Question

I’m working on a Python tool to convert image data into these color formats:

• RGB565
• RGBA5551
• RGBA4444.

What’s the simplest way to achieve this?

I’ve used the Python Imaging Library (PIL) frequently. So I know how to load an image and obtain each pixel value in RGBA8888 format. And I know how to write all the conversion code manually from that point.

Is there an easier way? Perhaps some type of ‘formatter’ plugin for PIL?

Does PIL already support some of the formats I’m targeting? I can’t ever figure out which formats PIL really supports without digging though all of the source code.

Or is there a better library than PIL to accomplish this in Python?

Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

Answer 1

I ended up doing the conversions manually as Lennart Regebro suggested.

However, pure Python (iterating over each pixel) turned out to be too slow.

My final solution used PIL to load the image and numpy to operate on (convert) an array of pixels.