PIL`

- .a64 (a64 - video for Commodore 64): `pyav`

- .adp (Xilam DERF): `pyav`

- .amr (3GPP AMR): `pyav`

- .amv (AMV): `pyav`

- .apng (Animated Portable Network Graphics): `pillow` `pyav`

- .arw (Sony alpha): `RAW-FI`

- .asf (ASF (Advanced / Active Streaming Format)): `pyav`

- .asf (ASF (Advanced / Active Streaming Format)): `pyav`

- .avc (raw H.264 video): `pyav`

- .avi (Audio Video Interleave): `FFMPEG`

- .avi (AVI (Audio Video Interleaved)): `pyav`

- .avif (AV1 Image File Format): `pillow`

- .avr (AVR (Audio Visual Research)): `pyav`

- .avs (raw AVS2-P2/IEEE1857.4 video): `pyav`

- .avs2 (raw AVS2-P2/IEEE1857.4 video): `pyav`

- .avs3 (raw AVS3-P2/IEEE1857.10): `pyav`

- .bay (Casio raw format): `RAW-FI`

- .bif (Roche Digital Pathology): `tifffile`

- .blp: `pillow`

- .bmp (Bitmap): `pillow` `BMP-PIL` `BMP-FI` `ITK` `pyav` `opencv`

- .bmq (Re-Volt mipmap): `RAW-FI`

- .bmv (Discworld II BMV): `pyav`

- .bsdf (Binary Structured Data Format): `BSDF`

- .btf: `tifffile`

- .bufr (Binary Universal Form for the Representation of meteorological data): `pillow` `BUFR-PIL`

- .bw (Silicon Graphics Image): `pillow` `SGI-PIL` `SGI-FI`

- .cap (Scirra Construct): `RAW-FI`

- .cavs (raw Chinese AVS (Audio Video Standard) video): `pyav`

- .cdg (CD Graphics): `pyav`

- .cdxl (Commodore CDXL video): `pyav`

- .cgi (raw Ingenient MJPEG): `pyav`

- .chk (WebM Chunk Muxer): `pyav`

- .cif (raw video): `pyav`

- .cine (AMETEK High Speed Camera Format): `RAW-FI`

- .cpk (Sega FILM / CPK): `pyav`

- .cr2: `RAW-FI`

- .crw: `RAW-FI`

- .cs1: `RAW-FI`

- .ct (Computerized Tomography): `DICOM`

- .cur (Windows Cursor Icons): `pillow` `CUR-PIL`

- .cut (Dr. Halo): `CUT-FI`

- .dat (Video CCTV DAT): `pyav`

- .dav (Video DAV): `pyav`

- .dc2: `RAW-FI`

- .dcm (DICOM file format): `DICOM` `ITK`

- .dcr: `RAW-FI`

- .dcx (Intel DCX): `pillow` `DCX-PIL`

- .dds (DirectX Texture Container): `pillow` `DDS-FI` `DDS-PIL`

- .dib (Windows Bitmap): `pillow` `DIB-PIL`

- .dicom (DICOM file format): `ITK`

- .dif (DV (Digital Video)): `pyav`

- .dip (Device-Independent Bitmap): `opencv`

- .dng: `RAW-FI`

- .dnxhd (raw DNxHD (SMPTE VC-3)): `pyav`

- .dnxhr (raw DNxHD (SMPTE VC-3)): `pyav`

- .dpx: `pyav`

- .drc (raw Dirac): `pyav`

- .drf: `RAW-FI`

- .dsc: `RAW-FI`

- .dv (DV (Digital Video)): `pyav`

- .dvd (MPEG-2 PS (DVD VOB)): `pyav`

- .ecw (Enhanced Compression Wavelet): `GDAL`

- .emf (Windows Metafile): `pillow` `WMF-PIL`

- .eps (Encapsulated Postscript): `pillow` `EPS-PIL`

- .erf: `RAW-FI`

- .exr (OpenEXR): `EXR-FI` `pyav` `opencv`

- .f4v (3GP (3GPP file format)): `pyav`

- .f4v (3GP2 (3GPP2 file format)): `pyav`

- .f4v (F4V Adobe Flash Video): `pyav`

- .f4v (MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14)): `pyav`

- .f4v (QuickTime / MOV): `pyav`

- .fff: `RAW-FI`

- .fit (Flexible Image Transport System File): `pillow` `FITS-PIL` `FITS`

- .fits (Flexible Image Transport System File): `pillow` `FITS-PIL` `FITS` `pyav`

