Learn the ecosystem
Separate libvips, the CLI, and the language bindings. Open the map
VIPS Handbook
One mental model for libvips and four widely used interfaces.
Maintained by WebP Cloud. This is a community project, not official libvips documentation. Every public page is maintained as released content; version-sensitive claims state their review date and verification boundary.
Start here
Section titled “Start here”Choose a binding
Route Go, Node.js, Python, or the shell to one interface. Choose an entry
Run it once
Make a WebP thumbnail that does not enlarge. 15-minute quickstart
Understand execution
See demand-driven evaluation and errors that appear at export. Execution model
First executed evidence
Section titled “First executed evidence”
This is an executed, versioned output from the displayed Go example rather than a decorative mockup. Open the 15-minute quickstart for the code, parameters, and current verification boundary.
Core sections
Section titled “Core sections”Recipes
Runnable examples across I/O and conversion, geometry and canvas, composition and colour, and special formats. Browse recipes
Production
Process and object lifecycle management, untrusted-input limits, and loader-blocking boundaries. Browse production guides
Troubleshooting
Diagnose out of order read, colour shifts and missing ICC profiles, concurrency crashes, and suspected memory leaks. Browse troubleshooting
Reference
Cross-binding operation mapping, default parameter differences, format support matrix, and version baseline. Browse reference
Four first-class interfaces
Section titled “Four first-class interfaces”- govips for Go services that can manage CGO, libvips lifecycle, and resource release.
- sharp for Node.js services built around image pipelines.
- pyvips for Python automation, research, and service workloads.
- vips CLI for operation discovery, shell batches, and minimal reproductions.
Latest ecosystem updates
Section titled “Latest ecosystem updates”See significant libvips, govips, pyvips, and sharp releases together, so you can tell whether a capability began in the core library or a language binding.
sharp 0.35.5 tightens array and input bounds
This patch bounds linear and GIF delay arrays, improves WebAssembly fallback errors, and upgrades the bundled libvips to a release with additional input validation.
Original record ↗libvips 8.18.7 tightens validation across multiple loaders
This patch bounds LUT size, strengthens TIFF, PDFium, and JPEG 2000 validation, and marks JPEG 2000 save as untrusted, making it especially relevant to services that accept external input.
Original record ↗govips 2.19 adds Reader/Writer streaming
New LoadImageFromReader, SaveToWriter, and TranscodeStream APIs connect Go io.Reader/io.Writer values to libvips and distinguish sequential paths from transforms that require materialisation.
Original record ↗pyvips 3.2 adds comprehensive typing and PIL conversion
Version 3.2 covers libvips operations with generated stubs, types common hand-written APIs, and adds Image.pil plus concurrency getters and setters.
Original record ↗sharp 0.35 adds HDR gain maps, ESM, and AVIF tuning
Version 0.35 requires Node.js 20.9+, adds HDR JPEG gain maps, ESM, WebP exact and AVIF/HEIF tuning, and removes the experimental label from WebAssembly.
Original record ↗govips 2.18 adds ImageRef leak detection
This release adds OpenImageRefs and AssertNoLeaks for finding unclosed ImageRef values and splits the large ImageRef implementation into focused files.
Original record ↗