5.9. Images

There are three general methods for displaying graphic images in your Tkinter application.

To display bitmap (two-color) images in the .xbm format, refer to Section 5.9.1, “The BitmapImage class”.
To display full-color images in the .gif, .pgm, or .ppm format, see Section 5.9.2, “The PhotoImage class”.
The Python Imaging Library (PIL) supports images in a much wider variety of formats. Its ImageTk class is specifically designed for displaying images within Tkinter applications. See the author's companion document for PIL documentation: Python Imaging Library (PIL) quick reference.

5.9.1. The `BitmapImage` class

To display a two-color image in the .xbm format, you will need this constructor:

    tk.BitmapImage(file=f[, background=b][, foreground=c])

where f is the name of the .xbm image file.

Normally, foreground (1) bits in the image will be displayed as black pixels, and background (0) bits in the image will be transparent. To change this behavior, use the optional background=b option to set the background to color b, and the optional foreground=c option to set the foreground to color c. For color specification, see Section 5.3, “Colors”.

This constructor returns a value that can be used anywhere Tkinter expects an image. For example, to display an image as a label, use a Label widget (see Section 12, “The Label widget”) and supply the BitmapImage object as the value of the image option:

    logo = tk.BitmapImage('logo.xbm', foreground='red')
    Label(image=logo).grid()

5.9.2. The `PhotoImage` class

To display a color image in .gif, .pgm, or .ppm format, you will need this constructor:

    tk.PhotoImage(file=f)

where f is the name of the image file. The constructor returns a value that can be used anywhere Tkinter expects an image.

Tkinter 8.5 reference: a GUI for Python

5.9. Images

5.9.1. The BitmapImage class

5.9.2. The PhotoImage class

5.9.1. The `BitmapImage` class

5.9.2. The `PhotoImage` class