- .flc (Autodesk FLC Animation): `pillow` `FLI-PIL`

- .fli (Autodesk FLI Animation): `pillow` `FLI-PIL`

- .flm (Adobe Filmstrip): `pyav`

- .flv (FLV (Flash Video)): `pyav`

- .flv (live RTMP FLV (Flash Video)): `pyav`

- .fpx (Kodak FlashPix): `pillow` `FPX-PIL`

- .ftc (Independence War 2: Edge Of Chaos Texture Format): `pillow` `FTEX-PIL`

- .fts (Flexible Image Transport System File): `FITS`

- .ftu (Independence War 2: Edge Of Chaos Texture Format): `pillow` `FTEX-PIL`

- .fz (Flexible Image Transport System File): `FITS`

- .g3 (Raw fax format CCITT G.3): `G3-FI`

- .gbr (GIMP brush file): `pillow` `GBR-PIL`

- .gdcm (Grassroots DICOM): `ITK`

- .gel (Opticks Gel): `tifffile`

- .gif (Graphics Interchange Format): `pillow` `GIF-PIL` `pyav`

- .gipl (UMDS GIPL): `ITK`

- .grib (gridded meteorological data): `pillow` `GRIB-PIL`

- .gsm (raw GSM): `pyav`

- .gxf (GXF (General eXchange Format)): `pyav`

- .h261 (raw H.261): `pyav`

- .h263 (raw H.263): `pyav`

- .h264 (raw H.264 video): `pyav` `FFMPEG`

- .h265 (raw HEVC video): `pyav`

- .h26l (raw H.264 video): `pyav`

- .h5 (Hierarchical Data Format 5): `pillow` `HDF5-PIL`

- .hdf (Hierarchical Data Format 5): `pillow` `HDF5-PIL`

- .hdf5 (Hierarchical Data Format 5): `ITK`

- .hdp (JPEG Extended Range): `JPEG-XR-FI`

- .hdr (High Dynamic Range Image): `HDR-FI` `ITK` `opencv`

- .heic (High Efficiency Image File Format): `pillow`

- .hevc (raw HEVC video): `pyav`

- .ia: `RAW-FI`

- .icb: `pillow`

- .icns (Mac OS Icon File): `pillow` `ICNS-PIL`

- .ico (Windows Icon File): `pillow` `ICO-FI` `ICO-PIL` `pyav`

- .idf (iCE Draw File): `pyav`

- .iff (ILBM Interleaved Bitmap): `IFF-FI`

- .ifv (IFV CCTV DVR): `pyav`

- .iim (IPTC/NAA): `pillow` `IPTC-PIL`

- .iiq: `RAW-FI`

- .im (IFUNC Image Memory): `pillow` `IM-PIL`

- .im1: `pyav`

- .im24: `pyav`

- .im8: `pyav`

- .img: `ITK` `GDAL`

- .img.gz: `ITK`

- .imx (Simbiosis Interactive IMX): `pyav`

- .ipl (Image Processing Lab): `ITK`

- .ipu (raw IPU Video): `pyav`

- .ism (3GP (3GPP file format)): `pyav`

- .ism (3GP2 (3GPP2 file format)): `pyav`

- .ism (MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14)): `pyav`

- .ism (QuickTime / MOV): `pyav`

- .isma (3GP (3GPP file format)): `pyav`

- .isma (3GP2 (3GPP2 file format)): `pyav`

