Coding

Converting PNG to WebP Images in Python: A Step-by-Step Guide

Learn how to convert PNG to WebP using Python and PIL. Step-by-step guide for developers. Perfect for implementing a PNG to WebP converter.

This article explains the code for a PNG to WebP converter in Python. The code utilizes the Python Imaging Library (PIL) to open and manipulate images, and the os and sys modules to work with files and directories.

Code Explanation The code starts with an ASCII art of the text “code by Mansoor Barri” printed to the console using the print() function.

Next, the required modules are imported:

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from PIL import Image
import os
import sys
  • The Image module is imported from PIL, which provides functions for opening, manipulating, and saving images.
  • The os and sys modules are imported to work with files and directories.

A function named convert_png_to_webp() is defined, which will perform the conversion of PNG to WebP images.

Inside the function, the input and output paths are obtained from the command line arguments using sys.argv[1] and sys.argv[2] respectively:

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input_path = '/home/anar/' + sys.argv[1]
output_path = '/home/anar/' + sys.argv[2]

Note that the input and output paths are assumed to be provided as command line arguments and are concatenated with the home directory path of the user.

Then, the absolute paths of the input and output paths are obtained using the os.path.abspath() method:

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input_abs_path = os.path.abspath(input_path)
output_abs_path = os.path.abspath(output_path)

Next, the with statement is used to open the input PNG file using the Image.open() method from PIL, and the opened image is stored in a variable named img:

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with Image.open(input_path) as img:

Inside the with block, the save() method is used to save the opened image as a WebP file using the img.save() method, with the output path specified by the user and the format set to 'webp':

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img.save(output_path, 'webp')

Finally, a message is printed to the console indicating that the conversion is complete and the output file is saved at the specified output path:

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print("~/" + sys.argv[1] + " is converted and saved at " + "~/" + sys.argv[2])

Lastly, the convert_png_to_webp() function is called to execute the code:

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convert_png_to_webp()

Full code can be found here. I hope you find this article helpful for understanding the code of the PNG to WebP converter in Python. Happy coding!

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