Netpbm Program Directory

We have the programs divided into these categories:

Converters
Editors
Generators
Analyzers

Converters

pnmtopnm: convert PNM image to PNM raw or plain
pgmtopgm: convert PGM or PBM image to PGM
ppmtoppm: convert PPM, PGM, or PBM image to PPM
pbmtopgm: convert PBM image to PGM by averaging areas
pgmtopbm: (Obsolete) convert PGM image to PBM by dithering
pgmtoppm: colorize a PGM into a PPM
ppmtopgm: convert PPM image to PGM
ppmtompeg: convert series of PPM frames to an MPEG movie
jpegtopnm: convert JFIF/JPEG/EXIF file to Netpbm format
pnmtojpeg: convert PNM to JPEG/JFIF/EXIF format
pamtojpeg2k: convert PNM/PAM to JPEG-2000 code stream
jpeg2ktopam: convert JPEG-2000 code stream to PAM/PNM
anytopnm: convert any graphics format to Netpbm format
bmptopnm: convert Windows or OS/2 Bitmap file to PPM or PGM
ppmtobmp: convert PPM to Windows or OS/2 Bitmap file
winicontoppm: convert Windows icon file to PPM
ppmtowinicon: convert PPM to Windows icon file
giftopnm: convert GIF to PNM
pamtogif: convert PAM or PNM to GIF
ppmtogif: obsolete compatibility interface to pamtogif
pnmtopng: convert Netpbm format to Portable Network Graphics
pngtopnm: convert PNG (Portable Network Graphics) to Netpbm formats
pamrgbatopng: convert PAM color/transparency image to PNG
palmtopnm: convert Palm pixmap to Netpbm formats
pnmtopalm: convert Netpbm formats to Palm pixmap
ddbugtopbm: convert Palm DiddleBug image to PBM
jbigtopnm: convert JBIG BIE (compressed bitmap) to PNM
pamtopnm: convert a PAM image to PBM, PGM, or PPM
pnmtojbig: convert PNM to JBIG BIE (compressed bitmap)
pnmtofiasco: convert Netpbm image to Fiasco (wfa) highly compressed format
fiascotopnm: convert Fiasco (wfa) highly compressed format to Netpbm image
pamtosvg: convert Netpbm image to Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG); trace image
pamtopfm: convert PAM/PNM to HDRshop PFM (Portable Float Map)
pfmtopam: convert HDRshop PFM (Portable Float Map) to PAM
pbmtomrf: convert PBM image to MRF (compressed bitmap)
mrftopbm: convert MRF (compressed bitmap) to PBM
hpcdtoppm: convert photo CD to PPM
pcdovtoppm: Convert a photo CD PCD overview file to PPM
pbmtonokia: convert PBM to Nokia Smart Messaging Format (SMF)
pbmtowbmp: convert PBM to WAP (Wireless App Protocol) Wireless Bitmap
wbmptopbm: convert WAP (Wireless App Protocol) Wireless Bitmap to PBM
pamtooctave: convert PNM/PAM to Gnu Octave image
pamtohtmltbl: convert PNM/PAM to an HTML table with a colored cell for each pixel
pbmtomda: convert from PBM to Microdesign (for Amstrad PCWs)
mdatopbm: convert from Microdesign (for Amstrad PCWs) to PBM
atktopbm: convert Andrew Toolkit raster object to PBM
pbmtoatk: convert PBM to Andrew Toolkit raster object
brushtopbm: convert Xerox doodle brushes to PBM
cmuwmtopbm: convert CMU window manager format to PBM
g3topbm: convert Group 3 FAX to PBM
pbmtog3: convert PBM to Group 3 FAX
icontopbm: convert Sun icon to PBM
pbmtoicon: convert PBM to Sun icon
gemtopnm: convert GEM .img format to Netpbm format
macptopbm: convert MacPaint to PBM
pbmtomacp: convert PBM to MacPaint
mgrtopbm: convert MGR format to PBM
pbmtomgr: convert PBM to MGR format
infotopam: convert Amiga .info icons to PAM
neotoppm: convert Atari Neochrome (.neo) image to PPM
ppmtoneo: convert PPM image to Atari Neochrome (.neo)
pi1toppm: convert Atari Degas .pi1 to PPM
ppmtopi1: convert PPM to Atari Degas .pi1
pc1toppm: convert Atari Degas .pc1 (compressed pi1) to PPM
pi3topbm: convert Atari Degas .pi3 to PBM
pbmtopi3: convert PBM to Atari Degas .pi3
xbmtopbm: convert X10 or X11 bitmap to PBM
pbmtoxbm: convert PBM to X10 or X11 bitmap
ybmtopbm: convert Bennet Yee "face" file into PBM
pbmtoybm: convert PBM into Bennet Yee "face" file
pbmtoepson: convert PBM to Epson 9-pin printer graphics
pbmtoescp2: convert PBM to Epson ESC/P2 printer graphics
escp2topbm: convert Epson ESC/P2 printer graphics to PBM
pbmto10x: convert PBM to Gemini 10x printer graphics
pnmtopclxl: convert PNM to HP PCL-XL (PCL 6) printer language
ppmtopjxl: convert from PPM to HP Paintjet XL PCL printer stream
pbmtolj: convert PBM to HP LaserJet black and white graphics
ppmtolj: convert PPM to HP LaserJet color graphics (PCL 5)
pjtoppm: convert HP PaintJet file to PPM
ppmtopj: convert PPM to HP PaintJet file
thinkjettopbm: convert HP Thinkjet printer stream to PBM
pbmtoppa: convert PBM to HP PPA (Printer Performance Architecture) printer stream
ppmtomitsu: convert from PPM to Mitsubishi S340-10 printer stream
pbmtoibm23xx: convert from PBM to IBM 23XX printer stream
