ImageMagick uses an ASCII string known as magick (e.g., GIF) to identify file formats, algorithms, built-in patterns, and embedded profiles.
To get a complete listing of which image formats are supported on your system, run:
$ magick identify -list format
On compatible platforms, extensions like .gz, .Z, .bz2, and .pgp are uncompressed or decrypted automagically.
A Word about Colorspaces
Most image formats assume an sRGB colorspace, while others support linear RGB, linear GRAY, CMYK, or LAB. To determine your image colorspace, use:
$ magick identify -verbose image.jpg
...
Colorspace: sRGB
...
Colorspace: sRGB
$ magick image.jpg -print "%[colorspace]\n" null:
sRGB
sRGB
Supported Image Formats
Complete directory of all major file formats supported by ImageMagick.
| Tag | Mode | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| AAI | RW | AAI Dune image | |
| AI | RW | Adobe Illustrator CS2 | |
| APNG | RW | Animated Portable Network Graphics | Requires explicit specifier (apng:myImage.apng) and ffmpeg. |
| ART | RW | PFS: 1st Publisher | Originally used on Macintosh/PFS: 1st Publisher clip art. |
| ARW | R | Sony Digital Camera Alpha Raw Image Format | Set -define dng:use-camera-wb=true to use embedded profile. |
| AVI | R | Microsoft Audio/Visual Interleaved | |
| AVIF | RW | Format derived from keyframes of AV1 video | |
| AVS | RW | AVS X image | |
| BAYER | RW | Raw mosaiced samples | Use size and depth parameters; support for floats via quantum:format. |
| BPG | RW | Better Portable Graphics | Use quality option. |
| BMP, BMP2, BMP3 | RW | Microsoft Windows bitmap | Default version 4. Use BMP3/BMP2 for versions 3 and 2. |
| BRF | W | Braille Ready Format | 6-dot braille matrix encoding. |
| CALS | R | Continuous Acquisition and Life-cycle Support Type 1 | US military blueprint archive format. |
| CIN | RW | Kodak Cineon Image Format | Use -set for gamma, black/white points, and cineon properties. |
| CIP | W | Cisco IP phone image format | |
| CMYK | RW | Raw cyan, magenta, yellow, and black samples | Use size/depth; supports float formats. |
| CMYKA | RW | Raw cyan, magenta, yellow, black, and alpha samples | Supports float formats via quantum:format. |
| CR2 | R | Canon Digital Camera Raw Image Format | Requires explicit specifier (cr2:image.cr2). |
| CRW | R | Canon Digital Camera Raw Image Format | |
| CUBE | R | Color grading preset lookup table | Pixel-by-pixel replacement mapping. |
| CUR | R | Microsoft Cursor Icon | |
| CUT | R | DR Halo | |
| C2PA | R | C2PA Provenance Metadata | |
| DCM | R | Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) | Medical X-ray support; handles window center/width tags. |
| DCR | R | Digital Camera Raw Image File | Use DCRAW delegate program. |
| DCX | RW | ZSoft IBM PC multi-page Paintbrush image | |
| DDS | RW | Microsoft Direct Draw Surface | Compression defines like dxt1, dxt5, and mipmaps. |
| DEBUG | W | Raw pixel debug file | For developers. |
| DIB | RW | Microsoft Windows Device Independent Bitmap | BMP file without BMP header. |
| DJVU | R | DjVu Document Format | |
| DMR | RW | Digital media repository | Requires MagickCache delegate library. |
| DNG | R | Digital Negative | Requires explicit specifier (dng:image.dng). |
| DOT | R | Graph Visualization | Layout engine options via defines. |
| DPX | RW | SMPTE Digital Moving Picture Exchange 2.0 | Gamma and black/white point controls. |
| EMF | R | Microsoft Enhanced Metafile (32-bit) | Windows only; size option supported. |
| EPDF | RW | Encapsulated Portable Document Format | |
| EPI | RW | Adobe Encapsulated PostScript Interchange | Requires Ghostscript. |
| EPS | RW | Adobe Encapsulated PostScript | Requires Ghostscript. |
