easy-gd

A simplified Node.js wrapper around GD image manipulation library with extra features:

• Image format autodetection: just gd.open(file) instead of choosing between gd.createFromJpeg() or gd.createFromPng() or whatever.
• Handy resizing and watermarking shortcuts: image.resize({width: 100, height:100}) and image.watermark('logo.png').
• Reads/writes files, buffers and streams.
• Provides synchronous, asynchronous and transform stream interfaces.
• Has built-in Exif parsing and supports automatic image orientation.
• A drop-in replacement for node-gd. You can just require('easy-gd') instead of require('node-gd') and everything will be working as before.

Why should one use easy-gd?

Because it is fast. Easy-gd uses C++ buindings for libgd that add very little overhead. For example, it resizes images two times faster than gm, which executes graphicsmagick commands in the background.

Compatibility

Node.js 0.8-0.10.

Installation

Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install libgd2-xpm-dev
npm install easy-gd

Mac OS X:

brew install gd
npm install easy-gd

Usage recipes

• Resizing images
• Placing a watermark
• Reading/writing image files
• Reading/writing buffers
• Reading/writing streams
• Image transform streams
• Synchronous image processing
• Asynchronous image processing
• Controlling the output format
• Controlling image quality/compression
• Automatic filename extensions
• Reading Exif data
• Automatic image orientation
• Error handling

Resizing images

var gd = require('easy-gd')
 
var image, resized
 
image = gd.open('image-800x600.jpg') // Source image size is 800×600
 
// Resize to feat into 100×100 box, yields 100×75 image
resized = image.resize({width: 100, height: 100})
 
// Resize by width, yields 200×150 image
resized = image.resize({width: 200})
 
// Resize by height, yields 267×200 image
resized = image.resize({height: 200})
 
// Resize and crop to 100×100
resized = image.crop({width: 100, height: 100})
resized = image.resize({width: 100, height: 100, method: 'crop'})
 
// Resize without resampling; faster but lowers the quality
resized = image.resize({width: 100, height: 100, resample: false})
 
// Save the resized image
resized.save('resized.jpg')

See also: Reading/writing files, Asynchronous processing, Image transform streams.

Placing a watermark

var gd = require('easy-gd')
 
var image, watermarked
 
image = gd.open('source-image.jpg')
 
// Place a logo at the center of the image
watermarked = image.watermark('logo.png')
watermarked = image.watermark('logo.png', {x: 0.5, y: 0.5})
 
// At the left top corner
watermarked = image.watermark('logo.png', {x: 0, y: 0})
 
// At the right bottom corner
watermarked = image.watermark('logo.png', {x: 1, y: 1})
 
// Choose the most contrast position for a logo at the bottom
watermarked = image.watermark('logo.png', [{x: 0, y: 1}, {x: 0.5, y: 1}, {x: 1, y: 1}])
 
// Using gd.Image object as a watermark
var logo = gd.open('logo.png')
watermarked = image.watermark(logo)
 
// Save the watermarked image
watermarked.save('watermarked.jpg')

See also: Reading/writing files, Reading/writing buffers, Reading/writing streams, Asynchronous processing, Error handling.

Reading/writing image files

var gd = require('easy-gd')
 
var image = gd.open('image.png')
 
// Do something to the image
 
image.save('processed.jpg', {quality: 90})

See also: Reading/writing buffers, Reading/writing streams, Asynchronous processing, Controlling the output format, Error handling.

Reading/writing buffers

var gd = require('easy-gd')
 
// Reading image from buffer
var image = gd.open(imageData)
 
// Saving image to a buffer
var imageData = image.save()
 
// Using buffer as a watermark source
var watermarked = image.watermark(imageData)

See also: Reading/writing files, Reading/writing streams, Asynchronous processing, Controlling the output format, Error handling.

Reading/writing streams

var gd = require('easy-gd')
 
// Reading image from stream
gd.open(stream, function (error, image) {
  if (!error) {
    // Process the image
  }
})
 
// Saving image to a stream
image.save(stream, function (error) {
  if (!error) {
    // Some action
  }
})
 
// Using stream as a watermark source
image.watermark(stream, function (error, watermarked) {
  if (!error) {
    // Process the watermarked image
  }
})

See also: Image transform streams, Reading/writing files, Reading/writing buffers, Controlling the output format, Error handling.

Image transform streams

All the image manipulation methods called directly on the module object produce chainable transform streams:

var gd = require('easy-gd')
 
// Making thumbnails
process.stdin
  .pipe(gd.crop({width: 100, height: 100}))
  .pipe(process.stdout)
 
// Watermarking
process.stdin
  .pipe(gd.watermark('logo.png'))
  .pipe(process.stdout)
 
// Changing image format
process.stdin
  .pipe(gd.format('jpeg').quality(90))
  .pipe(process.stdout)
 
// Combine everything
process.stdin
  .pipe(
    gd.resize({width: 800, height: 600})
      .watermark('logo.png', {x:1, y:1})
      .options({format: 'jpeg', quality: '90'})
  )
  .pipe(process.stdout)

See also: Reading/writing files, Reading/writing buffers, Reading/writing streams, Controlling the output format, Error handling.

Synchronous image processing

With easy-gd you can synchronously process files and buffers:

var gd = require('easy-gd')
 
// Processing files
gd.open('input.png')
  .resize({width: 800, height: 600})
  .save('output.jpg', {quality: 90})
 
// Processing buffers
var outputData = gd.open(inputData)
  .resize({width: 800, height: 600})
  .save({format: 'jpeg', quality: 90})

See also: Asynchronous processing, Error handling.

