Get the image from the clipboard with Python, Pillow

In Python, you can get the image from the clipboard with the ImageGrab.grabclipboard() function in Pillow(PIL). As of version 9.1.0 (April 2022), it is available only for Windows and macOS.

• ImageGrab.grabclipboard() — Pillow (PIL Fork) 9.1.0 documentation

Note that ImageGrab also has the ImageGrab.grab() function that takes screenshots, although not mentioned in this article.

• ImageGrab.grab() — Pillow (PIL Fork) 9.1.0 documentation

You can also work with the clipboard with pyperclip.

• Copy and paste text to the clipboard with pyperclip in Python

how to use ImageGrab.grabclipboard()

ImageGrab.grabclipboard() returns the image copied on the clipboard. The returned Image object can be processed in Pillow. Here, the image is saved with save().

• How to use Pillow (PIL: Python Imaging Library)

from PIL import ImageGrab, Image

img = ImageGrab.grabclipboard()
print(img)
# <PIL.JpegImagePlugin.JpegImageFile image mode=RGB size=200x71 at 0x105E68700>

print(isinstance(img, Image.Image))
# True

print(img.size)
# (200, 71)

print(img.mode)
# RGB

img.save('data/temp/clipboard_image.jpg')

If any non-image, such as text, is copied on the clipboard, ImageGrab.grabclipboard() returns None.

img = ImageGrab.grabclipboard()
print(img)
# None