# Install openslide with Homebrew, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper C library to read whole-slide images (a.k.a. virtual slides). Version 4.0.1 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-08. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:openslide ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install openslide ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata - MacPorts (94%): ```sh sudo port install openslide ``` Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: graphics/openslide/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ### Linux - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install libopenslide-dev ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: libopenslide-dev from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz - dnf (92%): ```sh sudo dnf install openslide ``` Evidence: Fedora Rawhide package metadata: openslide from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst - Nix (92%): ```sh nix profile install nixpkgs#openslide ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/op/openslide/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - pacman (92%): ```sh sudo pacman -S openslide ``` Evidence: Arch Linux sync databases: openslide from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz - zypper (92%): ```sh sudo zypper install libopenslide-devel ``` Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libopenslide-devel from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:openslide - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 4.0.1 - **Source summary:** C library to read whole-slide images (a.k.a. virtual slides) - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** LGPL-2.1-only - **Source archive:** - **Last updated:** 2026-06-08T11:02:48Z - **Generated:** 2026-07-08T07:18:31+00:00 ## Executables - openslide-quickhash1sum (cli) - openslide-show-properties (cli) - openslide-write-png (cli) - slidetool (cli) - openslide-quickhash1sum (alias) - openslide-show-properties (alias) - openslide-write-png (alias) - slidetool (alias) ## Dependencies - cairo - gettext - glib - jpeg-turbo - libdicom - libpng - libtiff - libxml2 - openjpeg - sqlite - zstd ## Build dependencies - meson - ninja - pkgconf ## Install behavior - Post-install hook: not defined - Bottle: available on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-07-08 - Package-manager version: 4.0.1 - Package-manager updated: 2026-06-08 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: https://github.com/openslide/openslide - info: No cached GitHub release or tag data was available. ## Project history and usage OpenSlide is an LGPL C library and small CLI toolkit for reading whole-slide images, also called virtual slides. It abstracts scanner/vendor file formats into a simple tiled image API for digital pathology, computational pathology, and microscopy workflows. ### Project history The OpenSlide GitHub repository was created in August 2010. A 2013 Journal of Pathology Informatics paper presented OpenSlide as a vendor-neutral C library for reading and manipulating digital slides from diverse vendor formats, motivated by the lack of a universal widespread format for whole-slide images. The project grew into a small ecosystem with official Python and Java bindings. The website describes the C library, bindings, command-line tools, supported vendor formats, and LGPL-2.1 licensing, while the Python documentation explains why ordinary image libraries struggle with slides that can expand to tens of gigabytes. ### Adoption history OpenSlide became a common interoperability layer for open source digital pathology software because it hides vendor-specific storage details behind one API. Its support matrix includes Aperio, DICOM, Hamamatsu, Leica, MIRAX, Philips, Sakura, Ventana, Zeiss, generic tiled TIFF, and other formats documented by the project. The library is packaged widely across Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, Nix, MacPorts, and other distributions. That distribution breadth matters for scientific workflows, where Python packages, notebooks, image pipelines, and lab workstations often need the same native C library available underneath language bindings. ### How it is used Applications use OpenSlide to query slide dimensions and metadata, choose pyramid levels, read rectangular regions, generate thumbnails or Deep Zoom tiles, and avoid loading an entire slide into memory. The command-line tools expose common inspection and conversion tasks such as showing slide properties, writing PNG regions, and calculating quickhash values. The API is intentionally narrow: it opens a slide, exposes properties and level information, and reads image regions. That simplicity is what lets higher-level packages in Python, Java, MATLAB integrations, and web viewers build digital pathology workflows over proprietary vendor data. ### Why package nerds care OpenSlide is package-significant because it is a native library that many language packages quietly depend on. The Homebrew formula is not just an executable install; it supplies the C ABI that Python wheels, scientific applications, and downstream pathology tools expect to find. It also illustrates why packaging scientific file-format libraries is hard: the value is not a flashy CLI but stable decoding of many large, vendor-specific, tiled image formats across operating systems. ### Timeline - 2010-08-09: The public GitHub repository was created. - 2013-09-27: The OpenSlide design and implementation paper was published in Journal of Pathology Informatics. - OpenSlide 3.x: The C API exposed standardized properties such as vendor, quickhash, microns-per-pixel, and objective power across supported formats. - OpenSlide 4.x: The project continued publishing C library releases along with Python and Java bindings. ### Related projects - Related projects include OpenSlide Python, OpenSlide Java, Deep Zoom viewers, digital pathology analysis pipelines, DICOM whole-slide imaging work, Bio-Formats-style microscopy tooling, and downstream packages that bind to the native OpenSlide C library. ### Sources - - - - - - - - - ## Security Notes broad file, network, media, or database tool signal. - **Geiger risk:** blue / medium - broad file, network, media, or database tool signal ## Source Database Details - **Source Database:** Homebrew formula API - **Tap:** homebrew/core - **Full Name:** openslide - **Version Scheme:** 0 - **Revision:** 0 - **Bottle Stable Root URL:** - **Deprecated:** no - **Disabled:** no - **Keg Only:** no - **URL Keys:** stable ## Other Package-Manager Records - Debian apt - libopenslide-dev - 3.4.1+dfsg-7+b2: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libopenslide-dev from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Development files for the OpenSlide library | https://openslide.org - Debian apt - libopenslide0 - 3.4.1+dfsg-7+b2: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libopenslide0 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | library for reading whole slide image files | https://openslide.org - Debian apt - openslide-tools - 