Deprecations and removals#

This page lists Pillow features that are deprecated, or have been removed in past major releases, and gives the alternatives to use instead.

Deprecated features#

Below are features which are considered deprecated. Where appropriate, a DeprecationWarning is issued.

PSFile#

Deprecated since version 9.5.0.

The PSFile class has been deprecated and will be removed in Pillow 11 (2024-10-15). This class was only made as a helper to be used internally, so there is no replacement. If you need this functionality though, it is a very short class that can easily be recreated in your own code.

PyAccess and Image.USE_CFFI_ACCESS#

Deprecated since version 10.0.0.

Since Pillow’s C API is now faster than PyAccess on PyPy, PyAccess has been deprecated and will be removed in Pillow 11.0.0 (2024-10-15). Pillow’s C API will now be used by default on PyPy instead.

Image.USE_CFFI_ACCESS, for switching from the C API to PyAccess, is similarly deprecated.

ImageFile.raise_oserror#

Deprecated since version 10.2.0.

ImageFile.raise_oserror() has been deprecated and will be removed in Pillow 12.0.0 (2025-10-15). The function is undocumented and is only useful for translating error codes returned by a codec’s decode() method, which ImageFile already does automatically.

IptcImageFile helper functions#

Deprecated since version 10.2.0.

The functions IptcImageFile.dump and IptcImageFile.i, and the constant IptcImageFile.PAD have been deprecated and will be removed in Pillow 12.0.0 (2025-10-15). These are undocumented helper functions intended for internal use, so there is no replacement. They can each be replaced by a single line of code using builtin functions in Python.

ImageCms constants and versions() function#

Deprecated since version 10.3.0.

A number of constants and a function in ImageCms have been deprecated. This includes a table of flags based on LittleCMS version 1 which has been replaced with a new class ImageCms.Flags based on LittleCMS 2 flags.

Deprecated

Use instead

ImageCms.DESCRIPTION

No replacement

ImageCms.VERSION

PIL.__version__

ImageCms.FLAGS["MATRIXINPUT"]

ImageCms.Flags.CLUT_POST_LINEARIZATION

ImageCms.FLAGS["MATRIXOUTPUT"]

ImageCms.Flags.FORCE_CLUT

ImageCms.FLAGS["MATRIXONLY"]

No replacement

ImageCms.FLAGS["NOWHITEONWHITEFIXUP"]

ImageCms.Flags.NOWHITEONWHITEFIXUP

ImageCms.FLAGS["NOPRELINEARIZATION"]

ImageCms.Flags.CLUT_PRE_LINEARIZATION

ImageCms.FLAGS["GUESSDEVICECLASS"]

ImageCms.Flags.GUESSDEVICECLASS

ImageCms.FLAGS["NOTCACHE"]

ImageCms.Flags.NOCACHE

ImageCms.FLAGS["NOTPRECALC"]

ImageCms.Flags.NOOPTIMIZE

ImageCms.FLAGS["NULLTRANSFORM"]

ImageCms.Flags.NULLTRANSFORM

ImageCms.FLAGS["HIGHRESPRECALC"]

ImageCms.Flags.HIGHRESPRECALC

ImageCms.FLAGS["LOWRESPRECALC"]

ImageCms.Flags.LOWRESPRECALC

ImageCms.FLAGS["GAMUTCHECK"]

ImageCms.Flags.GAMUTCHECK

ImageCms.FLAGS["WHITEBLACKCOMPENSATION"]

ImageCms.Flags.BLACKPOINTCOMPENSATION

ImageCms.FLAGS["BLACKPOINTCOMPENSATION"]

ImageCms.Flags.BLACKPOINTCOMPENSATION

ImageCms.FLAGS["SOFTPROOFING"]

ImageCms.Flags.SOFTPROOFING

ImageCms.FLAGS["PRESERVEBLACK"]

ImageCms.Flags.NONEGATIVES

ImageCms.FLAGS["NODEFAULTRESOURCEDEF"]

ImageCms.Flags.NODEFAULTRESOURCEDEF

ImageCms.FLAGS["GRIDPOINTS"]

ImageCms.Flags.GRIDPOINTS()

ImageCms.versions()

PIL.features.version_module() with feature="littlecms2", sys.version or sys.version_info, and PIL.__version__

Removed features#

Deprecated features are only removed in major releases after an appropriate period of deprecation has passed.