Asynchronous image processing

You can asynchronously process files, buffers and streams by passing additional callback argument:

var gd = require('easy-gd')
 
// Processing files
gd.open('input.png', function (error, image) {
  if (error) throw error
  image.resize({width: 800, height: 600}, function (error, resized) {
    if (error) throw error
    resized.save('output.jpg', {quality: 90}, function (error) {
      if (error) throw error
    })
  })
})
 
// Processing buffers
gd.open(inputData, function (error, image) {
  if (error) throw error
  image.resize({width: 800, height: 600}, function (error, resized) {
    if (error) throw error
    resized.save({format: 'jpeg', quality: 90}, function (error, outputData) {
      if (error) throw error
      // Process outputData buffer
    })
  })
})
 
// Processing streams
gd.open(inputStream, function (error, image) {
  if (error) throw error
  image.resize({width: 800, height: 600}, function (error, resized) {
    if (error) throw error
    resized.save(outputStream, {format: 'jpeg', quality: 90}, function (error) {
      if (error) throw error
    })
  })
})

See also: Image transform streams, Synchronous processing, Error handling.

Controlling the output format

var gd = require('easy-gd')
 
// Format is inherited from the source image
var image = gd.open('input.jpg')
var resizedBuffer = image.resize({width: 100}).save() // Saved in JPEG
 
// Format can be specified explicitly with target filename extension
var image = gd.open('input.jpg')
image.save('output.png') // Saved in PNG
 
// Format can be specified explicitly with save({format: 'format_name'})
var image = gd.open('input.jpg')
var pngBuffer = image.save({format: 'png'}) // Saved in PNG
 
// Target file extension has higher priority
var image = gd.open('input.png')
image.save('output.jpg') // Saved in JPEG

Format specification priority: filename extension > save 'format' option > inherited format.

See also: Controlling image quality/compression, Automatic filename extensions, Error handling.

Controlling image quality/compression

var gd = require('easy-gd')
var image = gd.open('input.jpg')
 
// Setting JPEG file quality, 0-100
image.save('output.jpg', {quality: 90})
 
// Setting PNG file compression level, 0-9
image.save('ouput.png', {compression: 6})
 
// Transform stream options
inputStream.pipe(gd.format('png').compression(6)).pipe(outputStream)
inputStream.pipe(gd.format('jpeg').quality(90)).pipe(outputStream)
inputStream.pipe(gd.options({format: 'jpeg', quality: 90}).pipe(outputStream)
 
// Buffer saving options
var outputBuffer = image.save({format: 'jpeg', quality: 90})
var outputBuffer = image.save({format: 'png', compression: 6})

See also: Controlling the output format, Automatic filename extensions.

Automatic filename extensions

var gd = require('easy-gd')
 
var image = gd.open('input.jpg')
image.save('output.{ext}', {format: 'png'}) // Writes ouput.png
 
 
var image = gd.open('input.jpg')
image
  .resize({width: 100})
  .save('output.{ext}') // Writes output.jpg since format was inherited

See also: Controlling the output format, Controlling image quality/compression.

Reading Exif data

Exif data are being parsed automatically for JPEG images.

var gd = require('easy-gd')
 
var image = gd.open('input.jpg')
 
// Accessing Exif tags
if (image.exif) {
  console.log('%s %s', image.exif.GPSLongitude, image.exif.GPSLatitude)
} else {
  console.log('No Exif data')
}

Note: image.exif property will be copied by resize() and other methods, but will not be written to the destination image.

See also: Automatic image orientation.

Automatic image orientation

GD does not process Exif data, resulting rotated images in the output. Easy-gd fixes this by automatically orienting the image.

var gd = require('easy-gd')
 
// The image gets automatically oriented by Exif data
var image = gd.open('photo.jpg')
 
// Turn automatic orientation off
var original = gd.open('photo.jpg', {autoOrient: false})
 
// Automatically orient existing image
var rotated = original.autoOrient()

See also: Reading Exif data.

Error handling

var gd = require('easy-gd')
 
// Synchronous methods throw exceptions
try {
  var image = gd.open('non-existent.png')
} catch (error) {
  console.log('Failed to open the image: %s', error)
}
 
// Asynchronous methods return errors as the first callback argument;
// null means there was no error
gd.open('non-existent.png', function (error, image) {
  if (error) {
    console.log('Failed to open the image: %s', error)
    return
  }
  // ...
})
 
// Every error raised or returned by easy-gd is a descendant or gd.Error
try {
  doImageRelatedStuff()
} catch (error) {
  if (error instanceof gd.Error) {
    console.log('Image processing error: %s', error)
  } else {
    // Some other error happened
  }
}

There are some subclasses you can use to catch specific errors:

• gd.UnknownSourceType - unknown source type.
• gd.EmptySource - empty source file or buffer.
• gd.UnknownImageFormat - unknown image format (or not an image at all).
• gd.IncompleteImage - corrupted or incomplete image.
• gd.UnsupportedOrientation - unsupported image Exif orientation tag value.
• gd.DestinationFormatRequired - destination image format required.
• gd.UnknownDestinationType - unknown destination type.
• gd.FileOpen - file opening error.
• gd.FileDoesNotExist - file does not exist.
• gd.FileWrite - file writing error.
• gd.SynchronousStreamAccess - a stream cannot be read or written synchronously.
• gd.OptionsRequired - options argument should be passed in.