ppmtoterm: Display PPM image on ANSI standard text terminal
pbmto4425: Display PBM image on AT&T 4425 ASCII terminal with gfx chars
pbmtoascii: convert PBM to ASCII graphic form
asciitopgm: convert ASCII character graphics to PGM
pbmtobbnbg: convert PBM to BBN BitGraph graphics
pbmtocmuwm: convert PBM to CMU window manager format
pbmtogem: convert PBM into GEM .img file
pbmtogo: convert PBM to GraphOn graphics
pbmtoplot: convert PBM into Unix plot file
pbmtoptx: convert PBM to Printronix graphics
pbmtozinc: convert PBM to Zinc Interface Library icon
fitstopnm: convert FITS format to PNM
pamtofits: convert Netpbm formats to FITS format
fstopgm: convert Usenix FaceSaver(tm) format to PGM
pgmtofs: convert PGM to Usenix FaceSaver(tm) format
hipstopgm: convert HIPS format to PGM
lispmtopgm: convert a Lisp Machine bitmap file into PGM format
pgmtolispm: convert PGM into Lisp Machine format
pnmtops: convert Netpbm formats to Postscript
pstopnm: convert Postscript to Netpbm formats
psidtopgm: convert PostScript "image" data to PGM
pbmtolps: convert PBM image to Postscript using lines
pbmtoepsi: convert a PBM image to encapsulated Postscript preview bitmap
pbmtopsg3: convert PBM images to Postscript using G3 fax compression.
rawtopgm: convert raw grayscale bytes to PGM
gouldtoppm: convert Gould scanner file to PPM
ilbmtoppm: convert IFF ILBM to PPM
ppmtoilbm: convert PPM to IFF ILBM
imgtoppm: convert Img-whatnot to PPM
mtvtoppm: convert MTV ray-tracer output to PPM
pcxtoppm: convert PC Paintbrush format to PPM
picttoppm: convert Macintosh PICT to PPM
ppmtopict: convert PPM to Macintosh PICT
qrttoppm: convert QRT ray-tracer output to PPM
rawtoppm: convert raw RGB bytes to PPM
sldtoppm: convert an AutoCAD slide file into a PPM
spctoppm: convert Atari compressed Spectrum to PPM
sputoppm: convert Atari uncompressed Spectrum to PPM
tgatoppm: convert TrueVision Targa file to PPM
pamtotga: convert PAM to TrueVision Targa file
ximtoppm: convert Xim to PPM
xpmtoppm: convert XPM format to PPM
ppmtoxpm: convert PPM to XPM format
yuvtoppm: convert Abekas YUV format to PPM
eyuvtoppm: convert Encoder/Berkeley YUV format to PPM
ppmtoeyuv: convert PPM to Encoder/Berkeley YUV format
ppmtoyuv: convert PPM to Abekas YUV format
ppmtoyuvsplit: convert PPM to 3 subsampled raw Stanford MPEG YUV files
yuvsplittoppm: merge 3 subsampled raw YUV files to one PPM
ppmtoacad: convert PPM to AutoCAD database or slide
ppmtoicr: convert PPM to NCSA ICR graphics
ppmtopcx: convert PPM to PC Paintbrush format
ppmtopuzz: convert PPM to X11 "puzzle" file
rasttopnm: convert Sun raster file to Netpbm formats
pnmtorast: convert Netpbm formats to Sun raster file
tifftopnm: convert TIFF file to PNM
pamtotiff: convert Netpbm formats to TIFF RGB file
pnmtotiffcmyk: convert Netpbm formats to TIFF CMYK file
xwdtopnm: convert X10 or X11 window dump to Netpbm formats
pnmtoxwd: convert Netpbm formats to X11 window dump
cameratopam: convert raw camera image to PAM
411toppm: convert 411 (Sony Mavica) to PPM
ppmtosixel: convert PPM to DEC sixel format
ppmtouil: convert PPM to Motif UIL icon file
sbigtopgm: convert Santa Barbara Instrument Group CCD file to PGM
vidtoppm: convert Parallax XVideo JPEG to sequence of PPM files
pnmtorle: convert PNM to Utah Raster Toolkit (urt/rle) file
rletopnm: convert Utah Raster Toolkit (urt/rle) file to PNM
pamtodjvurle: convert PNM/PAM to DjVu Color RLE format
pbmtodjvurle: convert PBM to DjVu Bitonal RLE format
rlatopam: convert Alias/Wavefront RLA and RPF to PAM
ppmtoleaf: convert PPM to Interleaf
leaftoppm: convert Interleaf to PPM
bioradtopgm: convert Biorad confocal image to PGM
pbmtoln03: convert PGM image to Dec LN03+ Sixel image
pbmtopk: convert PBM image to packed format (PK) font
pktopbm: convert packed format (PK) font to PBM image
pamtohdiff: convert PAM image to horizontal difference version of same
hdifftopam: convert horizontal difference PAM back to original image
pnmtoddif: convert from Netpbm formats to DDIF
pnmtosgi: convert from Netpbm formats to SGI format
sgitopnm: convert from SGI format to Netpbm formats
pnmtosir: convert from Netpbm formats to Solitaire Image Recorder file (MGI Type 11 or 17)
sirtopnm: convert from Solitaire Image Recorder file to Netpbm formats.
spottopgm: convert SPOT satellite image to PGM
pamtovmini: convert from Netpbm formats to Xv "thumbnail" picture
xvminitoppm: convert Xv "thumbnail" picture to PPM
zeisstopnm: convert a Zeiss confocal file to Netpbm format
ppmtoarbtxt.html: convert PPM to just about any text-based format, using a grammar file

