What is image-size?
The image-size npm package is a module that provides a simple API to determine the dimensions of an image file. It supports a variety of image formats, including but not limited to JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, and WebP. The package can be used in both synchronous and asynchronous contexts and can handle local files as well as remote images via URLs.
What are image-size's main functionalities?
Synchronous image size retrieval
This feature allows you to synchronously get the dimensions of an image by providing the path to the image file.
const sizeOf = require('image-size');
const dimensions = sizeOf('path/to/image.jpg');
console.log(dimensions.width, dimensions.height);
Asynchronous image size retrieval
This feature allows you to asynchronously get the dimensions of an image by providing the path to the image file and a callback function.
const sizeOf = require('image-size');
sizeOf('path/to/image.jpg', (err, dimensions) => {
if (err) throw err;
console.log(dimensions.width, dimensions.height);
});
Image size retrieval from a buffer
This feature allows you to get the dimensions of an image from a buffer, which is useful when you have the image data in memory rather than stored in a file.
const sizeOf = require('image-size');
const fs = require('fs');
fs.readFile('path/to/image.jpg', (err, data) => {
if (err) throw err;
const dimensions = sizeOf(data);
console.log(dimensions.width, dimensions.height);
});
Other packages similar to image-size
sharp
Sharp is a high-performance Node.js image processing library that provides a wide range of functionality including resizing, cropping, rotating, and format conversion. It is faster than image-size as it's built on libvips, but it's more complex and has a larger footprint.
jimp
Jimp is an image processing library for Node.js that allows for image manipulation and conversion in pure JavaScript without any native dependencies. It offers more features than image-size, such as image manipulation, but it is slower due to its JavaScript-based implementation.
probe-image-size
Probe-image-size is a Node.js module to determine image sizes and types in a streaming fashion, which can be useful for remote images. It is similar to image-size but focuses on working with streams and can handle partial data, which is useful for getting dimensions without downloading the whole image.
image-size

Fast, lightweight NodeJS package to get dimensions of any image file or buffer.
Key Features
- Zero dependencies
- Supports all major image formats
- Works with both files and buffers
- Minimal memory footprint - reads only image headers
- ESM and CommonJS support
- TypeScript types included
Supported formats
- BMP
- CUR
- DDS
- GIF
- HEIC (HEIF, AVCI, AVIF)
- ICNS
- ICO
- J2C
- JPEG-2000 (JP2)
- JPEG
- JPEG-XL
- KTX (1 and 2)
- PNG
- PNM (PAM, PBM, PFM, PGM, PPM)
- PSD
- SVG
- TGA
- TIFF
- WebP
Installation
npm install image-size
# or
yarn add image-size
# or
pnpm add image-size
Usage
Passing in a Buffer/Uint8Array
Best for streams, network requests, or when you already have the image data in memory.
import { imageSize } from 'image-size'
const { imageSize } = require('image-size')
const dimensions = imageSize(buffer)
console.log(dimensions.width, dimensions.height)
Reading from a file
Best for local files. Returns a promise.
import { imageSizeFromFile } from 'image-size/fromFile'
const { imageSizeFromFile } = require('image-size/fromFile')
const dimensions = await imageSizeFromFile('photos/image.jpg')
console.log(dimensions.width, dimensions.height)
Note: Reading from files has a default concurrency limit of 100
To change this limit, you can call the setConcurrency
function like this:
import { setConcurrency } from 'image-size/fromFile'
const { setConcurrency } = require('image-size/fromFile')
setConcurrency(123456)
Reading from a file Syncronously (not recommended) ā ļø
v1.x of this library had a sync API, that internally used sync file reads.
This isn't recommended because this blocks the node.js main thread, which reduces the performance, and prevents this library from being used concurrently.
However if you still need to use this package syncronously, you can read the file syncronously into a buffer, and then pass the buffer to this library.
import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs'
import { imageSize } from 'image-size'
const buffer = readFileSync('photos/image.jpg')
const dimensions = imageSize(buffer)
console.log(dimensions.width, dimensions.height)
3. Command Line
Useful for quick checks.
npx image-size image1.jpg image2.png
Multi-size
If the target file/buffer is an HEIF, an ICO, or a CUR file, the width
and height
will be the ones of the largest image in the set.
An additional images
array is available and returns the dimensions of all the available images
import { imageSizeFromFile } from 'image-size/fromFile'
const { imageSizeFromFile } = require('image-size/fromFile')
const { images } = await imageSizeFromFile('images/multi-size.ico')
for (const dimensions of images) {
console.log(dimensions.width, dimensions.height)
}
Using a URL
import url from 'node:url'
import http from 'node:http'
import { imageSize } from 'image-size'
const imgUrl = 'http://my-amazing-website.com/image.jpeg'
const options = url.parse(imgUrl)
http.get(options, function (response) {
const chunks = []
response
.on('data', function (chunk) {
chunks.push(chunk)
})
.on('end', function () {
const buffer = Buffer.concat(chunks)
console.log(imageSize(buffer))
})
})
Disabling certain image types
import { disableTypes } from 'image-size'
const { disableTypes } = require('image-size')
disableTypes(['tiff', 'ico'])
JPEG image orientation
If the orientation is present in the JPEG EXIF metadata, it will be returned by the function. The orientation value is a number between 1 and 8 representing a type of orientation.
import { imageSizeFromFile } from 'image-size/fromFile'
const { imageSizeFromFile } = require('image-size/fromFile')
const { width, height, orientation } = await imageSizeFromFile('images/photo.jpeg')
console.log(width, height, orientation)
Limitations
-
Partial File Reading
- Only reads image headers, not full files
- Some corrupted images might still report dimensions
-
SVG Limitations
- Only supports pixel dimensions and viewBox
- Percentage values not supported
-
File Access
- Reading from files has a default concurrency limit of 100
- Can be adjusted using
setConcurrency()
-
Buffer Requirements
- Some formats (like TIFF) require the full header in buffer
- Streaming partial buffers may not work for all formats
License
MIT
Credits
not a direct port, but an attempt to have something like
dabble's imagesize as a node module.