Tk/Tcl 8.4#

Deprecated since version 8.2.0.

Removed in version 10.0.0.

Support for Tk/Tcl 8.4 was removed in Pillow 10.0.0 (2023-07-01).

Categories#

Deprecated since version 8.2.0.

Removed in version 10.0.0.

im.category was removed along with the related Image.NORMAL, Image.SEQUENCE and Image.CONTAINER attributes.

To determine if an image has multiple frames or not, getattr(im, "is_animated", False) can be used instead.

JpegImagePlugin.convert_dict_qtables#

Deprecated since version 8.3.0.

Removed in version 10.0.0.

Since deprecation in Pillow 8.3.0, the convert_dict_qtables method no longer performed any operations on the data given to it, and has been removed.

ImagePalette size parameter#

Deprecated since version 8.4.0.

Removed in version 10.0.0.

Before Pillow 8.3.0, ImagePalette required palette data of particular lengths by default, and the size parameter could be used to override that. Pillow 8.3.0 removed the default required length, also removing the need for the size parameter.

ImageShow.Viewer.show_file file argument#

Deprecated since version 9.1.0.

Removed in version 10.0.0.

The file argument in show_file() has been removed and replaced by path.

In effect, viewer.show_file("test.jpg") will continue to work unchanged.

Constants#

Deprecated since version 9.1.0.

Removed in version 10.0.0.

A number of constants have been removed. Instead, enum.IntEnum classes have been added.

Note

Additional Image constants were deprecated in Pillow 9.1.0, but that was reversed in Pillow 9.4.0 and those constants will now remain available. See Constants