Image Generators

All of these generate Netpbm format output.

pbmmake: create a blank PBM image of a specified size
pgmmake: create a PGM image of a specified size and shade of gray
ppmmake: create a PPM image of a specified size and color
pgmramp: generate a grayscale ramp (gradient)
pamgradient: create a four-corner gradient image
ppmpat: create a pretty PPM image
ppmrainbow: create a spectrum-like image with colors fading together.
ppmrough: create PPM image of two colors with a ragged border between them
pgmnoise: create a PGM image of white noise
pbmtext: render text into a PBM image
pbmtextps: render text into a PBM image using a Postscript interpreter
pbmupc: create a Universal Product Code PBM image
pamstereogram: create a single image stereogram from a height map
ppmwheel: generate a hue-value color wheel
ppmcie: generate a CIE color map PPM image
pbmpage: create a printer test pattern page in PBM format
pamseq: create a PAM image of all possible tuple values. E.g. a color map containing all possible colors of given maxval
pamgauss: create a PAM image of a Gaussian (bell curve; normal curve) function.
ppm3d: generate a blue/green 3D glasses image from two images

Image Editors

All of these work on the Netpbm formats

ppmlabel: Add text to an image
ppmdraw: Draw text, lines, shapes, etc. on an image
ppmshadow: add a shadow to an image so it looks like it's floating
pgmdeshadow: deshadow a PGM image
ppmbrighten: brighten or dim an image -- change saturation and value
ppmflash: brighten an image
ppmdim: dim an image - different way from ppmbrighten
ppmfade: Produce series of images fading from one to another
pbmreduce: reduce a PBM N times, using Floyd-Steinberg
pnmnorm: normalize contrast
pbmpscale: enlarge a PBM image with edge smoothing
pamscale: scale/resample an image with high precision
pnmscale: scale an image with high precision - obsolete
pnmscalefixed: scale an image quickly with low precision
pamenlarge: enlarge an image N times
pamperspective: Change perspective distortion in an image
ppmdither: ordered dither for color images
pamditherbw: dither a grayscale image to black and white (convert PGM to PBM)
pamthreshold: threshold a grayscale image to black and white (convert PGM to PBM)
pnmcolormap: Choose the N best colors to represent an image; create a colormap
pnmremap: Replace colors in an image with those from a color map
ppmquant: quantize colors in a color image down to fewer colors - obsolete
pnmquant: quantize colors/shades in a color or grayscale image down to fewer
ppmquantall: quantize colors on many files
ppmrelief: run a Laplacian Relief filter on a PPM
pamfunc: apply simple arithmetic function to samples in an image
pamarith: apply simple arithmetic binary function to samples in two images
pamsummcol: summarize (sum, average, etc) an image by column
pnmcat: concatenate images
pnmpad: add borders to an image
pamcomp: create composite (overlay) of images
pnmcomp: obsolete version of pamcomp (kept because it may have fewer bugs)
ppmmix: mix (overlay) two images.
pnmcrop: crop all like-colored borders off an image
pamcut: select a rectangular region from an image
pnmcut: obsolete version of pamcut (kept because it may have fewer bugs)
pamdice: slice an image into many horizontally and/or vertically
pamundice: Assemble an image from tiles (opposite of pamdice)
pamdeinterlace: remove every other row from an image
pammixinterlace: mix adjacent lines to merge interlaced images
pnmstitch: stitch together panoramic (side-by-side) photographs
ppmglobe: Turn a cylindrical projection into strips that can be glued onto a sphere
pamlookup: map an image to a new image by using it as indices into a table
pamdepth: change the maxval in an image
pamendian: Swap bytes in multi-byte samples of a PAM image
pamflip: perform one or more flip operations on an image
pamstretch: scale up an image by inserting interpolated pixels
