chromahash (Python)

Modern, high-quality image placeholder representation for professional formats (LQIP)

chromahash encodes an image into a compact, fixed 32-byte Low Quality Image Placeholder (LQIP) and decodes it back into a low-fidelity preview. Color is encoded in the perceptually-uniform OKLAB space with wide-gamut input support (sRGB, Display P3, Adobe RGB, BT.2020, ProPhoto RGB) and decodes to a caller-chosen display gamut (sRGB, Display P3, or Adobe RGB).

This is the Python binding — a thin facade over UniFFI-generated ctypes bindings to the Rust core. It carries no native algorithm of its own and produces output bit-identical to every other ChromaHash implementation, validated against the shared spec/ test vectors. It has zero external runtime dependencies (ctypes is part of the standard library).

pip install chromahash

Usage

from chromahash import ChromaHash, Gamut

# width × height × 4 bytes (RGBA) — a 2×2 image here.
rgba = bytes([
    255, 0, 0, 255,   0, 255, 0, 255,
    0, 0, 255, 255,   255, 255, 0, 255,
])

ch = ChromaHash.encode(2, 2, rgba, Gamut.SRGB)
print(ch.as_bytes().hex())  # 32 bytes

# Reconstruct a preview. decode() targets sRGB; pass Gamut.DISPLAY_P3 or
# Gamut.ADOBE_RGB to render wide-gamut color.
width, height, pixels = ChromaHash.from_bytes(ch.as_bytes()).decode()
print(width, height, len(pixels))

Building from source

The native library and the generated bindings module are build outputs, staged by the mise task (needs the Rust toolchain):

mise run cbuild:python   # stages chromahash/_uniffi.py + the native lib

mise run build:python and mise run test:python run this step automatically.

See the project repository for the full format specification and the other language implementations.

Note: ChromaHash is a pre-1.0 Draft format — the bitstream is not yet guaranteed stable across versions.

License

Licensed under either of Apache License, Version 2.0 or MIT license at your option.