| EPS2 | W | Adobe Level II Encapsulated PostScript | Requires Ghostscript. |
| EPS3 | W | Adobe Level III Encapsulated PostScript | Requires Ghostscript. |
| EPSF | RW | Adobe Encapsulated PostScript | Requires Ghostscript. |
| EPSI | RW | Adobe Encapsulated PostScript Interchange format | Requires Ghostscript. |
| EPT | RW | Encapsulated PostScript with TIFF preview | Requires Ghostscript. |
| EXR | RW | Industrial Light & Magic High Dynamic-Range | Requires OpenEXR library. |
| FARBFELD | RW | Farbfeld lossless image format | sRGB 16-bit RGBA lossless format. |
| FAX | RW | Group 3 TIFF | Fixed width 1728; non-square pixels. |
| FITS | RW | Flexible Image Transport System | Supports single and double-precision floats. |
| FL32 | RW | FilmLight floating point image format | |
| FLIF | RW | Free Lossless Image Format | |
| FPX | RW | FlashPix Format | Multi-resolution pyramid storage; requires FlashPix SDK. |
| FTXT | RW | Multispectral channels as formatted text | |
| GIF | RW | CompuServe Graphics Interchange Format | 8-bit RGB PseudoColor up to 256 palette entries. |
| GPLT | R | Gnuplot plot files | Requires gnuplot. |
| GRAY | RW | Raw gray samples | Supports scanline padding and float/signed options. |
| GRAYA | RW | Raw gray and alpha samples | Supports float configurations. |
| GROUP4 | RW | Raw CCITT Group 4 samples | Use size option. |
| HDR | RW | Radiance RGBE image format | High dynamic range support. |
| HEIC | RW | Apple High Efficiency Image Format | Requires libheif delegate library. |
| HPGL | R | HP-GL plotter language | Requires hp2xx. |
| HRZ | RW | Slow Scan TeleVision | |
| HTML | RW | HTML with client-side image map | Requires html2ps to read. |
| ICO | R | Microsoft icon (ICON) | |
| INFO | W | Format and characteristics of the image | |
| ISOBRL | W | ISO/TR 11548-1 Braille (8-dot) | |
| ISOBRL6 | W | ISO/TR 11548-1 Braille (6-dot) | |
| JBIG | RW | Joint Bi-level Image experts Group (BIE, JBG) | Requires jbigkit. |
| JNG | RW | Multiple-image Network Graphics | JPEG in PNG-style wrapper with transparency. |
| JP2 | RW | JPEG-2000 JP2 File Format Syntax | Encoding options via defines. |
| JPT | RW | JPEG-2000 Code Stream Syntax | Encoding options via defines. |
| J2C | RW | JPEG-2000 Code Stream Syntax | Encoding options via defines. |
| J2K | RW | JPEG-2000 Code Stream Syntax | Encoding options via defines. |
| JPEG | RW | Joint Photographic Experts Group JFIF format | Lossy compression; quality scaling, Huffman, and DCT options. |
| JSON | W | JavaScript Object Notation data-interchange | Supports attributes, moments, and features defines. |
| JXL | RW | JPEG XL image coding system | Requires JPEG XL delegate library. |
| JXR | RW | JPEG extended range | Requires jxrlib. |
| KERNEL | W | Morphology kernel format | |
| MAN | R | Linux reference manual pages | Requires groff and Ghostscript. |
| MAT | R | MATLAB image format | |
| MIFF | RW | Magick multispectral image file format | Persists all image attributes and channel data. |
| MONO | RW | Bi-level bitmap (LSB order) | |
| MNG | RW | Multiple-image Network Graphics | PNG-like multi-image animation container. |
| M2V | RW | MPEG-2 video format | Requires ffmpeg. |
| MPEG | RW | MPEG-1 video format | Requires ffmpeg. |
| MPC | RW | Magick Pixel Cache image file format | Native in-memory uncompressed cache format. |
| MPO | R | Multi-picture Object | |
| MPR | RW | Magick Persistent Registry | Read/write images directly in memory via registry keys. |
| MRW | R | Sony (Minolta) Raw Image File | Embedded profile options via defines. |
| MSL | RW | Magick Scripting Language | XML scripting for conjure utility; requires libxml2. |
| MTV | RW | MTV Raytracing image format | |