Removed

Use instead

Image.LINEAR

Image.BILINEAR or Image.Resampling.BILINEAR

Image.CUBIC

Image.BICUBIC or Image.Resampling.BICUBIC

Image.ANTIALIAS

Image.LANCZOS or Image.Resampling.LANCZOS

ImageCms.INTENT_PERCEPTUAL

ImageCms.Intent.PERCEPTUAL

ImageCms.INTENT_RELATIVE_COLORMETRIC

ImageCms.Intent.RELATIVE_COLORMETRIC

ImageCms.INTENT_SATURATION

ImageCms.Intent.SATURATION

ImageCms.INTENT_ABSOLUTE_COLORIMETRIC

ImageCms.Intent.ABSOLUTE_COLORIMETRIC

ImageCms.DIRECTION_INPUT

ImageCms.Direction.INPUT

ImageCms.DIRECTION_OUTPUT

ImageCms.Direction.OUTPUT

ImageCms.DIRECTION_PROOF

ImageCms.Direction.PROOF

ImageFont.LAYOUT_BASIC

ImageFont.Layout.BASIC

ImageFont.LAYOUT_RAQM

ImageFont.Layout.RAQM

BlpImagePlugin.BLP_FORMAT_JPEG

BlpImagePlugin.Format.JPEG

BlpImagePlugin.BLP_ENCODING_UNCOMPRESSED

BlpImagePlugin.Encoding.UNCOMPRESSED

BlpImagePlugin.BLP_ENCODING_DXT

BlpImagePlugin.Encoding.DXT

BlpImagePlugin.BLP_ENCODING_UNCOMPRESSED_RAW_RGBA

BlpImagePlugin.Encoding.UNCOMPRESSED_RAW_RGBA

BlpImagePlugin.BLP_ALPHA_ENCODING_DXT1

BlpImagePlugin.AlphaEncoding.DXT1

BlpImagePlugin.BLP_ALPHA_ENCODING_DXT3

BlpImagePlugin.AlphaEncoding.DXT3

BlpImagePlugin.BLP_ALPHA_ENCODING_DXT5

BlpImagePlugin.AlphaEncoding.DXT5

FtexImagePlugin.FORMAT_DXT1

FtexImagePlugin.Format.DXT1

FtexImagePlugin.FORMAT_UNCOMPRESSED

FtexImagePlugin.Format.UNCOMPRESSED

PngImagePlugin.APNG_DISPOSE_OP_NONE

PngImagePlugin.Disposal.OP_NONE

PngImagePlugin.APNG_DISPOSE_OP_BACKGROUND

PngImagePlugin.Disposal.OP_BACKGROUND

PngImagePlugin.APNG_DISPOSE_OP_PREVIOUS

PngImagePlugin.Disposal.OP_PREVIOUS

PngImagePlugin.APNG_BLEND_OP_SOURCE

PngImagePlugin.Blend.OP_SOURCE

PngImagePlugin.APNG_BLEND_OP_OVER

PngImagePlugin.Blend.OP_OVER

FitsStubImagePlugin#

Deprecated since version 9.1.0.

Removed in version 10.0.0.

The stub image plugin FitsStubImagePlugin has been removed. FITS images can be read without a handler through FitsImagePlugin instead.

Font size and offset methods#

Deprecated since version 9.2.0.

Removed in version 10.0.0.

Several functions for computing the size and offset of rendered text have been removed:

Removed

Use instead

FreeTypeFont.getsize() and FreeTypeFont.getoffset()

FreeTypeFont.getbbox() and FreeTypeFont.getlength()

FreeTypeFont.getsize_multiline()

ImageDraw.multiline_textbbox()

ImageFont.getsize()

ImageFont.getbbox() and ImageFont.getlength()

TransposedFont.getsize()

TransposedFont.getbbox() and TransposedFont.getlength()

ImageDraw.textsize() and ImageDraw.multiline_textsize()

ImageDraw.textbbox(), ImageDraw.textlength() and ImageDraw.multiline_textbbox()

ImageDraw2.Draw.textsize()

ImageDraw2.Draw.textbbox() and ImageDraw2.Draw.textlength()

Previous code:

from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont

font = ImageFont.truetype("Tests/fonts/FreeMono.ttf")
width, height = font.getsize("Hello world")
left, top = font.getoffset("Hello world")

im = Image.new("RGB", (100, 100))
draw = ImageDraw.Draw(im)
width, height = draw.textsize("Hello world", font)

width, height = font.getsize_multiline("Hello\nworld")
width, height = draw.multiline_textsize("Hello\nworld", font)

Use instead:

from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont

font = ImageFont.truetype("Tests/fonts/FreeMono.ttf")
left, top, right, bottom = font.getbbox("Hello world")
width, height = right - left, bottom - top

im = Image.new("RGB", (100, 100))
draw = ImageDraw.Draw(im)
width = draw.textlength("Hello world", font)

left, top, right, bottom = draw.multiline_textbbox((0, 0), "Hello\nworld", font)
width, height = right - left, bottom - top

Previously, the size methods returned a height that included the vertical offset of the text, while the new bbox methods distinguish this as a top offset.

In bbox methods, top measures the vertical distance above the text, while bottom measures that plus the vertical distance of the text itself. In size methods, height also measures the vertical distance above the text plus the vertical distance of the text itself.

If you are using these methods for aligning text, consider using Text anchors instead which avoid issues that can occur with non-English text or unusual fonts. For example, instead of the following code:

from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont

font = ImageFont.truetype("Tests/fonts/FreeMono.ttf")

im = Image.new("RGB", (100, 100))
draw = ImageDraw.Draw(im)
width, height = draw.textsize("Hello world", font)
x, y = (100 - width) / 2, (100 - height) / 2
draw.text((x, y), "Hello world", font=font)

Use instead:

from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont

font = ImageFont.truetype("Tests/fonts/FreeMono.ttf")

im = Image.new("RGB", (100, 100))
draw = ImageDraw.Draw(im)
draw.text((100 / 2, 100 / 2), "Hello world", font=font, anchor="mm")

FreeTypeFont.getmask2 fill parameter#

Deprecated since version 9.2.0.

