From near the beginning of the PIL Tutorial:

Once you have an instance of the Image class, you can use the methods defined by this class to process and manipulate the image. For example, let's display the image we just loaded:

     >>> im.show()

Update:

Nowadays the Image.show() method is formally documented in the Pillow fork of PIL along with an explanation of how it's implemented on different OSs.

Answer from martineau on Stack Overflow
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TutorialsPoint
tutorialspoint.com › python_pillow › python_pillow_using_image_module.htm
Python Pillow - Using Image Module
To load the image, we simply import the image module from the pillow and call the Image.open(), passing the image filename. Instead of calling the Pillow module, we will call the PIL module as to make it backward compatible with an older module called Python Imaging Library (PIL).
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Pillow Documentation
pillow.readthedocs.io › en › stable › handbook › tutorial.html
Tutorial - Pillow (PIL Fork) 12.2.0 documentation
The most important class in the Python Imaging Library is the Image class, defined in the module with the same name. You can create instances of this class in several ways; either by loading images from files, processing other images, or creating images from scratch. To load an image from a file, use the open() function in the Image module: >>> from PIL import Image >>> im = Image.open("hopper.ppm")
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Pillow Documentation
pillow.readthedocs.io › en › stable › reference › Image.html
Image module - Pillow (PIL Fork) 12.2.0 documentation
The Image module provides a class with the same name which is used to represent a PIL image. The module also provides a number of factory functions, including functions to load images from files, a...
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GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › python › python-pil-image-new-method
Python PIL | Image.new() method - GeeksforGeeks
July 12, 2025 - PIL is the Python Imaging Library which provides the python interpreter with image editing capabilities. PIL.Image.new() method creates a new image with the given mode and size. Size is given as a (width, height)-tuple, in pixels.
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Real Python
realpython.com › image-processing-with-the-python-pillow-library
Image Processing With the Python Pillow Library – Real Python
January 8, 2025 - Python Pillow allows you to manipulate images and perform basic image processing tasks. As a fork of the Python Imaging Library (PIL), Pillow supports image formats like JPEG, PNG, and more, enabling you to read, edit, and save images.
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GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › python › python-pillow-a-fork-of-pil
Python: Pillow (a fork of PIL) - GeeksforGeeks
April 28, 2025 - Python Imaging Library (expansion of PIL) is the de facto image processing package for Python language. It incorporates lightweight image processing tools that aids in editing, creating and saving images.
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PyPI
pypi.org › project › pillow
pillow · PyPI
As of 2019, Pillow development is supported by Tidelift. The Python Imaging Library adds image processing capabilities to your Python interpreter.
      » pip install pillow
    
Published   Apr 01, 2026
Version   12.2.0
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Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Python_Imaging_Library
Python Imaging Library - Wikipedia
1 week ago - Python Imaging Library is a free and open-source additional library for the Python programming language that adds support for opening, manipulating, and saving many different image file formats. It is available for Windows, macOS and Linux. The latest version of PIL is 1.1.7, was released in ...
Find elsewhere
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Pillow
pillow.readthedocs.io
Pillow (PIL Fork) 12.2.0 documentation
Pillow for enterprise is available via the Tidelift Subscription. Learn more. The Python Imaging Library adds image processing capabilities to your Python interpreter.
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GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › python › python-pil-image-open-method
Python PIL | Image.open() method - GeeksforGeeks
October 7, 2025 - from PIL import Image img = Image.open("example.jpg") # Save it in PNG format img.save("new_image.png")
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GitHub
github.com › python-pillow › Pillow › blob › main › src › PIL › Image.py
Pillow/src/PIL/Image.py at main · python-pillow/Pillow
Explicitly initializes the Python Imaging Library. This function · loads all available file format drivers. · It is called when opening or saving images if :py:meth:`~preinit()` is · insufficient, and by :py:meth:`~PIL.features.pilinfo`. """ ·
Author   python-pillow
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Codecademy
codecademy.com › article › getting-started-with-image-processing-in-python-using-pillow
Getting Started with Image Processing in Python using Pillow | Codecademy
Pillow is a powerful image processing library that is used to perform a wide range of operations on images, such as resizing, cropping, rotating, and much more. It is a fork of the Python Imaging Library (PIL) which is a go-to library of Python to work with images...
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Medium
medium.com › data-science › using-pils-image-for-image-transformation-64a6d7b6e58b
Using PIL’s Image for image transformation | by Karan Bhanot | TDS Archive | Medium
May 5, 2020 - from PIL import Image import matplotlib.pyplot as plt · Using Image.open(), we can simply load the image in the notebook (or Python file if you’re using that).
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Pillow
pillow.readthedocs.io › en › latest › reference › Image.html
Image module - Pillow (PIL Fork) 12.3.0.dev0 documentation
The Image module provides a class with the same name which is used to represent a PIL image. The module also provides a number of factory functions, including functions to load images from files, a...
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Note.nkmk.me
note.nkmk.me › home › python › pillow
How to use Pillow (PIL: Python Imaging Library) | note.nkmk.me
May 14, 2019 - Pillow is an image processing library forked from PIL (Python Image Library). Since PIL is no longer under development, Pillow is now widely used. Although advanced image processing (face recognition, ...
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Pillow Documentation
pillow.readthedocs.io › en › stable › reference › ImageFile.html
ImageFile module - Pillow (PIL Fork) 12.2.0 documentation
In addition, it provides a Parser class which can be used to decode an image piece by piece (e.g. while receiving it over a network connection). This class implements the same consumer interface as the standard sgmllib and xmllib modules. from PIL import ImageFile fp = open("hopper.ppm", "rb") p = ImageFile.Parser() while 1: s = fp.read(1024) if not s: break p.feed(s) im = p.close() im.save("copy.jpg")