impy

impy is an all-in-one multi-dimensional image analysis library. The core array, ImgArray, is a subclass of numpy.ndarray, tagged with information such as:

image axes
scale of each axis
directory of the original image
and other image metadata

Documentation

Documentation is available here.

Installation

use pip

pip install impy-array
pip install impy-array[tiff]    # with supports for reading/writing .tif files
pip install impy-array[mrc]     # with supports for reading/writing .mrc files
pip install impy-array[napari]  # viewer support
pip install impy-array[all]     # install everything

from source

git clone https://github.com/hanjinliu/impy

Code as fast as you speak

Almost all the functions, such as filtering, deconvolution, labeling, single molecule detection, and even those pure numpy functions, are aware of image metadata. They "know" which dimension corresponds to "z" axis, which axes they should iterate along or where to save the image. As a result, your code will be very concise:

import impy as ip
import numpy as np

img = ip.imread("path/to/image.tif")   # Read images with metadata.
img["z=3;t=0"].imshow()                # Plot image slice at z=3 and t=0.
img["y=N//4:N//4*3"].imshow()          # `N` for the size of the axis.
img_fil = img.gaussian_filter(sigma=2) # Paralell batch denoising. No more for loop!
img_prj = np.max(img_fil, axis="z")    # Z-projection (numpy is aware of image axes!).
img_prj.imsave("image_max.tif")        # Save in the same place. Don't spend time on searching for the directory!

Supports many file formats

impy automatically chooses the proper reader/writer according to the extension.

Tiff file (".tif", ".tiff")
LSM file (".lsm")
MRC file (".mrc", ".rec", ".st", ".map", ".map.gz")
Zarr file (".zarr")
ND2 file (".nd2")
Other image file (".png", ".jpg")

Lazy loading

With the lazy submodule, you can easily make image processing workflows for large images.

import impy as ip

img = ip.lazy.imread("path/to/very-large-image.tif")
out = img.gaussian_filter()
out.imsave("image_filtered.tif")

Switch between CPU and GPU

impy can internally switches the functions between numpy and cupy.

img.gaussian_filter()  # <- CPU
with ip.use("cupy"):
    img.gaussian_filter()  # <- GPU
ip.Const["RESOURCE"] = "cupy"  # <- globally use GPU

Seamless interface between `napari`

napari is an interactive viewer for multi-dimensional images. impy has a simple and efficient interface with it, via the object ip.gui. Since ImgArray is tagged with image metadata, you don't have to care about axes or scales. Just run

ip.gui.add(img)

Extend your function for batch processing

Already have a function for numpy and scipy? Decorate it with @ip.bind

@ip.bind
def imfilter(img, param=None):
    # Your function here.
    # Do something on a 2D or 3D image and return image, scalar or labels
    return out

and it's ready for batch processing!

img.imfilter(param=1.0)

Command line usage

impy also supports command-line-based image analysis. All methods of ImgArray are available from the command line, such as

impy path/to/image.tif ./output.tif --method gaussian_filter --sigma 2.0

which is equivalent to

import impy as ip
img = ip.imread("path/to/image.tif")
out = img.gaussian_filter(sigma=2.0)
out.imsave("./output.tif")

For more complex procedures, it is possible to send images directly to IPython

impy path/to/image.tif -i

thr = img.gaussian_filter().threshold()

Metadata

Release files for impy-array 2.5.3

For a detailed explanation of source distributions (sdists) and built distributions (wheels), please see the package formats documentation.

Source distribution (sdist)

Source distribution for impy-array 2.5.3
File	Size	Uploaded
impy_array-2.5.3.tar.gz	155.7 kB	Oct 12, 2026	Details

Built distribution (wheel)

Table of built distributions (wheels) for impy-array 2.5.3
File	Interpreter	ABI	Platform	Reset
impy_array-2.5.3-py3-none-any.whl 185.1 kB Oct 12, 2026	Python 3	none	any	Details

Total release size: 340.9 kB

Release files / impy_array-2.5.3.tar.gz

Download URL	impy_array-2.5.3.tar.gz
Size	155.7 kB
Tags	Source
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`048e8df3cfb82dda3198ef6ed8a3dc6895c038cc2d9ac62c2258f148adb07ac1`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`3f26d761920ec6ff5b9b3901311d8e877bfd168ea232941684b6261c670c48d7`
Upload date	Oct 12, 2026
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	No
Uploaded via	`python-httpx/0.27.2`

Release files / impy_array-2.5.3-py3-none-any.whl

Download URL	impy_array-2.5.3-py3-none-any.whl
Size	185.1 kB
Tags	Python 3
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`cadba4263709691c07f7a5f71255ef88c690b0a9810a2ec51748a41edaa013f4`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`5cb61ee682ea7ae918090e66679be9ab43ea9a649f7030758b19e8818fc921a2`
Upload date	Oct 12, 2026
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	No
Uploaded via	`python-httpx/0.27.2`