| MVG | RW | Magick Vector Graphics | Native vector drawing metafile format. |
| NEF | R | Nikon Digital SLR Camera Raw Image File | |
| ORF | R | Olympus Digital Camera Raw Image File | |
| ORA | R | OpenRaster layered graphics exchange format | |
| OTB | RW | On-the-air Bitmap | |
| P7 | RW | Xv's Visual Schnauzer thumbnail format | |
| PALM | RW | Palm pixmap | |
| PAM | W | Common 2-dimensional bitmap format | |
| CLIPBOARD | RW | Windows Clipboard | Windows only. |
| PBM | RW | Portable bitmap format (black and white) | Netpbm family. |
| PCD | RW | Photo CD | Max resolution written 768x512. |
| PCDS | RW | Photo CD | Decoded with sRGB color tables. |
| PCL | W | HP Page Control Language | Fit-to-page option via defines. |
| PCX | RW | ZSoft IBM PC Paintbrush file | |
| PDB | RW | Palm Database ImageViewer Format | |
| RW | Portable Document Format | Requires Ghostscript; cropbox, trimbox, and density options. | |
| PEF | R | Pentax Electronic File | Requires explicit specifier (pef:image.pef). |
| PES | R | Embrid Embroidery Format | |
| PFA | R | Postscript Type 1 font (ASCII) | Returns preview image. |
| PFB | R | Postscript Type 1 font (binary) | Returns preview image. |
| PFM | RW | Portable float map format | |
| PGM | RW | Portable graymap format (gray scale) | Netpbm family. |
| PHM | RW | Portable float map format 16-bit half | |
| PICON | RW | Personal Icon | |
| PICT | RW | Apple Macintosh QuickDraw/PICT file | |
| PIX | R | Alias/Wavefront RLE image format | |
| PNG, PNG8, PNG24, PNG32, PNG48, PNG64, PNG00 | RW | Portable Network Graphics variants | Requires libpng; supports indexed, RGB, and RGBA bit depths. |
| PNM | RW | Portable anymap family | Automagically selects PBM, PGM, or PPM representation. |
| POCKETMOD | RW | Pocketmod personal organizer format | |
| PPM | RW | Portable pixmap format (color) | Netpbm family. |
| PS, PS2, PS3 | RW | Adobe PostScript (Levels I, II, III) | Requires Ghostscript. |
| PSB | RW | Adobe Large Document Format | |
| PSD | RW | Adobe Photoshop multispectral bitmap file | Supports alpha blending, adjustment layers, and opacity masks. |
| PTIF | RW | Pyramid encoded TIFF | Multi-resolution pyramid structure. |
| PWP | R | Seattle File Works multi-image file | |
| QOI | RW | Quite OK Image Format | Fast, lossless compression. |
| RAD | R | Radiance image file | Requires ra_ppm. |
| RAF | R | Fuji CCD-RAW Graphic File | |
| RAW | R | Raw samples | |
| RGB, RGBA | RW | Raw RGB and RGBA sample streams | Size and depth parameters required. |
| RGB565 | R | Raw red, green, blue pixels in 5-6-5 format | |
| RGF | RW | LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Robot Graphics File | |
| RLA | R | Alias/Wavefront image file | |
| RLE | R | Utah Run length encoded image file | |
| SCT | R | Scitex Continuous Tone Picture | |
| SFW | R | Seattle File Works image | |
| SF3 | R | Simple File Format Family | Lightweight text-based structure. |
| SGI | RW | Irix RGB image | |
| SHTML | W | HTML client-side image map | Based on montage or tiled output. |
| SID, MrSID | R | Multiresolution seamless image | Decoding delegated to mrsidgeodecode or gdal_translate. |
| SPARSE-COLOR | W | Raw text file for sparse color options | |
| STRIMG | RW | String to images and back | |
| SUN | RW | SUN Rasterfile | |
| SVG | RW | Scalable Vector Graphics | Renders via Inkscape, RSVG, or internal MSVG renderer. |
| TEXT | R | Text file | Requires explicit specifier (text:README.txt). |
| TGA | RW | Truevision Targa image (ICB, VDA, VST) | |
| TIFF | RW | Tagged image file multispectral format (TIF) | Extensive strip, tile, endian, and compression tag controls. |
| TIM | R | PSX TIM file | |