Removed in version 10.0.0.

The undocumented fill parameter of FreeTypeFont.getmask2() has been removed.

PhotoImage.paste box parameter#

Deprecated since version 9.2.0.

Removed in version 10.0.0.

The box parameter was unused and has been removed.

PyQt5 and PySide2#

Deprecated since version 9.2.0.

Removed in version 10.0.0.

Qt 5 reached end-of-life on 2020-12-08 for open-source users (and will reach EOL on 2023-12-08 for commercial licence holders).

Support for PyQt5 and PySide2 has been removed from ImageQt. Upgrade to PyQt6 or PySide6 instead.

Image.coerce_e#

Deprecated since version 9.2.0.

Removed in version 10.0.0.

This undocumented method has been removed.

PILLOW_VERSION constant#

Deprecated since version 5.2.0.

Removed in version 9.0.0.

Use __version__ instead.

It was initially removed in Pillow 7.0.0, but temporarily brought back in 7.1.0 to give projects more time to upgrade.

Image.show command parameter#

Deprecated since version 7.2.0.

Removed in version 9.0.0.

The command parameter has been removed. Use a subclass of ImageShow.Viewer instead.

Image._showxv#

Deprecated since version 7.2.0.

Removed in version 9.0.0.

Use Image.Image.show() instead. If custom behaviour is required, use ImageShow.register() to add a custom ImageShow.Viewer class.

ImageFile.raise_ioerror#

Deprecated since version 7.2.0.

Removed in version 9.0.0.

IOError was merged into OSError in Python 3.3. So, ImageFile.raise_ioerror has been removed. Use ImageFile.raise_oserror instead.

FreeType 2.7#

Deprecated since version 8.1.0.

Removed in version 9.0.0.

Support for FreeType 2.7 has been removed.

We recommend upgrading to at least FreeType 2.10.4, which fixed a severe vulnerability introduced in FreeType 2.6 (CVE-2020-15999).

im.offset#

Deprecated since version 1.1.2.

Removed in version 8.0.0.

im.offset() has been removed, call ImageChops.offset() instead.

It was documented as deprecated in PIL 1.1.2, raised a DeprecationWarning since 1.1.5, an Exception since Pillow 3.0.0 and NotImplementedError since 3.3.0.

Image.fromstring, im.fromstring and im.tostring#

Deprecated since version 2.0.0.

Removed in version 8.0.0.

  • Image.fromstring() has been removed, call Image.frombytes() instead.

  • im.fromstring() has been removed, call frombytes() instead.

  • im.tostring() has been removed, call tobytes() instead.

They issued a DeprecationWarning since 2.0.0, an Exception since 3.0.0 and NotImplementedError since 3.3.0.

ImageCms.CmsProfile attributes#

Deprecated since version 3.2.0.

Removed in version 8.0.0.

Some attributes in PIL.ImageCms.core.CmsProfile have been removed. From 6.0.0, they issued a DeprecationWarning:

Removed

Use instead

color_space

Padded xcolor_space

pcs

Padded connection_space

product_copyright

Unicode copyright

product_desc

Unicode profile_description

product_description

Unicode profile_description

product_manufacturer

Unicode manufacturer

product_model

Unicode model

Python 2.7#

Deprecated since version 6.0.0.

Removed in version 7.0.0.

Python 2.7 reached end-of-life on 2020-01-01. Pillow 6.x was the last series to support Python 2.

Image.__del__#

Deprecated since version 6.1.0.

Removed in version 7.0.0.

