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https://github.com/yangboz/imagemagick-cheatsheet

ImageMagick Cheat Sheet
https://github.com/yangboz/imagemagick-cheatsheet

image-processing imagick shell

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ImageMagick Cheat Sheet

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README 

        
# ImageMagick Cheat Sheet



**Want to improve this cheat sheet? See the [Contributing](#contributing) section!**



## Table of Contents



* [Why ImageMagick](#why-imagemagick)

* [Prerequisites](#prerequisites)

* [Installation](#installation)

* [Basic Commands](#basic-commands)

* [Format Conversion](#format-conversion)

* [Resizing and Transformations](#resizing-and-transformations)

* [Color Adjustments](#color-adjustments)

* [Image Composition](#image-composition)

* [Text and Annotations](#text-and-annotations)

* [Special Effects](#special-effects)

* [Batch Processing](#batch-processing)

* [Animation and GIFs](#animation-and-gifs)

* [Image Analysis](#image-analysis)

* [Advanced Operations](#advanced-operations)

* [Best Practices](#best-practices)

* [Tips](#tips)

* [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting)

* [Contributing](#contributing)

* [References](#references)



## Why ImageMagick



Use ImageMagick® to create, edit, compose, or convert bitmap images. It can read and write images in a variety of formats (over 200) including PNG, JPEG, GIF, HEIC, TIFF, DPX, EXR, WebP, Postscript, PDF, and SVG. Use ImageMagick to resize, flip, mirror, rotate, distort, shear and transform images, adjust image colors, apply various special effects, or draw text, lines, polygons, ellipses and Bézier curves.



The functionality of ImageMagick is typically utilized from the command-line or you can use the features from programs written in your favorite language. Choose from these interfaces: G2F (Ada), MagickCore (C), MagickWand (C), ChMagick (Ch), ImageMagickObject (COM+), Magick++ (C++), JMagick (Java), JuliaIO (Julia), L-Magick (Lisp), Lua (LuaJIT), NMagick (Neko/haXe), Magick.NET (.NET), PascalMagick (Pascal), PerlMagick (Perl), MagickWand for PHP (PHP), IMagick (PHP), PythonMagick (Python), magick (R), RMagick (Ruby), or TclMagick (Tcl/TK). With a language interface, use ImageMagick to modify or create images dynamically and automagically.



## Prerequisites



### ColorSpace



Understanding color spaces like RGB, CMYK, sRGB is helpful when working with ImageMagick.



### Image Processing



Basic knowledge of image processing concepts helps when using the more advanced features.



### Image Format



Familiarity with different image formats and their properties.



## Installation



### Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)



```bash

apt-get install imagemagick

```



### Linux (RHEL/CentOS)



```bash

yum install imagemagick

```



### MacOS



```bash

brew install imagemagick

```



### Memory Constraints



For memory-related issues: https://github.com/google/sanitizers/wiki/AddressSanitizer



## Basic Commands



### Show ImageMagick Info



```bash

convert -version

```



```bash

identify -list all

```



### Verify Installation



```bash

convert logo: logo.png

```



## Format Conversion



### TIFF to PNG



```bash

mogrify -background black -format png -depth 8 *.tiff

```



### SVG to PNG



```bash

mogrify -background black -format png -depth 8 *.svg

```



### JPG to jpg (Normalize Extension)



```bash

mogrify -format jpg *.JPG

```



### WebP to JPG



```bash

convert input.webp output.jpg

```



```bash

mogrify -format jpg *.webp

```



### DICOM to JPG



```bash

convert *.DCM output.jpg

```



### Multiple Images to PDF



```bash

convert *.jpg document.pdf

```



### PDF to Images (One Per Page)



```bash

convert -density 300 document.pdf page%03d.jpg

```



### High-Quality JPEG Conversion



```bash

convert input.png -quality 92 -sampling-factor 4:2:0 output.jpg

```



## Resizing and Transformations



### Resize by Percentage



```bash

mogrify -resize 50% *.png

```



### Resize to Exact Dimensions (Ignoring Aspect Ratio)



```bash

mogrify -resize 750x750\! *.jpg

```



### Create a Thumbnail (Preserving Aspect Ratio)



```bash

convert input.jpg -thumbnail 150x150 thumbnail.jpg

```



### Rotate Image



```bash

mogrify -rotate 90 *.jpg

```



### Flip (Vertical Mirror)



```bash

convert input.jpg -flip output.jpg

```



### Flop (Horizontal Mirror)



```bash

convert input.jpg -flop output.jpg

```



### Add Border



```bash

convert input.jpg -border 10 -bordercolor black output.jpg

```



### Crop Image



```bash

convert input.jpg -crop 300x200+50+50 output.jpg

```



### Split Large Image into Tiles



```bash

convert -crop 512x512 +repage large.tif tiles/image_%d.tif

```



### Create a 3D Rotation Effect



```bash

# Requires additional scripts

# See: http://www.fmwconcepts.com/imagemagick/rotate3D/index.php