| TTF | R | TrueType font file | Requires Freetype 2; returns preview image. |
| TXT | RW | Multispectral raw text file | |
| UBRL, UBRL6 | W | Unicode Braille (8-dot and 6-dot) | |
| UHDR | RW | Ultra HDR | Requires libultrahdr delegate library. |
| UIL | W | X-Motif UIL table | |
| UYVY | RW | Interleaved YUV raw image | |
| VICAR | RW | VICAR rasterfile format | |
| VIDEO | RW | Various video formats (APNG, AVI, MP4, WEBM) | Refer to video defines. |
| VIFF | RW | Khoros Visualization Image File Format | |
| WBMP | RW | Wireless bitmap | Uncompressed monochrome only. |
| WDP | RW | JPEG extended range | Requires jxrlib. |
| WEBP | RW | WebP image format | Requires WEBP delegate library. |
| WMF | R | Windows Metafile | Requires libwmf. |
| WPG | R | Word Perfect Graphics File | |
| X | RW | Display or import from X11 server | |
| XBM | RW | X Windows system bitmap | Black and white only. |
| XCF | R | GIMP image | |
| XPM | RW | X Windows system pixmap (PM) | Color icons. |
| XWD | RW | X Windows system window dump | Screen dumps. |
| X3F | R | Sigma Camera RAW Picture File | |
| YAML | W | Human-readable data-serialization language | Supports locate, limit, and moment defines. |
| YCbCr, YCbCrA | RW | Raw Y, Cb, Cr, and alpha samples | Size and depth parameters required. |
| YUV | RW | CCIR 601 4:1:1 | Sampling-factor option supported. |
Pseudo-image Formats
Algorithmic image formats and specialized target pipelines.
| Tag | Mode | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASHLAR | W | Image sequence laid out in continuous irregular courses | Custom canvas sizing and tile alignment. |
| CANVAS | R | Canvas image of specified color | Solid color generation via size and color parameters. |
| CAPTION | R | Image caption | Supports text splitting via caption:split. |
| CLIP | RW | Clip path of image | |
| CLIPBOARD | RW | Clipboard | |
| FRACTAL | R | Plasma fractal image | |
| GRADIENT | R | Linear or radial gradient image | Gradual shade transitions. |
| HALD | R | Identity Hald CLUT Image | Color grading lookup tables. |
| HISTOGRAM | W | Histogram of the image | Outputs unique colors as comments. |
| INLINE | RW | Base64-encoded inline image | Data URI strings for web integration. |
| LABEL | R | Text image format | Text specified directly as filename. |
| MAP | RW | Colormap intensities and indices | |
| MASK | RW | Grayscale image mask sequence | |
| MATTE | W | MATTE format | Write-only. |
| NULL | RW | NULL image | Blank montage tiles and performance evaluation. |
| OPEN | W | Display image to computer screen | MacOS X only. |
| PANGO | R | Advanced text caption layout | Markup, justification, and hinting options via defines. |
| PLASMA | R | Plasma fractal image | |
| PREVIEW | W | Preview image enhancement or effect range | Parameter selection assistant. |
| W | Send image to computer printer | Uses PRINTER or LPDEST variables. | |
| SCAN | R | Import image from scanner device | Requires SANE. |
| RADIAL_GRADIENT | R | Gradual radial color passing | |
| SCANX | R | Import image from default scanner | |
| SCREENSHOT | R | Computer display content capture | Multi-monitor support under Windows. |
| STEGANO | R | Steganographic image | Width, height, and offset controls. |
| TILE | R | Tiled image pattern | Responsive to compose options. |
| UNIQUE | W | Write only unique pixels | |
| VID | RW | Visual Image Directory | Thumbnailed directory generation. |
| WIN | RW | Select or display image to Windows screen | Windows only. |
| X | RW | Select or display image to X server screen | |
| XC | R | Canvas image of specified color | Backward compatible alias for canvas:. |
Built-in Images
Embedded sample images referenceable via magick:name.
