I serialize images using the following code:
public static string SerializeImage(Image image)
{
using (MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream())
{
image.Save(memoryStream, image.RawFormat);
return Convert.ToBase64String(memoryStream.ToArray());
}
}
and deserialize the images by doing the following
public static Image DeserializeImage(string serializedImage)
{
byte[] imageAsBytes = Convert.FromBase64String(serializedImage);
using (MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream(imageAsBytes, 0, imageAsBytes.Length))
{
memoryStream.Write(imageAsBytes, 0, imageAsBytes.Length);
return Image.FromStream(memoryStream, true);
}
}
If I have an image and does
string serializedImage1 = SerializeImage(image);
Image deserializedImage = DeserializeImage(serializedImage1);
string serializedImage2 = SerializeImage(deserializedImage );
Then
serializedImage1 == serializedImage2;
as expected. But it is not always the case.
If I serialize an image on Process 1, and then redeserialize and reserialize it on Process 2, then the result of the reserialization on Process 2 is not the same as on the Process 1. Everything works, but a few bytes in the beginning of the serialization are different.
Worst, if I do the same thing on 2 different dll (or thread, I'm not sure), it seems the serialization result is not the same too. Again, the serialization/deserialization works, but a few bytes are different.
The image the first time is loaded with the following function :
public static Image GetImageFromFilePath(string filePath)
{
var uri = new Uri(filePath);
var bitmapImage = new BitmapImage(uri);
bitmapImage.Freeze();
using (var memoryStream = new MemoryStream())
{
var pngBitmapEncoder = new PngBitmapEncoder();
pngBitmapEncoder.Frames.Add(BitmapFrame.Create(bitmapImage));
pngBitmapEncoder.Save(memoryStream);
Image image = Image.FromStream(memoryStream);
return image;
}
}
Note however that it happens even if the image is loaded twice with the DeserializeImage() function.
The tests I have done are with ImageFormat.Jpeg and ImageFormat.Png.
First question, why it does this ? I would have expected the result to be always the same, but I suppose some salt is used when doing the Image.Save().
Second question : I want to have a deterministic way to serialize an image, keeping the image format intact. The goal is to save the image in a DB and also to compare serialized images to know if it already exists in the system where this function is used.
Well, I discovered while trying to solve this that a png or jpeg Image object inside C# has some metadata associated to it and doing what I was doing is just not a reliable way to compare images.
The solution I used was derived from this link
https://insertcode.wordpress.com/2014/05/13/compare-content-of-two-files-images-in-c/
So what I do finally is save the images inside the system with the SerializeImage(Image image) function previously described, and when I want to consume it I deserialize it with the DeserializeImage(string serializedImage) function previously described. But when I want to compare images I use the following functions
public static bool ImagesAreEqual(Image image1, Image image2)
{
string image1Base64Bitmap = GetImageAsBase64Bitmap(image1);
string image2Base64Bitmap = GetImageAsBase64Bitmap(image2);
return image1Base64Bitmap.Equals(image2Base64Bitmap);
}
public static string GetImageAsBase64Bitmap(Image image)
{
using (var memoryStream = new MemoryStream())
{
using (var bitmap = new Bitmap(image))
{
bitmap.Save(memoryStream, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Bmp);
}
return Convert.ToBase64String(memoryStream.ToArray());
}
}
That convert the image to raw bitmap before comparing them.
This does a perfect job for me in all my needed cases : the formats of the images are saved/restored correctly, and I can compare them between them to check if they are the same without having to bother with the possibly different serialization.
I have code that serializes/deserializes bitmap objects. For some image files (especially png files) I found out that the size of the file is reduced after deserializing it, and the image quality is reduced. And if I serialize the deserialized image again, the resulting byte array is different compared to what it was before. Has anyone experienced the same problem? If so, how were you able to solve it?
