Why can't Python import Image from PIL?

Question

The single line that I am trying to run is the following:

from PIL import Image

However simple this may seem, it gives an error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\...\2014-10-22_12-49.py", line 1, in <module>
    from PIL import Image
  File "C:\pyzo2014a\lib\site-packages\PIL\Image.py", line 29, in <module>
    from PIL import VERSION, PILLOW_VERSION, _plugins
ImportError: cannot import name 'VERSION'

In case that's helpful, I installed pillow from https://pypi.python.org/pypi/Pillow/2.6.1 (file Pillow-2.6.1.win-amd64-py3.4.exe) before running this (before that there was already som PIL install, which I uninstalled). The script is run in Pyzo with Python version 3.4.1.

What is going wrong, how can I import Image?

Answer 1

I had the same error. Here was my workflow. I first installed PIL (not Pillow) using

pip install --no-index -f https://dist.plone.org/thirdparty/ -U PIL

Then I found Pillow and installed it using

pip install Pillow

What fixed my issues was uninstalling both and reinstalling Pillow

pip uninstall PIL
pip uninstall Pillow
pip install Pillow

Answer 2

I had the same issue, and did this to fix it:

1. In command prompt

   pip install Pillow ##
   

2. Ensure that you use

   from PIL import Image
   

I in Image has to be capital. That was the issue in my case.

Answer 3

FWIW, the following worked for me when I had this same error:

pip install --upgrade --force-reinstall pillow

Answer 4

If you use Anaconda, you may try:

conda install Pillow

Example

Answer 5

For me, I had typed image with a lower case "i" instead of Image. So I did:

from PIL import Image NOT from PIL import image

Answer 6

All the answers were great however what did it for me was a combination of uninstalling Pillow

pip uninstall Pillow

Then installing whatever packages you need e.g.

sudo apt-get -y install python-imaging
sudo apt-get -y install zlib1g-dev
sudo apt-get -y install libjpeg-dev

And then using easy_install to reinstall Pillow

easy_install Pillow

Hope this helps others

Answer 7

The current free version is PIL 1.1.7. This release supports Python 1.5.2 and newer, including 2.5 and 2.6. A version for 3.X will be released later.

Python Imaging Library (PIL)

Your python version is 3.4.1, PIL do not support!

Answer 8

In Ubuntu OS, I solved it with the followings commands

pip install Pillow
apt-get install python-imaging

And sorry, dont ask me why, it's up to me ;-)

Answer 9

Install Pillow from Command Line:

python -m pip install pillow

Answer 10

had the same error while using pytorch code which had deprecated pillow code. since PILLOW_VERSION was deprecated, i worked around it by:

Simply duplicating the _version file and renaming it as PILLOW_VERSION.py in the same folder.

worked for me

Answer 11

do from PIL import Image, ImageTk

Answer 12

If you did all and it didn't work again like mien, do this copy Image.py and ImageTk.py from /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/PIL on ubuntu and C:/Users/yourComputerName/AppData/Local/Programs/Python/Python36/Lib/PIL on windows to your projects directory and just import them!

Answer 13

Any library/package you import must have its dependencies and subordinate parts in the same python directory. in linux if you

Python3.x -m pip install <your_library_name_without_braces>

what happens is, it installs on the default python. so first make sure that only 1 python 2.x and 1 python 3.x versions are on your pc.

If you want to successfully install matplotlib you need these lines,

python -m pip install matplotlib pillow numpy pandas

the last 2 were auxiliary libs, and must have.

Answer 14

what that worked for me:

go to the fodler

C:\Users\{YOUR PC USER NAME}\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37-32\Lib\site-packages 

and either delete or change the name of the PIL folder and DONE.

had to do it after running

pip uninstall PIL

as other suggested yielded for me

WARNING: Skipping PIL as it is not installed.

But I am not sure about the consequences of removing that library so I will edit this post if I ever get into a problem because of that.

Answer 15

I had the same problem, pillow was installed with an environment.yml in anaconda

I am quickly learning that pip and setuptools must always be up to date or I will have problems. Always update these tools before installing packages.For any package import problem uninstall the package upgrade the listed tools(maybe even your base environment) and reinstall.

conda uninstall pillow
python -m pip install pip --upgrade
pip install setuptools --upgrade
pip install pillow

If using Anaconda, from the base environment first run the following before installing packages/environments:

conda update conda

Updating the base env is not required to fix this issue but is a good practice to avoid similar problems

@theeastcoastwest touched on the pip upgrade in their answer but I felt more information was needed

Answer 16

Now, I actually did some debugging with my brother and found that Pillow (PIL) needed to be initialized. I don't know how to initialize it, so you could probably stick with reinstalling Pillow.

Answer 17

Try import PIL instead of from PIL import image.