# Install vips with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, zypper Image processing library. Version 8.18.4 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-06. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:vips ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install vips ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata - MacPorts (94%): ```sh sudo port install vips ``` Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: graphics/vips/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ### Linux - apk (92%): ```sh sudo apk add vips ``` Evidence: Alpine Linux edge package indexes: vips from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install gir1.2-vips-8.0 ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: gir1.2-vips-8.0 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz - dnf (92%): ```sh sudo dnf install vips ``` Evidence: Fedora Rawhide package metadata: vips 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#vips ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/vi/vips/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - zypper (92%): ```sh sudo zypper install libvips-devel ``` Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libvips-devel from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:vips - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 8.18.4 - **Source summary:** Image processing library - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** LGPL-2.1-or-later - **Source archive:** - **Last updated:** 2026-07-06T11:06:09Z - **Generated:** 2026-07-08T07:18:31+00:00 ## Executables - vips (cli) - vipsedit (cli) - vipsheader (cli) - vipsthumbnail (cli) - vips (alias) - vipsedit (alias) - vipsheader (alias) - vipsthumbnail (alias) ## Dependencies - cairo - cfitsio - cgif - fftw - fontconfig - gettext - glib - highway - imagemagick - jpeg-xl - libarchive - libexif - libheif - libimagequant - libmatio - libpng - libraw - librsvg - libtiff - libultrahdr - little-cms2 - mozjpeg - openexr - openjpeg - openslide - pango - poppler - webp ## Build dependencies - gettext - gobject-introspection - meson - ninja - pkgconf ## Uses from macOS - expat ## 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: 8.18.4 - Package-manager updated: 2026-07-06 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: https://github.com/libvips/libvips - info: No cached GitHub release or tag data was available. ## Project history and usage libvips is a demand-driven, horizontally threaded image-processing library known for fast processing of large images with low memory use. It exposes C, C++, command-line tools, and bindings across languages, and is widely used as an engine underneath higher-level web, archival, and application image stacks. ### Project history The VIPS lineage predates the libvips GitHub repository by decades. The project's own history traces ideas to Kirk Martinez's PhD software from 1986 onward and serious development to the VASARI project, which began in July 1989, with John Cupitt as a key programmer. Early design notes emphasized integer arithmetic, optimized inner loops, pointer-oriented image access, disk layout, and algorithm choice, all themes that still match libvips' performance identity. The first major VIPS paper was 'VIPS: An image processing system for large images' by Cupitt and Martinez in SPIE proceedings in 1996, followed by a 2005 IEEE International Conference on Image Processing paper on VIPS as a highly tuned image-processing software architecture. The project history credits continuous EU research funding across imaging, printing, search/retrieval, 3D imaging, and web-viewing work, followed by open-source community contributions that stabilized and broadened the library. ### Adoption history libvips moved from research and cultural-heritage imaging into mainstream package ecosystems by becoming the engine for image processing stacks such as sharp for Node.js, bimg, imgproxy, MediaWiki thumbnailing, Rails Active Storage pathways, CarrierWave integrations, and other services listed by the project. Its project wiki also notes use in PARSEC as a benchmark for parallel systems and in high-resolution image browsing/archive workflows. The modern GitHub project remains active, with the public repository created in January 2011 and release metadata showing continued 8.x maintenance into 2026. The repository had more than eleven thousand stars and hundreds of forks at lookup time, but the stronger adoption signal is the presence of libvips behind high-volume wrappers and web image services. ### How it is used The typical libvips usage pattern is batch or service-side image transformation: load an image or stream, construct a pipeline of operations, and let libvips evaluate the necessary regions with low memory overhead. Common tasks include thumbnails, resizing, format conversion, DeepZoom pyramids, color management, convolution, morphology, statistics, and large TIFF/scientific image handling. Package users encounter it both directly through commands such as vips, vipsheader, vipsthumbnail, and vipsedit, and indirectly through bindings such as pyvips, ruby-vips, NetVips, php-vips, and sharp. In package-nerd terms, libvips is the small, fast native engine that lets higher-level ecosystems avoid routing every resize or thumbnail job through heavier image stacks. ### Why package nerds care libvips is significant because it occupies a different design point from ImageMagick-style whole-image processing: it streams demand-driven regions through horizontally threaded pipelines, minimizing memory pressure and synchronization. That makes it especially attractive to package ecosystems that process untrusted, user-supplied, or very large images at server scale. It also has unusual continuity: a 1980s/1990s research-image-processing system that survived into modern package managers, language bindings, web frameworks, and containerized services without losing its niche identity around speed and memory behavior. ### Timeline - 1986: VIPS roots begin in Kirk Martinez's PhD-era image-processing software. - 1989-07: Serious VIPS development begins with the VASARI project. - 1996: Cupitt and Martinez publish 'VIPS: An image processing system for large images.' - 2005: Martinez and Cupitt publish a paper on the VIPS software architecture at IEEE ICIP. - 2011-01: The libvips/libvips GitHub repository is created. - 2026: The 8.18.x release series is active, with current API docs published for Vips 8.0 / library 8.18 during this run. ### Related projects - Related projects include nip4/nip2 graphical front ends, vipsdisp, sharp, pyvips, ruby-vips, NetVips, imgproxy, bimg, MediaWiki VipsScaler/Thumbro, OpenSlide/IIPImage/OpenSeadragon image-pyramid workflows, and PARSEC. ### 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:** vips - **Aliases:** libvips - **Version Scheme:** 0 - **Revision:** 1 - **Bottle Stable Root URL:** - **Deprecated:** no - **Disabled:** no - **Keg Only:** no - **URL Keys:** stable ## Other Package-Manager Records - Debian apt - gir1.2-vips-8.0 - 8.16.1-1+deb13u1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: gir1.2-vips-8.0 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | GObject introspection data for VIPS | https://libvips.github.io/libvips/ - Debian apt - libvips-dev - 8.16.1-1+deb13u1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libvips-dev from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | image processing system good for very large ones (dev) | https://libvips.github.io/libvips/ - Debian apt - libvips-doc - 8.16.1-1+deb13u1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libvips-doc from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | image processing system good for very large ones (doc) | https://libvips.github.io/libvips/ - Debian apt - libvips-tools - 8.16.1-1+deb13u1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libvips-tools from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | image processing system good for very large ones (tools) | https://libvips.github.io/libvips/ - Debian apt - libvips42t64 - 8.16.1-1+deb13u1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libvips42t64 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | image processing system good for very large ones | https://libvips.github.io/libvips/ - Nix - vips: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/vi/vips/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - Ubuntu apt - gir1.2-vips-8.0 - 8.15.1-1.1build4: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: gir1.2-vips-8.0 from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | GObject introspection data for VIPS | https://libvips.github.io/libvips/ - Ubuntu apt - libvips-dev - 8.15.1-1.1build4: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libvips-dev from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | image processing system good for very large ones (dev) | https://libvips.github.io/libvips/ - Ubuntu apt - libvips-doc - 8.15.1-1.1build4: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libvips-doc from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | image processing system good for very large ones (doc) | https://libvips.github.io/libvips/ - Ubuntu apt - libvips-tools - 8.15.1-1.1build4: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libvips-tools from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | image processing system good for very large ones (tools) | https://libvips.github.io/libvips/ - Ubuntu apt - libvips42t64 - 8.15.1-1.1build4: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libvips42t64 from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | image processing system good for very large ones | https://libvips.github.io/libvips/ - apk - vips - 8.18.2-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: vips from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | fast image processing library with low memory needs | https://www.libvips.org/ - apk - vips-cpp - 8.18.2-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: vips-cpp from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | vips (c++ library) | https://www.libvips.org/ - apk - vips-dev - 8.18.2-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: vips-dev from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | fast image processing library with low memory needs (development files) | https://www.libvips.org/ - apk - vips-doc - 8.18.2-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: vips-doc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | fast image processing library with low memory needs (documentation) | https://www.libvips.org/ - apk - vips-heif - 8.18.2-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: vips-heif from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Libheif support for vips | https://www.libvips.org/ ## Related links - [Source-control packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/source-control-tools/) - Belongs to a source-control command family. - [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. - [cairo](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cairo/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [cfitsio](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cfitsio/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [fftw](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/fftw/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [fontconfig](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/fontconfig/) - 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. - [gobject-introspection](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/gobject-introspection/) - Build 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. - [appium](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/appium/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [dicebear](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/dicebear/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [faircamp](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/faircamp/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [imgdiet](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/imgdiet/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [imgproxy](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/imgproxy/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [joplin-cli](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/joplin-cli/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [letta-code](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/letta-code/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [netlify-cli](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/netlify-cli/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [gd](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/gd/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: c, cli, image-processing, library, media. - [jasper](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/jasper/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: c, cli, image-processing, library, media. - [babl](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/babl/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, image-processing, library, media. - [epsilon](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/epsilon/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: c, cli, image-processing, media. - [exact-image](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/exact-image/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, image-processing, library, media. - [gegl](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/gegl/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, image-processing, library, media. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/vips.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/vips.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