Here is my code snippet:
private byte[] GetBytes(Bitmap image)
{
BinaryFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
{
formatter.Serialize(ms, image);
byte[] _bytes = ms.ToArray();
return _bytes;
}
}
private Bitmap GetImage(byte[] _bytes)
{
BinaryFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(_bytes))
{
Bitmap bmp = (Bitmap)formatter.Deserialize(ms);
return bmp;
}
}
PS: Using an Image object instead of Bitmap seems to solve the problem, but I'd rather not change the object type due to external dependencies.
I have a web app that runs on Azure. The user can upload an image and I save that image for them. Now when I receive the image, I have it as byte[]. I would like to save it as JPG to save space. The source image could be anything such as PNG, BMP or JPG.
Is it possible to do so? This needs to run on Azure and I am using WebApps/MVC5/C#.
Thanks for any help.
Get the memorystream and then use System.Drawing
var stream = new MemoryStream(byteArray)
Image img = new Bitmap(stream);
img.Save(#"c:\s\pic.png", System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png);
The last line there where you save the file, you can select the format.
So the answers by #mjwills and Cody was correct. I still thought to put the two methods I exactly needed:
public static Image BitmapToBytes(byte[] image, ImageFormat pFormat)
{
var imageObject = new Bitmap(new MemoryStream(image));
var stream = new MemoryStream();
imageObject.Save(stream, pFormat);
return new Bitmap(stream);
}
Also:
public static byte[] ImgToByteArray(Image img)
{
using (MemoryStream mStream = new MemoryStream())
{
img.Save(mStream, img.RawFormat);
return mStream.ToArray();
}
}
Cheers everyone.
i've got some binary data which i want to save as an image. When i try to save the image, it throws an exception if the memory stream used to create the image, was closed before the save. The reason i do this is because i'm dynamically creating images and as such .. i need to use a memory stream.
this is the code:
[TestMethod]
public void TestMethod1()
{
// Grab the binary data.
byte[] data = File.ReadAllBytes("Chick.jpg");
// Read in the data but do not close, before using the stream.
Stream originalBinaryDataStream = new MemoryStream(data);
Bitmap image = new Bitmap(originalBinaryDataStream);
image.Save(#"c:\test.jpg");
originalBinaryDataStream.Dispose();
// Now lets use a nice dispose, etc...
Bitmap2 image2;
using (Stream originalBinaryDataStream2 = new MemoryStream(data))
{
image2 = new Bitmap(originalBinaryDataStream2);
}
image2.Save(#"C:\temp\pewpew.jpg"); // This throws the GDI+ exception.
}
Does anyone have any suggestions to how i could save an image with the stream closed? I cannot rely on the developers to remember to close the stream after the image is saved. In fact, the developer would have NO IDEA that the image was generated using a memory stream (because it happens in some other code, elsewhere).
I'm really confused :(
As it's a MemoryStream, you really don't need to close the stream - nothing bad will happen if you don't, although obviously it's good practice to dispose anything that's disposable anyway. (See this question for more on this.)
However, you should be disposing the Bitmap - and that will close the stream for you. Basically once you give the Bitmap constructor a stream, it "owns" the stream and you shouldn't close it. As the docs for that constructor say:
You must keep the stream open for the
lifetime of the Bitmap.
I can't find any docs promising to close the stream when you dispose the bitmap, but you should be able to verify that fairly easily.
A generic error occurred in GDI+.
May also result from incorrect save path!
Took me half a day to notice that.
So make sure that you have double checked the path to save the image as well.
Perhaps it is worth mentioning that if the C:\Temp directory does not exist, it will also throw this exception even if your stream is still existent.
Copy the Bitmap. You have to keep the stream open for the lifetime of the bitmap.
When drawing an image: System.Runtime.InteropServices.ExternalException: A generic error occurred in GDI
public static Image ToImage(this byte[] bytes)
{
using (var stream = new MemoryStream(bytes))
using (var image = Image.FromStream(stream, false, true))
{
return new Bitmap(image);
}
}
[Test]
public void ShouldCreateImageThatCanBeSavedWithoutOpenStream()
{
var imageBytes = File.ReadAllBytes("bitmap.bmp");
var image = imageBytes.ToImage();
image.Save("output.bmp");
}
I had the same problem but actually the cause was that the application didn't have permission to save files on C. When I changed to "D:\.." the picture has been saved.