```



## Color Adjustments



### Convert to Grayscale



```bash

convert input.jpg -colorspace Gray output.jpg

```



```bash

for file in *.png; do convert $file -colorspace Gray $file; done

```



### Convert from Grayscale to RGB



```bash

mogrify -type TrueColorMatte -define png:color-type=6 *.png

```



### Colorspace Conversion



```bash

convert input.tif -colorspace RGB output.tif

```



### Apply Color Profile Conversion



```bash

convert input.jpg -profile sRGB.icc -profile AdobeRGB.icc output.jpg

```



### Adjust Brightness and Contrast



```bash

convert input.jpg -brightness-contrast 10x15 output.jpg

```



### Invert Colors (Create Negative)



```bash

convert input.jpg -negate negative.jpg

```



### Make Background Transparent



```bash

convert input.jpg -transparent white output.png

```



### Apply Sepia Tone Effect



```bash

convert input.jpg -sepia-tone 80% sepia-output.jpg

```



## Image Composition



### Append Images Horizontally



```bash

convert *.jpg +append horizontally_appended.jpg

```



### Append Images Vertically



```bash

convert *.jpg -append vertically_appended.jpg

```



### Create a Montage



```bash

montage *.jpg -geometry 200x200+5+5 -background lightblue montage.jpg

```



### Create Composite with Overlay



```bash

composite -gravity center overlay.png base.jpg output.jpg

```



### Create Before/After Comparison



```bash

convert before.jpg after.jpg +append comparison.jpg

```



## Text and Annotations



### Add Text to Image



```bash

convert input.jpg -fill white -pointsize 24 -gravity southeast -annotate +10+10 'Copyright 2025' output.jpg

```



### Add Watermark



```bash

convert input.jpg -gravity southeast -stroke '#FFFFFF' -strokewidth 2 -annotate +5+5 'Watermark' -stroke none -fill '#FFFFFF88' -annotate +5+5 'Watermark' output.jpg

```



## Special Effects



### Apply Blur Effect



```bash

convert input.jpg -blur 0x8 blurred-output.jpg

```



### Create a Vignette Effect



```bash

convert input.jpg -vignette 0x20 vignette.jpg

```



### Apply Charcoal Sketch Effect



```bash

convert input.jpg -charcoal 2 sketch.jpg

```



### Create Polaroid-Style Image



```bash

convert input.jpg -bordercolor white -border 10 -background black -rotate 6 -background white -polaroid 10 polaroid.jpg

```



### Apply Fisheye Effect



```bash

# Requires additional scripts

# See: http://www.fmwconcepts.com/imagemagick/fisheye2rect/index.php

```



## Batch Processing



### Convert All Images in a Folder



```bash

mogrify -format jpg *.png

```



### Apply Same Edit to Multiple Images



```bash

mogrify -resize 800x600 -quality 85 *.jpg

```



### Batch Resize and Add Watermark



```bash

for file in *.jpg; do

  convert "$file" -resize 1024x768 -fill white -pointsize 20 -gravity southeast \

  -annotate +10+10 'Copyright 2025' "watermarked_$file"

done

```



### Rename Files with Prefix



```bash

for filename in *.png; do mv "$filename" "prefix_$filename"; done

```



### Rename Files by Pattern



```bash

for f in *.jpg; do mv "$f" "$(echo "$f" | sed s/IMG/VACATION/)"; done

```



### Reduce JPEG Filesize



```bash

convert -resize 100% -strip -quality 90 input.jpg output.jpg

```



### Create PNG with Transparency



```bash

convert -resize 100% -transparent -strip -quality 90 input.png output.png

```



## Animation and GIFs



### Create GIF from Sequence of Images



```bash

convert -delay 20 -loop 0 frame*.jpg animated.gif

```



### Extract Frames from Animated GIF



```bash

convert animated.gif -coalesce frame%03d.png

```



### Optimize GIF Filesize



```bash

convert input.gif -layers optimize optimized.gif

```



### Resize Animated GIF



```bash

convert input.gif -coalesce -resize 50% -layers optimize output.gif

```



## Image Analysis



### Get Basic Image Information



```bash

identify image.jpg

```



### Get Detailed Image Properties



```bash

identify -format '%w X %h %[channels] %[bit-depth] %x x %y\n' input.jpeg

```



### Show Verbose Image Information



```bash

identify -verbose image.jpg

```



### Calculate Image Statistics



```bash

convert image.jpg -format "%[mean] %[standard-deviation]" info:

```



### Check Image Histogram



```bash

convert image.jpg -define histogram:unique-colors=true histogram:info:

```



## Advanced Operations



### SVG Fill Replacement



```bash

find ./ -type f -name '*.svg' | xargs -I{} sed -i_old -n -e 's/polygon fill="none"/polygon fill="white"/g;p;' {}

```



### Limit Output Filesize



```bash

mogrify -define jpeg:extent=5100kb *.png

```



### Create Mosaic of Images



```bash

montage -geometry 200x200+5+5 -background lightblue *.jpg mosaic.jpg

```



## Best Practices



* Use GraphicsMagick for faster processing when applicable

* Use appropriate colorspace for your target medium

* Be mindful of memory usage for large images

* Set appropriate quality when saving to lossy formats



## Tips



* Use `-strip` to remove metadata and reduce file size

* When working with transparency, use PNG rather than JPG

* For complex scripts, consider using ImageMagick with shell scripting

* Use `mogrify` for in-place edits and `convert` for creating new files



## Troubleshooting



* For font configuration warnings: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24712158/how-to-solve-imagemagicks-fontconfig-warning-ignoring-utf-8-not-a-valid-regi

* Check permissions for output directories

* Verify that your ImageMagick installation has the required delegates for specific formats

* If processing fails, try increasing memory limits in policy.xml



## Contributing



Here's how to contribute to this cheat sheet:



1. Fork the repository

2. Open README.md

3. Make your changes

4. Submit a pull request



Your contributions will be greatly appreciated!



## References



* Official Website: http://www.imagemagick.org/script/index.php

* Command-Line Options: http://www.imagemagick.org/script/command-line-options.php

* Fred's ImageMagick Scripts: http://www.fmwconcepts.com/imagemagick/

* GraphicsMagick: http://www.graphicsmagick.org/formats.html

* Legacy Forum: https://legacy.imagemagick.org/discourse-server/

* Crop & Tile Examples: https://legacy.imagemagick.org/Usage/crop/#crop_tile

* Montage Usage: https://legacy.imagemagick.org/Usage/montage/