- .isma (MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14)): `pyav`

- .isma (QuickTime / MOV): `pyav`

- .ismv (3GP (3GPP file format)): `pyav`

- .ismv (3GP2 (3GPP2 file format)): `pyav`

- .ismv (MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14)): `pyav`

- .ismv (QuickTime / MOV): `pyav`

- .ivf (On2 IVF): `pyav`

- .ivr (IVR (Internet Video Recording)): `pyav`

- .j2c (JPEG 2000): `pillow` `J2K-FI` `JPEG2000-PIL` `pyav`

- .j2k (JPEG 2000): `pillow` `J2K-FI` `JPEG2000-PIL` `pyav`

- .j2k (raw MJPEG 2000 video): `pyav`

- .jfif (JPEG): `pillow` `JPEG-PIL`

- .jif (JPEG): `JPEG-FI`

- .jls: `pyav`

- .jng (JPEG Network Graphics): `JNG-FI`

- .jp2 (JPEG 2000): `pillow` `JP2-FI` `JPEG2000-PIL` `pyav` `opencv`

- .jpc (JPEG 2000): `pillow` `JPEG2000-PIL`

- .jpe (JPEG): `pillow` `JPEG-FI` `JPEG-PIL` `opencv`

- .jpeg (Joint Photographic Experts Group): `pillow` `JPEG-PIL` `JPEG-FI` `ITK` `GDAL` `pyav` `opencv`

- .jpf (JPEG 2000): `pillow` `JPEG2000-PIL`

- .jpg (Joint Photographic Experts Group): `pillow` `JPEG-PIL` `JPEG-FI` `ITK` `GDAL` `pyav` `opencv`

- .jpx (JPEG 2000): `pillow` `JPEG2000-PIL`

- .jxr (JPEG Extended Range): `JPEG-XR-FI`

- .k25: `RAW-FI`

- .kc2: `RAW-FI`

- .kdc: `RAW-FI`

- .koa (C64 Koala Graphics): `KOALA-FI`

- .kux (KUX (YouKu)): `pyav`

- .lbm (ILBM Interleaved Bitmap): `IFF-FI`

- .lfp (Lytro F01): `LYTRO-LFP`

- .lfr (Lytro Illum): `LYTRO-LFR`

- .ljpg: `pyav`

- .lsm (ZEISS LSM): `tifffile` `ITK` `TIFF`

- .lvf (LVF): `pyav`

- .m1v (raw MPEG-1 video): `pyav`

- .m2t (MPEG-TS (MPEG-2 Transport Stream)): `pyav`

- .m2ts (MPEG-TS (MPEG-2 Transport Stream)): `pyav`

- .m2v (raw MPEG-2 video): `pyav`

- .m4a (3GP (3GPP file format)): `pyav`

- .m4a (3GP2 (3GPP2 file format)): `pyav`

- .m4a (iPod H.264 MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14)): `pyav`

- .m4a (MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14)): `pyav`

- .m4a (QuickTime / MOV): `pyav`

- .m4b (3GP (3GPP file format)): `pyav`

- .m4b (3GP2 (3GPP2 file format)): `pyav`

- .m4b (iPod H.264 MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14)): `pyav`

- .m4b (MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14)): `pyav`

- .m4b (QuickTime / MOV): `pyav`

- .m4v (iPod H.264 MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14)): `pyav`