Implicitly closing the image’s underlying file in Image.__del__ has been removed. Use a context manager or call Image.close() instead to close the file in a deterministic way.

Previous method:

im = Image.open("hopper.png")
im.save("out.jpg")

Use instead:

with Image.open("hopper.png") as im:
    im.save("out.jpg")

PIL.*ImagePlugin.__version__ attributes#

Deprecated since version 6.0.0.

Removed in version 7.0.0.

The version constants of individual plugins have been removed. Use PIL.__version__ instead.

Removed

Removed

Removed

BmpImagePlugin.__version__

Jpeg2KImagePlugin.__version__

PngImagePlugin.__version__

CurImagePlugin.__version__

JpegImagePlugin.__version__

PpmImagePlugin.__version__

DcxImagePlugin.__version__

McIdasImagePlugin.__version__

PsdImagePlugin.__version__

EpsImagePlugin.__version__

MicImagePlugin.__version__

SgiImagePlugin.__version__

FliImagePlugin.__version__

MpegImagePlugin.__version__

SunImagePlugin.__version__

FpxImagePlugin.__version__

MpoImagePlugin.__version__

TgaImagePlugin.__version__

GdImageFile.__version__

MspImagePlugin.__version__

TiffImagePlugin.__version__

GifImagePlugin.__version__

PalmImagePlugin.__version__

WmfImagePlugin.__version__

IcoImagePlugin.__version__

PcdImagePlugin.__version__

XbmImagePlugin.__version__

ImImagePlugin.__version__

PcxImagePlugin.__version__

XpmImagePlugin.__version__

ImtImagePlugin.__version__

PdfImagePlugin.__version__

XVThumbImagePlugin.__version__

IptcImagePlugin.__version__

PixarImagePlugin.__version__

PyQt4 and PySide#

Deprecated since version 6.0.0.

Removed in version 7.0.0.

Qt 4 reached end-of-life on 2015-12-19. Its Python bindings are also EOL: PyQt4 since 2018-08-31 and PySide since 2015-10-14.

Support for PyQt4 and PySide has been removed from ImageQt. Please upgrade to PyQt5 or PySide2.

Setting the size of TIFF images#

Deprecated since version 5.3.0.

Removed in version 7.0.0.

Setting the size of a TIFF image directly (eg. im.size = (256, 256)) throws an error. Use Image.resize instead.

VERSION constant#

Deprecated since version 5.2.0.

Removed in version 6.0.0.

VERSION (the old PIL version, always 1.1.7) has been removed. Use __version__ instead.

Undocumented ImageOps functions#

Deprecated since version 4.3.0.

Removed in version 6.0.0.

Several undocumented functions in ImageOps have been removed. Use the equivalents in ImageFilter instead:

Removed

Use instead

ImageOps.box_blur

ImageFilter.BoxBlur

ImageOps.gaussian_blur

ImageFilter.GaussianBlur

ImageOps.gblur

ImageFilter.GaussianBlur

ImageOps.usm

ImageFilter.UnsharpMask

ImageOps.unsharp_mask

ImageFilter.UnsharpMask

PIL.OleFileIO#

Deprecated since version 4.0.0.

Removed in version 6.0.0.

PIL.OleFileIO was removed as a vendored file in Pillow 4.0.0 (2017-01) in favour of the upstream olefile Python package, and replaced with an ImportError in 5.0.0 (2018-01). The deprecated file has now been removed from Pillow. If needed, install from PyPI (eg. python3 -m pip install olefile).

import _imaging#

Removed in version 2.1.0.

Pillow >= 2.1.0 no longer supports import _imaging. Please use from PIL.Image import core as _imaging instead.

Pillow and PIL#

Removed in version 1.0.0.

Pillow and PIL cannot co-exist in the same environment. Before installing Pillow, please uninstall PIL.

import Image#

Removed in version 1.0.0.

Pillow >= 1.0 no longer supports import Image. Please use from PIL import Image instead.