You can try to create another copy of bitmap:
using (var memoryStream = new MemoryStream())
{
// write to memory stream here
memoryStream.Position = 0;
using (var bitmap = new Bitmap(memoryStream))
{
var bitmap2 = new Bitmap(bitmap);
return bitmap2;
}
}
This error occurred to me when I was trying from Citrix. The image folder was set to C:\ in the server, for which I do not have privilege. Once the image folder was moved to a shared drive, the error was gone.
A generic error occurred in GDI+. It can occur because of image storing paths issues,I got this error because my storing path is too long, I fixed this by first storing the image in a shortest path and move it to the correct location with long path handling techniques.
I was getting this error, because the automated test I was executing, was trying to store snapshots into a folder that didn't exist. After I created the folder, the error resolved
One strange solution which made my code to work.
Open the image in paint and save it as a new file with same format(.jpg). Now try with this new file and it works. It clearly explains you that the file might be corrupted in someway.
This can help only if your code has every other bugs fixed
It has also appeared with me when I was trying to save an image into path
C:\Program Files (x86)\some_directory
and the .exe wasn't executed to run as administrator, I hope this may help someone who has same issue too.
For me the code below crashed with A generic error occurred in GDI+on the line which Saves to a MemoryStream. The code was running on a web server and I resolved it by stopping and starting the Application Pool that was running the site.
Must have been some internal error in GDI+
private static string GetThumbnailImageAsBase64String(string path)
{
if (path == null || !File.Exists(path))
{
var log = ContainerResolver.Container.GetInstance<ILog>();
log.Info($"No file was found at path: {path}");
return null;
}
var width = LibraryItemFileSettings.Instance.ThumbnailImageWidth;
using (var image = Image.FromFile(path))
{
using (var thumbnail = image.GetThumbnailImage(width, width * image.Height / image.Width, null, IntPtr.Zero))
{
using (var memoryStream = new MemoryStream())
{
thumbnail.Save(memoryStream, ImageFormat.Png); // <= crash here
var bytes = new byte[memoryStream.Length];
memoryStream.Position = 0;
memoryStream.Read(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
return Convert.ToBase64String(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
}
}
}
}
I came across this error when I was trying a simple image editing in a WPF app.
Setting an Image element's Source to the bitmap prevents file saving.
Even setting Source=null doesn't seem to release the file.
Now I just never use the image as the Source of Image element, so I can overwrite after editing!
EDIT
After hearing about the CacheOption property(Thanks to #Nyerguds) I found the solution:
So instead of using the Bitmap constructor I must set the Uri after setting CacheOption BitmapCacheOption.OnLoad.(Image1 below is the Wpf Image element)
Instead of
Image1.Source = new BitmapImage(new Uri(filepath));
Use:
var image = new BitmapImage();
image.BeginInit();
image.CreateOptions = BitmapCreateOptions.IgnoreImageCache;
image.CacheOption = BitmapCacheOption.OnLoad;
image.UriSource = new Uri(filepath);
image.EndInit();
Image1.Source = image;
See this: WPF Image Caching
Try this code:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
byte[] data = null;
string fullPath = #"c:\testimage.jpg";
using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
using (Bitmap tmp = (Bitmap)Bitmap.FromFile(fullPath))
using (Bitmap bm = new Bitmap(tmp))
{
bm.SetResolution(96, 96);
using (EncoderParameters eps = new EncoderParameters(1))
{
eps.Param[0] = new EncoderParameter(System.Drawing.Imaging.Encoder.Quality, 100L);
bm.Save(ms, GetEncoderInfo("image/jpeg"), eps);
}
data = ms.ToArray();
}
File.WriteAllBytes(fullPath, data);
}
private static ImageCodecInfo GetEncoderInfo(string mimeType)
{
ImageCodecInfo[] encoders = ImageCodecInfo.GetImageEncoders();
for (int j = 0; j < encoders.Length; ++j)
{
if (String.Equals(encoders[j].MimeType, mimeType, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase))
return encoders[j];
}
return null;
}
I used imageprocessor to resize images and one day I got "A generic error occurred in GDI+" exception.
