Mathematica Tutorial

Importing Graphics and Sounds

Mathematica allows you not only to export graphics and sounds, but also to import them. With Import you can read graphics and sounds in a wide variety of formats, and bring them into Mathematica as Mathematica expressions.

Import["name.ext"]	import graphics from the file name.ext in a format deduced from the file name
Import["file","format"]	import graphics in the specified format
ImportString["string","format"]	import graphics from a string

Importing graphics and sounds.

This imports an image stored in JPEG format.

In[1]:=

Out[1]=

This shows an array of four copies of the image.

In[2]:=

Out[2]=

Import yields expressions with different structures depending on the type of data it reads. Typically you will need to know the structure if you want to manipulate the data that is returned.

Graphics[primitives,opts]	resolution-independent graphics
Graphics[Raster[data],opts]	resolution-dependent bitmap images
{graphics₁,graphics₂,...}	animated graphics
Sound[SampledSoundList[data,r]]	sounds