| Tag | Mode | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| GRANITE | R | 128x128 granite texture pattern | Granite texture asset. |
| LOGO | R | ImageMagick Logo, 640x480 | Standard logo asset. |
| NETSCAPE | R | Netscape 216 color cube image, 216x144 | Used with map option for web-safe colors. |
| ROSE | R | Picture of a rose, 70x46 | Classic sample image. |
| WIZARD | R | ImageMagick Wizard, 480x640 | Wizard mascot asset. |
Built-in Patterns
Embedded patterns referenceable via pattern:name, controlled by the -size option.
| Tag | Mode | Description & Dimensions |
|---|---|---|
| BRICKS | R | Brick pattern, 16x16 |
| CHECKERBOARD | R | Checkerboard pattern, 30x30 |
| CIRCLES | R | Circles pattern, 16x16 |
| CROSSHATCH | R | Crosshatch pattern, 8x4 |
| CROSSHATCH30 | R | Crosshatch pattern at 30 degrees, 8x4 |
| CROSSHATCH45 | R | Crosshatch pattern at 45 degrees, 8x4 |
| FISHSCALES | R | Fish scales pattern, 16x8 |
| GRAY0 through GRAY100 | R | Intensity gray patterns (0% to 100%), 32x32 |
| HEXAGONS | R | Hexagon pattern, 30x18 |
| HORIZONTAL | R | Horizontal line pattern, 8x4 |
| HORIZONTAL2 | R | Horizontal line pattern, 8x8 |
| HORIZONTAL3 | R | Horizontal line pattern, 9x9 |
| HORIZONTALSAW | R | Horizontal saw-tooth pattern, 16x8 |
| HS_BDIAGONAL | R | Backward diagonal line pattern (45° slope), 8x8 |
| HS_CROSS | R | Cross line pattern, 8x8 |
| HS_DIAGCROSS | R | Diagonal line cross pattern (45° slope), 8x8 |
| HS_FDIAGONAL | R | Forward diagonal line pattern (45° slope), 8x8 |
| HS_HORIZONTAL | R | Horizontal line pattern, 8x8 |
| HS_VERTICAL | R | Vertical line pattern, 8x8 |
| LEFT30 | R | Forward diagonal pattern (30° slope), 8x4 |
| LEFT45 | R | Forward diagonal line pattern (45° slope), 8x8 |
| LEFTSHINGLE | R | Left shingle pattern, 24x24 |
| OCTAGONS | R | Octagons pattern, 16x16 |
| RIGHT30 | R | Backward diagonal line pattern (30°), 8x4 |
| RIGHT45 | R | Backward diagonal line pattern (30°), 8x8 |
| RIGHTSHINGLE | R | Right shingle pattern, 24x24 |
| SMALLFISHSCALES | R | Small fish scales pattern, 8x8 |
| VERTICAL | R | Vertical line pattern, 8x8 |
| VERTICAL2 | R | Vertical line pattern, 8x8 |
| VERTICAL3 | R | Vertical line pattern, 9x9 |
| VERTICALBRICKS | R | Vertical brick pattern, 16x16 |
| VERTICALLEFTSHINGLE | R | Vertical left shingle pattern, 24x24 |
| VERTICALRIGHTSHINGLE | R | Vertical right shingle pattern, 24x24 |
| VERTICALSAW | R | Vertical saw-tooth pattern, 8x16 |
Embedded Image Profiles
Identifiers used to add, remove, and save embedded metadata profiles (TIFF, JPEG, PDF).
| Tag | Mode | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8BIM | RW | Photoshop resource format (binary) | |
| 8BIMTEXT | RW | Photoshop resource format (ASCII) | ASCII representation of 8BIM. |
| APP1 | RW | Raw application information | |
| APP1JPEG | RW | Raw JPEG binary data | Profile in JPEG wrapper. |
| ICC | RW | International Color Consortium color profile (ICM) | Read via -profile option. |
| IPTC | RW | IPTC Newsphoto (binary) | Read via -profile option. |
| IPTCTEXT | RW | IPTC Newsphoto (ASCII) | ASCII representation of IPTC. |