After looked up a while I tried to recycle the application pool and bingo it works. So I note it here, hope it help ;)
Cheers
I was getting this error today on a server when the same code worked fine locally and on our DEV server but not on PRODUCTION. Rebooting the server resolved it.
public static byte[] SetImageToByte(Image img)
{
ImageConverter converter = new ImageConverter();
return (byte[])converter.ConvertTo(img, typeof(byte[]));
}
public static Bitmap SetByteToImage(byte[] blob)
{
MemoryStream mStream = new MemoryStream();
byte[] pData = blob;
mStream.Write(pData, 0, Convert.ToInt32(pData.Length));
Bitmap bm = new Bitmap(mStream, false);
mStream.Dispose();
return bm;
}
I'm dealing with Bitmaps in my application and for some purposes I need to create a deep copy of the Bitmap. Is there an elegant way how to do it?
I tried
Bitmap deepCopy = original.Clone();
,well apparently this doesn't create a deep copy, but shallow one.
My next attempt was to create a new Bitmap
Bitmap deepCopy = new Bitmap(original);
Unfortunately this constructor is Bitmap(Image), not Bitmap(Bitmap) and Bitmap(Image) will convert my nice 8bppIndexed Pixelformat into a different one.
Another attempt was to use of a MemoryStream
public static Bitmap CreateBitmapDeepCopy(Bitmap source)
{
Bitmap result;
using (MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream())
{
source.Save(stream, ImageFormat.Bmp);
stream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
result = new Bitmap(stream);
}
return result;
}
Well, this doesn't work either, since the MemoryStream has to be opened during the whole lifetime of Bitmap.
So, I've summed up all my deadends and I'd really like to see a nice elegant way of creating a Bitmap deep copy. Thanks for that :)
B.Clone(new Rectangle(0, 0, B.Width, B.Height), B.PixelFormat)
Another way I stumbled on that achieves the same thing is to rotate or flip the image. Under the hood that seems to create a completely new copy of the bitmap. Doing two rotations or flips lets you end up with an exact copy of the original image.
result.RotateFlip(RotateFlipType.Rotate180FlipX);
result.RotateFlip(RotateFlipType.Rotate180FlipX);
My environment:Windows 10, Visual Studio 2015, Framework 4.5.2
It works for me.
Bitmap deepCopy = new Bitmap(original);
You could serialize the bitmap and then deserialize it. Bitmap is serializable.
Suppose you already have a bitmap called original with something in it
Bitmap original = new Bitmap( 200, 200 );
Bitmap copy = new Bitmap(original.Width, original.Height);
using (Graphics graphics = Graphics.FromImage(copy))
{
Rectangle imageRectangle = new Rectangle(0, 0, copy.Width, copy.Height);
graphics.DrawImage( original, imageRectangle, imageRectangle, GraphicsUnit.Pixel);
}
This should create a copy of the same size, and draw the original into the copy.
You can place the following class in your code:
public static class BitmapExtensions
{
public static Bitmap DeepClone(this Bitmap source)
{
IFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
Stream stream = new MemoryStream();
using (stream)
{
formatter.Serialize(stream, source);
stream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
return (Bitmap)formatter.Deserialize(stream);
}
}
}
This method is adjusted to work with Bitmap. If you want to have a generic method look into the link below. By naming the method DeepClone() we remove the risk of breaking already existing code (in the answer below the method is called Clone(), so it's a override method).
Original from here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/43042865/13574233
This method takes a lot of time though. If you're looking for a good performing method, this probably isn't what you're looking for.