How to Install ImageMagick on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS?

In this tutorial, I will show you how to install ImageMagick on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

ImageMagick is a feature-rich, free and open-source image manipulation tool used to create, edit, compose, or convert digital images.

Apart from being feature-rich, it is also a cross-platform utility that runs on Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, Android OS and many other platforms.

Features of ImageMagick

Here are few features ImageMagick provides out-of-the-box:

• Animation
• