README

ExImageInfo

ExImageInfo is an Elixir library to parse images (binaries) and get the dimensions (size), detected mime-type and overall validity for a set of image formats. It is the fastest and supports multiple formats.

Status:

GitHub repo · Docs · Hex.pm package

Table of Contents

1. Description
2. Installation
3. Examples
4. Benchmarks
5. Design decisions
6. Acknowledgments
7. Author
8. Contributors
9. ChangeLog
10. License

Description

Main module that checks and gets if a binary seems to be an image (specific format), the mime-type (and variant detected) and the dimensions of the image (based on the type).

It has convention functions to guess the type of an image by trying the formats supported by the library.

Main features

• Check the validity of binary by providing a specific image format*.
• Guess the validity of an image*.
• Get the mime-type and variant type by providing a specific format.
• Guess the mime-type and variant type of an image.
• Get the dimensions of an image by providing a specific format.
• Guess the dimensions of an image.

*Note: both cases as a general overview (partially checked).

Formats

Supported formats (image type to be parsed as):

• :bmp
• :gif
• :ico
• :jpeg (:jpg alias since v0.2.3)
• :jp2
• :png
• :pnm
• :psd
• :tiff
• :webp
• :avif
• :heic
• :heif

Mime-types and Variants

The image variant type is an invented string to identify the type of format recognized by this library (more specific than the mime-type).

Each mime-type can be linked to at least one variant type:

The variant type is created just to provide a bit more of information for every image format (if applicable). If version is empty, it means that it was supported since the initial release.

Formats (maybe) containing multiple images:

• :ico returns the dimensions of the largest image found.
• :heif, :heic and :avif return the dimensions of the main image being selected (primary_box).

The guessing functions try to detect the format of the binary by testing every available type based on its global usage and current trends (popularity, usage of image file formats):

• jpeg, png, webp, avif, gif, heic, heif, bmp, ico, tiff, psd, jp2, pnm

Warnings:

• Use with caution the formats ico, jp2 and the family pnm. They are implemented without following other libraries (just reading the specs - sometimes working with old drafts like jp2).
• ISOBMFF format (heif, heic and avif) is the most complex format being supported, with most parts being implemented following the specs and testing against binary streams manually produced. Please, use with caution and report any issue found.

Contributions: you can support this library by providing more tests, image fixtures (like image/heic-sequence), increasing code coverage or extending support for other variants.

Installation

Add ex_image_info to your list of dependencies in mix.exs.

From Hex:

  def deps do
    [
      # ...
      {:ex_image_info, "~> 1.0.0"},
    ]
  end

Or GitHub:

  def deps do
    [
      # ...
      {:ex_image_info, github: "Group4Layers/ex_image_info"},
    ]
  end

Then, use it:

require ExImageInfo
# ExImageInfo.seems? ...

Examples

The following examples are run with the latest version of the library under the next environment:

Erlang/OTP 19 [erts-8.0.2] [source] [64-bit] [smp:8:8] [async-threads:10] [hipe] [kernel-poll:false]

Interactive Elixir (1.3.2) - press Ctrl+C to exit (type h() ENTER for help)
iex(1)>

Feature seems?

89 50 4E 47 0D 0A 1A 0A are the first 8 bytes in the PNG signature (PNG\\r\\n0x1A\\n).

iex(1)> ExImageInfo.seems? <<0x89504E470D0A1A0A::size(64)>>, :png
true

iex(2)> ExImageInfo.seems? <<0x89504E470D0A1A0A::size(64)>>, :webp
false

ExImageInfo.seems?/2 and ExImageInfo.seems?/1 does not necessarily needs a real image (as it is shown in the previous example) because it just checks the signature of every file format.

Usually it is used as:

iex(1)> ExImageInfo.seems? File.read!("path/to/image.gif"), :gif
true

iex(2)> maybe_png_binary |> ExImageInfo.seems? :png
false

38 42 50 53 are the first 4 bytes in the PSD signature (8BPS).

iex(1)> ExImageInfo.seems? <<0x38425053::size(32)>>
:psd

iex(2)> ExImageInfo.seems? <<0x384250::size(24)>>
nil

ExImageInfo.seems?/2 and ExImageInfo.seems?/1 does not necessarily needs a real image (as it is shown in the previous example) because it just checks the signature of every file format.

