python-pillow
ImageGrab.grabclipboard raises ValueError: cannot read this XPM file
PIL cannot parse XPM from clipboard, while other options are available.
What did you do?
- Sent a test image (Lenna.png) to myself in Telegram.
- Selected "Copy Image" in Telegram desktop version.
- Run this test script:
from PIL import ImageGrab
ImageGrab.grabclipboard()
What did you expect to happen?
No output (success).
What actually happened?
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/vsavkin/Projects/screen-ocr/test.py", line 2, in <module>
ImageGrab.grabclipboard()
File "/home/vsavkin/Projects/screen-ocr/env/lib/python3.12/site-packages/PIL/ImageGrab.py", line 181, in grabclipboard
im = Image.open(data)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/home/vsavkin/Projects/screen-ocr/env/lib/python3.12/site-packages/PIL/Image.py", line 3516, in open
im = _open_core(
^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/home/vsavkin/Projects/screen-ocr/env/lib/python3.12/site-packages/PIL/Image.py", line 3499, in _open_core
im = factory(fp, filename)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/home/vsavkin/Projects/screen-ocr/env/lib/python3.12/site-packages/PIL/ImageFile.py", line 144, in __init__
self._open()
File "/home/vsavkin/Projects/screen-ocr/env/lib/python3.12/site-packages/PIL/XpmImagePlugin.py", line 61, in _open
raise ValueError(msg)
ValueError: cannot read this XPM file
What are your OS, Python and Pillow versions?
- OS: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Wayland)
- Python: 3.12.3
- Pillow: 11.1.0
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Pillow 11.1.0
Python 3.12.3 (main, Feb 4 2025, 14:48:35) [GCC 13.3.0]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Python executable is /home/vsavkin/Projects/screen-ocr/env/bin/python3
Environment Python files loaded from /home/vsavkin/Projects/screen-ocr/env
System Python files loaded from /usr
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Python Pillow modules loaded from /home/vsavkin/Projects/screen-ocr/env/lib/python3.12/site-packages/PIL
Binary Pillow modules loaded from /home/vsavkin/Projects/screen-ocr/env/lib/python3.12/site-packages/PIL
--------------------------------------------------------------------
--- PIL CORE support ok, compiled for 11.1.0
*** TKINTER support not installed
--- FREETYPE2 support ok, loaded 2.13.2
--- LITTLECMS2 support ok, loaded 2.16
--- WEBP support ok, loaded 1.5.0
--- JPEG support ok, compiled for libjpeg-turbo 3.1.0
--- OPENJPEG (JPEG2000) support ok, loaded 2.5.3
--- ZLIB (PNG/ZIP) support ok, loaded 1.3, compiled for zlib-ng 2.2.2
--- LIBTIFF support ok, loaded 4.6.0
--- RAQM (Bidirectional Text) support ok, loaded 0.10.1, fribidi 1.0.13, harfbuzz 10.1.0
*** LIBIMAGEQUANT (Quantization method) support not installed
--- XCB (X protocol) support ok
--------------------------------------------------------------------
So, there are multiple images in clipboard:
$ wl-paste -l
image/xpm
image/xbm
image/webp
image/wbmp
image/tiff
image/tif
image/qoi
image/ppm
image/pgm
image/pbm
image/jxl
image/jpg
image/jfif
image/ico
image/icns
image/cur
image/bmp
image/avif
image/png
application/x-td-use-jpeg
image/jpeg
application/x-qt-image
$ wl-paste -t image | file -
/dev/stdin: X pixmap image text, 512 x 512 x 114002, 3 chars/pixel
$ wl-paste -t image/png | file -
/dev/stdin: PNG image data, 512 x 512, 8-bit/color RGB, non-interlaced
I propose to check MIME types and choose a better supported one (like image/png) when available.
How would you feel if we just improved XPM support?
Would you mind copying hopper.png, and then using this code to save the file,
import subprocess
args = ["wl-paste", "-t", "image"]
p = subprocess.run(args, capture_output=True)
with open("out", "rb") as fp:
fp.write(p.stdout)
and then uploading it here? That would presumably give us a similar XPM file to examine, and a file that we could potentially include in our test suite to be distributed with Pillow.
Sounds great! Here is the file (I changed "rb" to "wb" in your code).
I've created #8874 to resolve this. I've included your image, which I've named hopper_rgb.xpm. If the PR is merged, the test image will be distributed under our license.