- .m4v (raw MPEG-4 video): `pyav`

- .mdc: `RAW-FI`

- .mef: `RAW-FI`

- .mgh (FreeSurfer File Format): `ITK`

- .mha (ITK MetaImage): `ITK`

- .mhd (ITK MetaImage Header): `ITK`

- .mic (Microsoft Image Composer): `pillow` `MIC-PIL`

- .mj2 (3GP (3GPP file format)): `pyav`

- .mj2 (3GP2 (3GPP2 file format)): `pyav`

- .mj2 (MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14)): `pyav`

- .mj2 (QuickTime / MOV): `pyav`

- .mjpeg (raw MJPEG video): `pyav`

- .mjpg (Loki SDL MJPEG): `pyav`

- .mjpg (MIME multipart JPEG): `pyav`

- .mjpg (raw MJPEG video): `pyav`

- .mk3d (Matroska / WebM): `pyav`

- .mk3d (WebM): `pyav`

- .mka (Matroska / WebM): `pyav`

- .mka (WebM): `pyav`

- .mks (Matroska / WebM): `pyav`

- .mks (WebM): `pyav`

- .mkv (Matroska Multimedia Container): `FFMPEG` `pyav`

- .mnc (Medical Imaging NetCDF): `ITK`

- .mnc2 (Medical Imaging NetCDF 2): `ITK`

- .mods (MobiClip MODS): `pyav`

- .moflex (MobiClip MOFLEX): `pyav`

- .mos (Leaf Raw Image Format): `RAW-FI`

- .mov (QuickTime File Format): `FFMPEG` `pyav`

- .mp4 (MPEG-4 Part 14): `FFMPEG` `pyav`

- .mpc (Musepack): `pyav`

- .mpd (DASH Muxer): `pyav`

- .mpeg (MPEG-1 Moving Picture Experts Group): `FFMPEG` `pyav`

- .mpeg (raw MPEG-1 video): `pyav`

- .mpg (Moving Picture Experts Group): `pillow` `FFMPEG` `pyav`

- .mpg (raw MPEG-1 video): `pyav`

- .mpo (JPEG Multi-Picture Format): `pillow` `MPO-PIL`

- .mpo (raw MJPEG video): `pyav`

- .mri (Magnetic resonance imaging): `DICOM`

- .mrw: `RAW-FI`

- .msp (Windows Paint): `pillow` `MSP-PIL`

- .mts (MPEG-TS (MPEG-2 Transport Stream)): `pyav`

- .mvi (Motion Pixels MVI): `pyav`

- .mxf (MXF (Material eXchange Format) Operational Pattern Atom): `pyav`

- .mxf (MXF (Material eXchange Format)): `pyav`

- .mxg (MxPEG clip): `pyav`

- .ndpi (Hamamatsu Slide Scanner): `tifffile`

- .nef: `RAW-FI`

- .nhdr: `ITK`

- .nia: `ITK`

- .nii: `ITK`

- .nii.gz (nii.gz): `ITK`

- .npz (Numpy Array): `NPZ`

- .nrrd: `ITK`

- .nrw: `RAW-FI`

- .nut (NUT): `pyav`

- .obu (AV1 Annex B): `pyav`

- .obu (AV1 low overhead OBU): `pyav`

- .ogg (Ogg): `pyav`

- .ogv (Ogg Video): `pyav`

- .orf: `RAW-FI`

- .palm: `pillow`

- .pam: `pyav`

- .pbm (Portable Bitmap): `PGM-FI` `PGMRAW-FI` `pyav` `opencv`

- .pbm (Pbmplus image): `pillow` `PPM-PIL` `PPM-FI`

- .pcd (Kodak PhotoCD): `pillow` `PCD-FI` `PCD-PIL`

- .pcoraw (PCO Camera): `tifffile`

- .pct (Macintosh PICT): `PICT-FI`

- .pcx: `pyav`

- .pdf: `pillow`

- .pef: `RAW-FI`

- .pfm: `PFM-FI` `pyav` `opencv`

- .pgm (Portable Greymap): `pillow` `PGM-FI` `PGMRAW-FI` `pyav` `opencv`

- .pgmyuv: `pyav`

- .pic (Macintosh PICT): `PICT-FI` `ITK` `opencv`

- .pict (Macintosh PICT): `PICT-FI`

- .pix: `pyav`

- .png (Portable Network Graphics): `pillow` `PNG-PIL` `PNG-FI` `ITK` `pyav` `opencv`

