# Preface

This document describes the Python Imaging Library, version 1.1, including some PIL Plus extensions. It was last updated April 30, 2001.

## Introduction

The Python Imaging Library adds image processing capabilities to your Python interpreter.

This library provides extensive file format support, an efficient internal representation, and powerful image processing capabilities.

The core image library is designed for fast access to data stored in a few, basic pixel formats. It should be well suited as a base for a general image processing tool.

Let's look at a few possible uses for this library:

### Image Archives

The Python Imaging Library is well suited for image archival and batch processing applications. You can use the library to create thumbnails, convert between file formats, print images, etc.

The current version identifies and reads a large number of formats. Write support is intentionally restricted to the most commonly used interchange and presentation formats.

### Image Display

The current release includes Tk `PhotoImage` and `BitmapImage` interfaces, as well as a Windows `DIB` interface that can be used with PythonWin.

For debugging, there's also a `show` method in the Unix version which calls xv to display the image.

### Image Processing

The library contains some basic image processing functionality, including point operations, filtering with a set of built-in convolution kernels, and colour space conversions.

The library also supports image resizing, rotation and arbitrary affine transforms.

There's a histogram method allowing you to pull some statistics out of an image. This can be used for automatic contrast enhancement, and for global statistical analysis.