PIL /JPEG Library: "decoder jpeg not available"

Question

I tried to use PIL to do some JPEG work in my django app with PIL but I'm getting this IOError.. not sure what to do.

""decoder jpeg not available""

Am I missing the JPEG decoder from my server? If so, how do I fix it?

I found this post and it really helps me : http://obroll.com/install-python-pil-python-image-library-on-ubuntu-11-10-oneiric/ — kschaeffler, Sep 12 '12 at 16:45
possible duplicate of [Python Image Library fails with message "decoder JPEG not available PIL"](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8915296/python-image-library-fails-with-message-decoder-jpeg-not-available-pil) — neves, Oct 09 '13 at 23:52

Anton Danilchenko · Answer 1 · 2013-02-16T19:58:56.057

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I have found this answer from author "edward"

On Ubuntu precise, PIL doesn't find the jpeg library files, even once they are installed. The easiest way to fix this is to make a symlink after you have installed the jpeg dev package. So, I needed an extra step:

for x64 OS

pip uninstall PIL
sudo apt-get install libjpeg8-dev
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libjpeg.so /usr/lib
pip install PIL

for x32 OS

pip uninstall PIL
sudo apt-get install libjpeg8-dev
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libjpeg.so /usr/lib
pip install PIL

I confirm that this is working for me on Ubuntu Linux 12.04.

If you are a Mac user - you need to install Xcode and Command Line Tools. Read how to do this

edited Feb 16 '13 at 19:58

answered Sep 06 '12 at 13:24

Anton Danilchenko

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`sudo ln -s /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libjpeg.so /usr/lib` did the job for me – Nathan Keller Jan 02 '13 at 04:16
Nathan Keller, it depends on your system version. x64 or x32. Thank you. I have edited my answer. – Anton Danilchenko Jan 30 '13 at 14:22
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I have found solution for Mac users here: http://python-on-mac.blogspot.com/2013/02/prepare-your-mac-to-work-in-python.html – Anton Danilchenko Feb 16 '13 at 19:56
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Mac users do NOT need to install all of XCode to write a simple jpeg file with PIL. Simply run `brew install libjpeg` and reinstall PIL as prescribed above and you will be up and running. – Craig Labenz May 06 '13 at 15:35

Fang-Pen Lin · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-11T05:48:06.687

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You need to install jpeg library first and reinstall your PIL. For example, I'm using CentOS, to install libjpeg, I run

sudo yum install -y libjpeg-devel

It depends on what kind of linux you are using. And here you have to remove the old PIL

rm -rf /usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/PIL-1.1.7-py2.6-linux-x86_64.egg/

Then install the PIL

sudo easy_install PIL

edited Jan 11 '11 at 05:48

answered Jan 08 '11 at 07:05

Fang-Pen Lin

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score 20 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:09

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A stronger answer can be found at install pil on virtualenv with libjpeg

For me what finally worked on Ubutu was:

pip uninstall PIL
sudo apt-get install libjpeg8-dev
pip install PIL

The Python Imaging Library (PIL) seems really picky about version and location of the jpeg libraries. And because PIL is written in C and compiled, you need the development versions of the library in addition to the runtime versions.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:09

Community

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answered Jan 19 '12 at 21:34

Bryce

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At Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS using Pillow `pip uninstall Pillow` `sudo apt-get install libjpeg8-dev` `pip install Pillow` works for me – Moreno Oct 29 '14 at 20:57

score 6 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 12 '13 at 19:37

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I don't have sudo privileges, because I am on a shared bluehost server. So I can't run any of those sudo apt-get jpeg commands. I ended up running

pip uninstall pil
pip install pillow

and apparently pillow was able to find support for jpegs.

answered Feb 12 '13 at 19:37

Chase Roberts

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Actually I still have: `IOError: decoder jpeg not available` after doing this. – AJP Apr 02 '13 at 10:50
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A combination of @cmaluenda's answer below and this one worked. – AJP Apr 02 '13 at 11:01
Yeah, but if you are running a mac server you are going to have a million more problems before you get this one. – Chase Roberts Apr 16 '13 at 22:25

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 28 '13 at 03:29

There is a selftest.py in your Imaging installation folder, try:

python selftest.py

you will see something like that:

--------------------------------------------------------------------
*** PIL CORE support not installed
*** TKINTER support not installed
--- JPEG support ok
--- ZLIB (PNG/ZIP) support ok
*** FREETYPE2 support not installed
*** LITTLECMS support not installed
--------------------------------------------------------------------

if JPEG support not available, Centos:

yum install libjpeg-devel
yum install freetype-devel 
yum install libpng-devel

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 16 '13 at 21:50

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For mac's users, You can download the library from here: http://ethan.tira-thompson.com/Mac_OS_X_Ports.html. Then, uninstall and install PIL

answered Mar 16 '13 at 21:50

cmaluenda

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anyway to use brew instead of macports? – chovy Apr 16 '13 at 21:15

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Jan 02 '16 at 11:36

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On Debian distributions use libjpeg62-turbo-dev instead of libjpeg8-dev

answered Jan 02 '16 at 11:36

Steve

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score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 08 '11 at 04:02

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You can build PIL from source: http://effbot.org/zone/pil-decoder-jpeg-not-available.htm

answered Jan 08 '11 at 04:02

TryPyPy

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I did, but running the selftest it still tells me .. from line #24 of selftest.testimage Expected: ('JPEG', 'RGB', (128, 128)) Got: decoder jpeg not available 1 items had failures: 1 of 57 in selftest.testimage ***Test Failed*** 1 failures. *** 1 tests of 57 failed. – Brian D Jan 08 '11 at 04:03
I'm assuming the whole ./configure --with-jpeg=/somelib/lib --with-zlib=/somelib/lib line means I need to go fetch a copt of the jpeg library – Brian D Jan 08 '11 at 04:05
Yes, but you can probably do that with your package manager, e.g. on Ubuntu: "apt-get install libjpeg-dev". – TryPyPy Jan 08 '11 at 04:08

PIL /JPEG Library: "decoder jpeg not available"

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