Netpbm Converter

A command-line utility for converting images to Netpbm.

Usage

Initial setup

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

Converting an image

Command format: convert.py <magic_number> <input_path>

Usage examples:

python convert.py P1 ./example_data/images/cat.jpg # creates ./example_data/images/cat.pbm (black & white)
python convert.py P2 ./example_data/images/dog.jpg # creates ./example_data/images/dog.pgm (grayscale)
python convert.py P3 ./example_data/images/capibara.jpg # creates ./example_data/images/capibara.ppm (full RGB)

Features

Supported Netpbm formats

Type	Magic number	Extension	Colors
Portable BitMap	P1 (ASCII)	.pbm	0-1 (black & white)
Portable GrayMap	P2 (ASCII)	.pgm	0-255 (grayscale)
Portable PixMap	P3 (ASCII)	.ppm	0-255 per RGB channel

Limitations

• No support for magic numbers P4 - P6 (raw binary)
• No support for multibyte GrayMap

Useful links

• Netpbm (Wikipedia)

Image sources

• cat.jpg: JackieLou DL on Pixabay
• dog.jpg: Fran • @mallorcadogphotography on Pixabay
• capibara.jpg: Masakazu Kobayashi on Pixabay