#### Previous topic

scipy.signal.correlate

#### Next topic

scipy.signal.convolve2d

# scipy.signal.fftconvolve

`scipy.signal.``fftconvolve`(in1, in2, mode='full')

  Convolve two N-dimensional arrays using FFT.

  Convolve in1 and in2 using the fast Fourier transform method, with the output size determined by the mode argument.

  This is generally much faster than `convolve` for large arrays (n > ~500), but can be slower when only a few output values are needed, and can only output float arrays (int or object array inputs will be cast to float).

  As of v0.19, `convolve` automatically chooses this method or the direct method based on an estimation of which is faster.

  Parameters:

  in1 : array_like

  > First input.

  in2 : array_like

  > Second input. Should have the same number of dimensions as in1. If operating in ‘valid’ mode, either in1 or in2 must be at least as large as the other in every dimension.

  mode : str {‘full’, ‘valid’, ‘same’}, optional

  > A string indicating the size of the output:

  > `full`

  >   The output is the full discrete linear convolution of the inputs. (Default)

  > `valid`

  >   The output consists only of those elements that do not rely on the zero-padding.

  > `same`

  >   The output is the same size as in1, centered with respect to the ‘full’ output.

  Returns:

  out : array

  > An N-dimensional array containing a subset of the discrete linear convolution of in1 with in2.

  Examples

  Autocorrelation of white noise is an impulse.

      >>> from scipy import signal
      >>> sig = np.random.randn(1000)
      >>> autocorr = signal.fftconvolve(sig, sig[::-1], mode='full')

      >>> import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
      >>> fig, (ax_orig, ax_mag) = plt.subplots(2, 1)
      >>> ax_orig.plot(sig)
      >>> ax_orig.set_title('White noise')
      >>> ax_mag.plot(np.arange(-len(sig)+1,len(sig)), autocorr)
      >>> ax_mag.set_title('Autocorrelation')
      >>> fig.tight_layout()
      >>> fig.show()

  Gaussian blur implemented using FFT convolution. Notice the dark borders around the image, due to the zero-padding beyond its boundaries. The `convolve2d` function allows for other types of image boundaries, but is far slower.

      >>> from scipy import misc
      >>> face = misc.face(gray=True)
      >>> kernel = np.outer(signal.gaussian(70, 8), signal.gaussian(70, 8))
      >>> blurred = signal.fftconvolve(face, kernel, mode='same')

      >>> fig, (ax_orig, ax_kernel, ax_blurred) = plt.subplots(3, 1,
      ...                                                      figsize=(6, 15))
      >>> ax_orig.imshow(face, cmap='gray')
      >>> ax_orig.set_title('Original')
      >>> ax_orig.set_axis_off()
      >>> ax_kernel.imshow(kernel, cmap='gray')
      >>> ax_kernel.set_title('Gaussian kernel')
      >>> ax_kernel.set_axis_off()
      >>> ax_blurred.imshow(blurred, cmap='gray')
      >>> ax_blurred.set_title('Blurred')
      >>> ax_blurred.set_axis_off()
      >>> fig.show()

  (Source code)