pamstretch-gen: scale by non-integer values using pamstretch and pamscale
pnminvert: invert an image
pnmgamma: perform gamma correction on an image
pnmhisteq: histogram equalize image to increase contrast
pnmmargin: add a margin to an image
pnmpaste: paste a rectangle into an image
pnmrotate: rotate an image
pnmshear: shear an image
pgmabel: create cross-section of an image using Abel integration for deconvolution
pnmsmooth: smooth an image
pgmmedian: apply a median filter to an image
pamaddnoise: add noise to an image
pnmtile: replicate an image into a specified size
pbmclean: remove lone pixels (snow) from a PBM image
pnmalias: antialias an image
ppmchange: change all of one color to another in PPM image
pnmnlfilt: filter an image by replacing each pixel with a function of nearby pixels
ppmshift: shift lines of PPM image left or right a random amount
ppmspread: move pixels of PPM image a random amount
pnmconvol: general MxN convolution on an image. Can blur an image.
pgmmorphconv: perform morphological convolutions on a PGM image: dilation and erosion.
pgmminkowski: Compute Minkowski integral over a PGM image
pamedge: edge-detect (outline) an image
pammasksharpen: sharpen an image via an unsharp mask
rgb3toppm: combine three PGMs into one PPM
ppmtorgb3: separate a PPM into three PGMs
pgmenhance: edge-enhance a PGM image
pbmlife: apply Conway's rules of Life to a PBM image
ppmdist: map colors to high contrast grayscales arbitrarily
ppmntsc: adjust colors so they are legal for NTSC or PAL television

Image Analyzers

These all work on the Netpbm formats as input.

pamfile: describe an image's vital characteristics
pnmpsnr: measure difference between two images
pamslice: print a row or column of an image in ASCII decimal
pgmtexture: calculate textural features on a PGM image
pgmhist: print a histogram of the values in a PGM image
ppmhist: print a histogram of a PPM
pnmhistmap: draw a histogram of a PGM or PPM
pnmcolormap: create quantization color map for an image
pamsumm: Summarize (sum, average, etc.) all samples in an image
pamsharpness: measure the sharpness of an image
pamsharpmap: create map of sharpness in an image
pamtilt: Measure the tilt of an image, i.e. document skew

Miscellaneous

pamchannel: extract individual planes (channel, e.g. R, G, or B) from an image
pamstack: stack the planes of multiple PAM images into a single output image
pampick: pick images out of a multi-image Netpbm image stream
pamsplit: split a multi-image Netpbm file into multiple 1-image files
: repair a Netpbm image whose file is truncated
pambayer: interpret Bayer patterns
pamx: display a Netpbm image in an X Window System window
ppmsvgalib: display a PPM image on a Linux virtual console using Svgalib
pbmmask: create a mask bitmap from a regular bitmap
ppmcolormask: create mask of areas of a certain color in an image
pambackground: create mask of the background of an image
pnmindex: build a visual index of a bunch of Netpbm images
pnmmontage: build multiple Netpbm images into a single montage image
pgmbentley: Bentleyize a PGM image
pgmcrater: create cratered terrain by fractal forgery
pamoil: turn a PNM or PAM image into an oil painting
ppmforge: fractal forgeries of clouds, planets, and starry skies
pgmkernel: generate a convolution kernel
ppmtv: make an image lined so it looks like an old TV
pampop9: simulate a multi-lens camera such as the Pop9
ppmdmkfont: create Ppmdfont "standard"
ppmddumpfont: dump a Ppmdfont file
ppmdcfont: Turn a Ppmdfont file into C source for a builtin font

Obsolete Names

There used to be programs by the following names. Each has been either renamed to a more illustrative name, or superseded by a more general function. In most cases, Netpbm is installed with symbolic links that allow old programs and procedures to use these names but run the replacement programs: