Convert Svg to Png in Python

How do I convert an svg to png, in Python? I am storing the svg in an instance of StringIO. Should I use the pyCairo library? How do I write that code?

6

15 Answers

Here is what I did using cairosvg:

from cairosvg import svg2png

svg_code = """
    <svg xmlns="" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="#000" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round">
        <circle cx="12" cy="12" r="10"/>
        <line x1="12" y1="8" x2="12" y2="12"/>
        <line x1="12" y1="16" x2="12" y2="16"/>
    </svg>
"""

svg2png(bytestring=svg_code,write_to='output.png')

And it works like a charm!

See more: cairosvg document

10

The answer is "pyrsvg" - a Python binding for librsvg.

There is an Ubuntu python-rsvg package providing it. Searching Google for its name is poor because its source code seems to be contained inside the "gnome-python-desktop" Gnome project GIT repository.

I made a minimalist "hello world" that renders SVG to a cairo surface and writes it to disk:

import cairo
import rsvg

img = cairo.ImageSurface(cairo.FORMAT_ARGB32, 640,480)

ctx = cairo.Context(img)

## handle = rsvg.Handle(<svg filename>)
# or, for in memory SVG data:
handle= rsvg.Handle(None, str(<svg data>))

handle.render_cairo(ctx)

img.write_to_png("svg.png")

Update: as of 2014 the needed package for Fedora Linux distribution is: gnome-python2-rsvg. The above snippet listing still works as-is.

8

Install Inkscape and call it as command line:

${INKSCAPE_PATH} -z -f ${source_svg} -w ${width} -j -e ${dest_png}

You can also snap specific rectangular area only using parameter -j, e.g. co-ordinate "0:125:451:217"

${INKSCAPE_PATH} -z -f ${source_svg} -w ${width} -j -a ${coordinates} -e ${dest_png}

If you want to show only one object in the SVG file, you can specify the parameter -i with the object id that you have setup in the SVG. It hides everything else.

${INKSCAPE_PATH} -z -f ${source_svg} -w ${width} -i ${object} -j -a ${coordinates} -e ${dest_png}
3

I'm using Wand-py (an implementation of the Wand wrapper around ImageMagick) to import some pretty advanced SVGs and so far have seen great results! This is all the code it takes:

    with wand.image.Image( blob=svg_file.read(), format="svg" ) as image:
        png_image = image.make_blob("png")

I just discovered this today, and felt like it was worth sharing for anyone else who might straggle across this answer as it's been a while since most of these questions were answered.

NOTE: Technically in testing I discovered you don't even actually have to pass in the format parameter for ImageMagick, so with wand.image.Image( blob=svg_file.read() ) as image: was all that was really needed.

EDIT: From an attempted edit by qris, here's some helpful code that lets you use ImageMagick with an SVG that has a transparent background:

from wand.api import library
import wand.color
import wand.image

with wand.image.Image() as image:
    with wand.color.Color('transparent') as background_color:
        library.MagickSetBackgroundColor(image.wand, 
                                         background_color.resource) 
    image.read(blob=svg_file.read(), format="svg")
    png_image = image.make_blob("png32")

with open(output_filename, "wb") as out:
    out.write(png_image)
11

I did not find any of the answers satisfactory. All the mentioned libraries have some problem or the other like Cairo dropping support for python 3.6 (they dropped Python 2 support some 3 years ago!). Also, installing the mentioned libraries on the Mac was a pain.

Finally, I found the best solution was svglib + reportlab. Both installed without a hitch using pip and first call to convert from svg to png worked beautifully! Very happy with the solution.

Just 2 commands do the trick:

from svglib.svglib import svg2rlg
from reportlab.graphics import renderPM
drawing = svg2rlg("my.svg")
renderPM.drawToFile(drawing, "my.png", fmt="PNG")

Are there any limitations with these I should be aware of?

4

Try this:

The site says:

CairoSVG is written in pure python and only depends on Pycairo. It is known to work on Python 2.6 and 2.7.

Update November 25, 2016:

2.0.0 is a new major version, its changelog includes:

  • Drop Python 2 support
6

Another solution I've just found here How to render a scaled SVG to a QImage?

from PySide.QtSvg import *
from PySide.QtGui import *


def convertSvgToPng(svgFilepath,pngFilepath,width):
    r=QSvgRenderer(svgFilepath)
    height=r.defaultSize().height()*width/r.defaultSize().width()
    i=QImage(width,height,QImage.Format_ARGB32)
    p=QPainter(i)
    r.render(p)
    i.save(pngFilepath)
    p.end()

PySide is easily installed from a binary package in Windows (and I use it for other things so is easy for me).

However, I noticed a few problems when converting country flags from Wikimedia, so perhaps not the most robust svg parser/renderer.

Here is a another solution without using rsvg(which is currently not available for windows).Only install cairosvg using pip install CairoSVG

svg2png.py

from cairosvg import svg2png
svg_code = open("input.svg", 'rt').read()
svg2png(bytestring=svg_code,write_to='output.png')
1

A little extension on the answer of jsbueno:

#!/usr/bin/env python

import cairo
import rsvg
from xml.dom import minidom


def convert_svg_to_png(svg_file, output_file):
    # Get the svg files content
    with open(svg_file) as f:
        svg_data = f.read()

    # Get the width / height inside of the SVG
    doc = minidom.parse(svg_file)
    width = int([path.getAttribute('width') for path
                 in doc.getElementsByTagName('svg')][0])
    height = int([path.getAttribute('height') for path
                  in doc.getElementsByTagName('svg')][0])
    doc.unlink()

    # create the png
    img = cairo.ImageSurface(cairo.FORMAT_ARGB32, width, height)
    ctx = cairo.Context(img)
    handler = rsvg.Handle(None, str(svg_data))
    handler.render_cairo(ctx)
    img.write_to_png(output_file)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    from argparse import ArgumentParser

    parser = ArgumentParser()

    parser.add_argument("-f", "--file", dest="svg_file",
                        help="SVG input file", metavar="FILE")
    parser.add_argument("-o", "--output", dest="output", default="svg.png",
                        help="PNG output file", metavar="FILE")
    args = parser.parse_args()

    convert_svg_to_png(args.svg_file, args.output)
1

SVG scaling and PNG rendering

Using pycairo and librsvg I was able to achieve SVG scaling and rendering to a bitmap. Assuming your SVG is not exactly 256x256 pixels, the desired output, you can read in the SVG to a Cairo context using rsvg and then scale it and write to a PNG.

Sarah Jenkins

Sarah Jenkins

Senior Technology Editor & AI Specialist

Sarah Jenkins is a veteran tech journalist with over 12 years of experience covering artificial intelligence, mobile innovations, and digital ethics. Her insights have appeared in leading technology publications worldwide.