3.4.1+dfsg-7+b2: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: openslide-tools from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Manipulation and conversion tools for OpenSlide | https://openslide.org - Nix - openslide: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/op/openslide/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - Ubuntu apt - libopenslide-dev - 3.4.1+dfsg-7build2: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libopenslide-dev from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Development files for the OpenSlide library | https://openslide.org - Ubuntu apt - libopenslide0 - 3.4.1+dfsg-7build2: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libopenslide0 from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | library for reading whole slide image files | https://openslide.org - Ubuntu apt - openslide-tools - 3.4.1+dfsg-7build2: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: openslide-tools from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Manipulation and conversion tools for OpenSlide | https://openslide.org - dnf - openslide - 4.0.1-1.fc45: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: openslide from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst | C library for reading virtual slides | https://openslide.org/ - dnf - openslide-devel - 4.0.1-1.fc45: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: openslide-devel from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst | Development files for openslide | https://openslide.org/ - dnf - openslide-tools - 4.0.1-1.fc45: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: openslide-tools from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst | Command line tools for openslide | https://openslide.org/ - pacman - openslide - 4.0.1-1: normalized package name match | Arch Linux sync databases: openslide from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz | C library for reading virtual slide images | https://openslide.org/ - zypper - libopenslide-devel - 3.4.1-2.31: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libopenslide-devel from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | Development files for openslide | http://openslide.org/ - zypper - libopenslide0 - 3.4.1-2.31: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libopenslide0 from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | C library for reading virtual slides | http://openslide.org/ - zypper - openslide-doc - 3.4.1-2.31: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: openslide-doc from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | Documentation for openslide | http://openslide.org/ - zypper - openslide-tools - 3.4.1-2.31: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: openslide-tools from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | Command line tools for openslide | http://openslide.org/ - MacPorts - openslide: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: graphics/openslide/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ## Related links - [Secret-risk packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/secret-risk-packages/) - Has protected-tool coverage, approval-gate, or non-low Geiger security signals. - [Terminal utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/terminal-utilities/) - Matched terminal and command-line workflow metadata. - [Networking and protocol packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/networking-protocol-tools/) - Matched network, protocol, or remote-service metadata. - [Scientific computing packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/scientific-computing-tools/) - Matched scientific computing metadata. - [cairo](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cairo/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [gettext](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/gettext/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [glib](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/glib/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [jpeg-turbo](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/jpeg-turbo/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [libdicom](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libdicom/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [libpng](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libpng/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [libtiff](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libtiff/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [libxml2](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libxml2/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [meson](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/meson/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew. - [ninja](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/ninja/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew. - [pkgconf](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/pkgconf/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew. - [timg](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/timg/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [vips](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/vips/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [gwyddion](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/gwyddion/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, microscopy, science. - [abpoa](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/abpoa/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: c-library, cli, science. - [calceph](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/calceph/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: c-library, cli, science. - [cddlib](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cddlib/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: c-library, cli, science. - [cdi](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cdi/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: c-library, cli, science. - [cfitsio](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cfitsio/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: c-library, cli, science. - [fftw](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/fftw/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: c-library, cli, science. - [libgr](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libgr/) - Local package facts share a topical domain. Shared terms: c-library, cairo, cli, jpeg, jpeg-turbo. - [astrometry-net](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/astrometry-net/) - Local package facts share a topical domain. Shared terms: cairo, cli, images, jpeg, jpeg-turbo. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/openslide.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/openslide.yml) ## Sources - Nucleus package database - Geiger risk classifier - package-page enrichment - curated package history - package version freshness - av.db category and tag curation - package relationship graph - external package-manager database matches - cross-ecosystem install command graph