Usually it is used as:

iex(1)> ExImageInfo.seems? File.read!("path/to/image.unknown")
:tiff

iex(2)> webp_full_binary |> ExImageInfo.seems?
:webp

Feature type

89 50 4E 47 0D 0A 1A 0A are the first 8 bytes in the PNG signature (PNG\\r\\n0x1A\\n).

iex(1)> ExImageInfo.type <<0x89504E470D0A1A0A::size(64)>>, :png
nil

iex(2)> ExImageInfo.type <<"RIFF", 0::size(32), "WEBPVP8L", 0::size(32), 0x2F7AC07100358683B68D::size(80)>>, :webp
{"image/webp", "webpVP8L"}

The signature part of a png it is now enough to get the type (it check also the IHDR field, just before the width and height).

Usually it is used as:

iex(1)> ExImageInfo.type File.read!("path/to/image.gif"), :gif
{"image/gif", "GIF87a"}

iex(2)> maybe_png_binary |> ExImageInfo.type :png
nil

The guessed version.

iex(1)> ExImageInfo.type <<0x38425053::size(32)>>
{"image/psd", "PSD"}

iex(2)> ExImageInfo.type <<0x384250::size(24)>>
nil

Usually it is used as:

iex(1)> ExImageInfo.type File.read!("path/to/image.unknown")
{"image/tiff", "TIFFMM"}

iex(2)> webp_full_binary |> ExImageInfo.type
{"image/webp", "webpVP8"}

Feature info

89 50 4E 47 0D 0A 1A 0A are the first 8 bytes in the PNG signature (PNG\\r\\n0x1A\\n).

iex(1)> ExImageInfo.info <<0x89504E470D0A1A0A::size(64)>>, :png
nil

iex(2)> ExImageInfo.info <<"RIFF", 0::size(32), "WEBPVP8L", 0::size(32), 0x2F7AC07100358683B68D::size(80)>>, :webp
{"image/webp", 123, 456, "webpVP8L"}

The signature part of a png it is now enough to get the type (it check also the IHDR field, just before the width and height).

Usually it is used as:

iex(1)> ExImageInfo.info File.read!("path/to/image.gif"), :gif
{"image/gif", 1920, 1080, "GIF87a"}

iex(2)> maybe_png_binary |> ExImageInfo.info :png
nil

iex(1)> ExImageInfo.info <<0x38425053::size(32)>>
nil

iex(2)> ExImageInfo.info <<0x38425053::size(32), 0::size(80), 10::size(32), 12::size(32)>>
{"image/psd", 12, 10, "PSD"}

Usually it is used as:

iex(1)> ExImageInfo.info File.read!("path/to/image.unknown")
{"image/tiff", 128, 256, "TIFFMM"}

iex(2)> webp_full_binary |> ExImageInfo.info
{"image/webp", 20, 100, "webpVP8"}

Benchmarks

Group4Layers developed the fastest elixir library to obtain the dimensions of the images (binary data parsed). Also, it excels supporting the maximum number of image formats. All without dependencies.

(The image wouldn’t be included in the package).

Design decisions

Why seems? and not magic? or signature??

Because for some formats it is enough with the magic number or the signature to get the type (image format that “starts” correctly), but in other cases it is an algorithm a bit more complex to see if the binary seems correct. Therefore, seems it is more general (than getting the magic number) and it will provide a “quick overview” of the validity of the binary.

Why returning the mime-type and variant type when getting the dimensions (info)?

Because both types (variant if applicable) are necessary to obtain the width and height of the binary for a specific format. In case it is required both the type (and variant) and the dimensions it is not necessary to call two functions (and re-parse part or completely the binary). Therefore, to get the dimensions it is obtained the types and all the information is returned in one step.

Renamed from ExImageSize to ExImageInfo

Although it has been released since the very first version with the name ExImageInfo, this library was previously known as ExImageSize, but it is preferable to have a name less restricted. Nowadays it can get information about the type and the dimensions (size), but in a future it could increase the amount of info to extract from an image.

Acknowledgments

This idea comes from libraries that I have used in other platforms and/or languages. Algorithms and some concepts are picked and based on parts of the following:

• image-size (JavaScript) - Aditya Yadav
• imagesize (Ruby) - Keisuke Minami
• fastimage (Ruby) - Stephen Sykes

Thanks to them.

Author

nozalr nozalr@group4layers.com (Group4Layers®).

Contributors

See CONTRIBUTORS for more information.

GitHub readers (repo, no docs): CONTRIBUTORS.md.

ChangeLog

See CHANGELOG for more information.

GitHub readers (repo, no docs): CHANGELOG.md.

License

ExImageInfo source code is released under the MIT License.

See LICENSE for more information.

GitHub readers (repo, no docs): LICENSE.md.