{"id":2973,"date":"2026-07-04T22:13:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T14:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.incuriosum.com\/blog\/?p=2973"},"modified":"2026-07-04T22:13:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T14:13:10","slug":"how-to-use-pillow-to-perform-image-color-palette-sharing-417c-696c22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.incuriosum.com\/blog\/2026\/07\/04\/how-to-use-pillow-to-perform-image-color-palette-sharing-417c-696c22\/","title":{"rendered":"How to use Pillow to perform image color palette sharing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hey there! I’m a supplier of Pillow, and today I wanna share with you how to use Pillow to perform image color palette sharing. It’s a pretty cool feature that can come in handy for all sorts of projects, whether you’re a graphic designer, a photographer, or just someone who loves playing around with images. Pillow<\/a><\/p>\n

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First off, let’s talk a bit about what Pillow is. Pillow is a powerful Python library that allows you to work with images. It’s an enhanced fork of the Python Imaging Library (PIL), and it provides a wide range of functions for opening, manipulating, and saving different image file formats. One of the really useful things it can do is help you deal with color palettes in images.<\/p>\n

What is Image Color Palette Sharing?<\/h3>\n

Before we dive into how to use Pillow for this, let’s understand what image color palette sharing is. In simple terms, a color palette is a set of colors used in an image. When we talk about color palette sharing, we mean taking the color palette from one image and applying it to another. This can be used to create a consistent look across multiple images, or to give an image a certain style based on the colors of another.<\/p>\n

Getting Started with Pillow<\/h3>\n

To start using Pillow for color palette sharing, you first need to have it installed. If you haven’t already, you can install it using pip. Just open up your terminal and run the following command:<\/p>\n

pip install pillow\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
Once it’s installed, you’re ready to start working with images.<\/p>\n
Loading Images<\/h3>\n
The first step in color palette sharing is to load the images you want to work with. Here’s how you can do it using Pillow:<\/p>\n
from PIL import Image\n\n# Load the source image (the one with the color palette you want to share)\nsource_image = Image.open('source_image.jpg')\n\n# Load the target image (the one you want to apply the color palette to)\ntarget_image = Image.open('target_image.jpg')\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
In this code, we’re using the Image.open()<\/code> method to open two images. The source_image<\/code> is the one whose color palette we’ll be extracting, and the target_image<\/code> is the one we’ll be applying the palette to.<\/p>\n
Extracting the Color Palette<\/h3>\n
Now that we have our images loaded, we need to extract the color palette from the source image. Pillow makes this pretty easy. Here’s how you can do it:<\/p>\n
# Convert the source image to a palette image\npalette_image = source_image.convert('P', palette=Image.ADAPTIVE, colors=256)\n\n# Get the color palette\npalette = palette_image.getpalette()\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
In the first line, we’re converting the source image to a palette image using the convert()<\/code> method. The 'P'<\/code> mode means we’re converting the image to a palette-based image. The palette=Image.ADAPTIVE<\/code> parameter tells Pillow to create an adaptive palette, which means it will try to find the most representative colors in the image. The colors=256<\/code> parameter specifies that we want a palette with 256 colors.<\/p>\n
In the second line, we’re using the getpalette()<\/code> method to get the color palette from the palette image.<\/p>\n
Applying the Color Palette<\/h3>\n
Once we have the color palette, we can apply it to the target image. Here’s how:<\/p>\n
# Convert the target image to a palette image using the extracted palette\ntarget_palette_image = target_image.convert('P', palette=Image.ADAPTIVE, colors=256)\ntarget_palette_image.putpalette(palette)\n\n# Convert the target palette image back to RGB\nresult_image = target_palette_image.convert('RGB')\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
In the first line, we’re converting the target image to a palette image in the same way we did for the source image. In the second line, we’re using the putpalette()<\/code> method to apply the extracted color palette to the target palette image. Finally, in the third line, we’re converting the target palette image back to RGB mode so that we can save it as a normal image.<\/p>\n
Saving the Result<\/h3>\n
Now that we have our result image, we can save it. Here’s how:<\/p>\n
# Save the result image\nresult_image.save('result_image.jpg')\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
This code uses the save()<\/code> method to save the result image as a JPEG file.<\/p>\n
Tips and Tricks<\/h3>\n