pillow
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Description:
Friendly PIL fork (Python Imaging Library)
Type: Formula  |  Tracked Since: Dec 28, 2025
Links: Homepage  |  formulae.brew.sh
Category: Multimedia
Tags: python imaging graphics image-processing pillow
Install: brew install pillow
About:
Pillow is the friendly PIL fork that adds image processing capabilities to Python. It provides a robust, well-documented API for opening, manipulating, and saving many different image file formats. As the de facto standard for imaging in Python, it is actively maintained and widely used across the ecosystem.
Key Features:
  • Support for a wide variety of image file formats (JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, etc.)
  • Powerful image processing tools including filtering, transformations, and compositing
  • Easy-to-use API for drawing text, shapes, and overlays on images
  • Active maintenance and a large, supportive community
Use Cases:
  • Batch processing and resizing images for web applications
  • Automated generation of thumbnails and image previews
  • Adding watermarks, text overlays, or other graphical elements to photos
  • Server-side image analysis and format conversion
Alternatives:
  • OpenCV – More powerful for computer vision and complex image analysis, but heavier and has a steeper learning curve than Pillow.
  • ImageMagick (CLI) – A command-line tool for image manipulation; Pillow provides a native Python interface, which is often more convenient for integration into Python applications.
Version History
Detected Version Rev Change Commit
Oct 9, 2025 9:28pm 1 VERSION_BUMP 125ce76f
Oct 9, 2025 8:53pm 1 VERSION_BUMP b23d49be
Sep 14, 2025 9:45pm 0 VERSION_BUMP a04a0c38
Jan 2, 2025 11:06am 0 VERSION_BUMP 2cf01760
Dec 22, 2024 10:50pm 0 VERSION_BUMP 98228926
Nov 25, 2024 10:21am 0 VERSION_BUMP 7021b8b7
Nov 11, 2024 9:07am 0 VERSION_BUMP 6755f245
Oct 9, 2024 4:31pm 1 VERSION_BUMP 81d92811