- .pnm (Portable Image Format): `pillow` `opencv`

- .ppm (Pbmplus image): `pillow` `PPM-PIL` `pyav`

- .ppm (Portable Pixelmap (ASCII)): `PPM-FI` `opencv`

- .ppm (Portable Pixelmap (Raw)): `PPMRAW-FI`

- .ppm: `pyav`

- .ps (Ghostscript): `pillow` `EPS-PIL`

- .psd (Adope Photoshop 2.5 and 3.0): `pillow` `PSD-PIL` `PSD-FI`

- .psp (3GP (3GPP file format)): `pyav`

- .psp (3GP2 (3GPP2 file format)): `pyav`

- .psp (MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14)): `pyav`

- .psp (PSP MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14)): `pyav`

- .psp (QuickTime / MOV): `pyav`

- .ptif (Pyramid Encoded TIFF): `tifffile`

- .ptiff (Pyramid Encoded TIFF): `tifffile`

- .ptx: `RAW-FI`

- .pxm (Portable image format): `opencv`

- .pxn: `RAW-FI`

- .pxr (PIXAR raster image): `pillow` `PIXAR-PIL`

- .qcif (raw video): `pyav`

- .qpi: `tifffile`

- .qptiff (Perkin Elmer Vectra): `tifffile`

- .qtk: `RAW-FI`

- .raf: `RAW-FI`

- .ras (Sun Raster File): `pillow` `SUN-PIL` `RAS-FI` `pyav` `opencv`

- .raw: `RAW-FI` `LYTRO-ILLUM-RAW` `LYTRO-F01-RAW`

- .rcv (VC-1 test bitstream): `pyav`

- .rdc: `RAW-FI`

- .rec (PCO Camera): `tifffile`

- .rgb (Silicon Graphics Image): `pillow` `SGI-PIL`

- .rgb (raw video): `pyav`

- .rgba (Silicon Graphics Image): `pillow` `SGI-PIL`

- .rm (RealMedia): `pyav`

- .roq (raw id RoQ): `pyav`

- .rs: `pyav`

- .rw2: `RAW-FI`

- .rwl: `RAW-FI`

- .rwz: `RAW-FI`

- .sdr2 (SDR2): `pyav`

- .ser (SER (Simple uncompressed video format for astronomical capturing)): `pyav`

- .sga (Digital Pictures SGA): `pyav`

- .sgi (Silicon Graphics Image): `pillow` `SGI-PIL` `pyav`

- .spe (SPE File Format): `SPE`

- .sr (Sun Raster File): `opencv`

- .sr2: `RAW-FI`

- .srf: `RAW-FI`

- .srw: `RAW-FI`

- .sti: `RAW-FI`

- .stk: `tifffile` `TIFF`

- .sun: `pyav`

- .sunras: `pyav`

- .svag (Konami PS2 SVAG): `pyav`

- .svs (Square SVS): `tifffile` `pyav`

- .swf (ShockWave Flash): `SWF` `pyav`

- .targa (Truevision TGA): `pillow` `TARGA-FI`

- .tf8: `tifffile`

- .tga (Truevision TGA): `pillow` `TGA-PIL` `TARGA-FI` `pyav`

- .tif (Tagged Image File): `tifffile` `TIFF` `pillow` `TIFF-PIL` `TIFF-FI` `FEI` `ITK` `GDAL` `pyav` `opencv`

- .tiff (Tagged Image File Format): `tifffile` `TIFF` `pillow` `TIFF-PIL` `TIFF-FI` `FEI` `ITK` `GDAL` `pyav` `opencv`

- .ts (MPEG-TS (MPEG-2 Transport Stream)): `pyav`

- .ty (TiVo TY Stream): `pyav`

- .ty+ (TiVo TY Stream): `pyav`

- .v (NC camera feed): `pyav`

- .v210 (Uncompressed 4:2:2 10-bit): `pyav`

- .vb (Beam Software SIFF): `pyav`

- .vc1 (raw VC-1 video): `pyav`

- .vc2 (raw Dirac): `pyav`

- .vda: `pillow`

- .viv (Vivo): `pyav`

- .vob (MPEG-2 PS (SVCD)): `pyav`

- .vob (MPEG-2 PS (VOB)): `pyav`

- .vst: `pillow`

- .vtk: `ITK`

- .wap (Wireless Bitmap): `WBMP-FI`

- .wbm (Wireless Bitmap): `WBMP-FI`

- .wbmp (Wireless Bitmap): `WBMP-FI`

- .wdp (JPEG Extended Range): `JPEG-XR-FI`

- .webm (Matroska): `FFMPEG` `pyav`

- .webp (Google WebP): `pillow` `WEBP-FI` `pyav` `opencv`

- .wmf (Windows Meta File): `pillow` `WMF-PIL`

- .wmv (Windows Media Video): `FFMPEG`

- .wmv (ASF (Advanced / Active Streaming Format)): `pyav`

- .wmv (ASF (Advanced / Active Streaming Format)): `pyav`

- .wtv (Windows Television (WTV)): `pyav`

- .xbm (X11 Bitmap): `pillow` `XBM-PIL` `XBM-FI` `pyav`

- .xface: `pyav`

- .xl (Commodore CDXL video): `pyav`

- .xmv (Microsoft XMV): `pyav`

- .xpm (X11 Pixel Map): `pillow` `XPM-PIL` `XPM-FI`

- .xwd: `pyav`

- .y: `pyav`

- .y4m (YUV4MPEG pipe): `pyav`

- .yop (Psygnosis YOP): `pyav`

- .yuv (raw video): `pyav`

- .yuv10 (Uncompressed 4:2:2 10-bit): `pyav`

- .zif (Zoomify Image Format): `tifffile`

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