magick-identify

Describe the format and basic characteristics of an image

$ magick identify [path/to/image]

$ magick identify -verbose [path/to/image]

$ magick identify -format "[%f,%w,%h\n]" [*.jpg] > [path/to/filelist.csv]

magick-identify [options ...] input-file ...

-alpha
    Control the image's alpha channel behavior for identification.

-channel
    Apply options to specific image channels (e.g., Red, Green, Blue, Alpha).

-colors
    Report the preferred number of colors after quantization.

-debug
    Enable verbose debugging of ImageMagick operations.

-define
    Define specific image format options or behaviors.

-density
    Specify image density for vector formats (e.g., SVG, PDF) during identification.

-depth
    Report the image depth (bits per pixel component).

-format
    Print image properties using a custom format string.

-interlace
    Report the interlace scheme of the image.

-label
    Identify the label attribute of the image.

-limit
    Set a resource limit (e.g., memory, disk) for processing.

-list
    List supported ImageMagick components (e.g., formats, fonts).

-monitor
    Display a progress monitor for lengthy identification operations.

-ping
    Quickly determine if a file is a valid ImageMagick image without decoding pixels.

-precision
    Set the number of significant digits for floating-point output.

-profile
    Identify or remove specific image profiles (e.g., Exif, ICC).

-quality
    Report the compression quality for lossy formats.

-quiet
    Suppress non-critical warning messages during identification.

-regard-warnings
    Treat warnings encountered during identification as fatal errors.

-sampling-factor
    Report chrominance sampling factors for JPEG images.

-scene
    Report the specific scene number from a multi-image file.

-size
    Specify image dimensions to aid identification of raw formats.

-strip
    Remove all profiles and comments before identification.

-storage-type
    Report the pixel storage type (e.g., Char, Short, Float).

-type
    Report the identified image type (e.g., Grayscale, TrueColor).

-unique-colors
    Count and list the unique colors in the image.

-units
    Report the units of image resolution (e.g., PixelsPerInch).

-verbose
    Provide extensive, detailed information about the image.

-version
    Display the ImageMagick version and copyright information.

The magick-identify command is a fundamental utility from the ImageMagick suite, designed to describe the format and characteristics of one or more image files. It reports crucial information such as image width, height, file size, color depth, image format, colorspace, and various metadata like profiles and comments. Users can obtain a quick summary or highly detailed reports, making it an indispensable tool for scripting, debugging, and inspecting image files without requiring full image decoding. It's often invoked as a symlink to identify.

Identifying very large images can consume significant memory and CPU resources. The accuracy of identification for obscure or malformed image formats may vary. The exact set of supported features and options can differ slightly across ImageMagick versions and build configurations.

Basic identification:

magick-identify myimage.jpg

Verbose identification with all details:

magick-identify -verbose myimage.png

Custom format output (width x height and filename):

magick-identify -format "%w x %h %f" myimage.gif

ImageMagick was first released in 1990 by John Cristy. The identify utility (which magick-identify commonly links to) has been a core component since the early days of the project, providing essential functionality for inspecting image properties and metadata. Its development has mirrored the evolution of the ImageMagick library, continuously adding support for new image formats, metadata standards, and advanced identification options.

magick(1), magick-convert(1), magick-mogrify(1), magick-compare(1), magick-display(1)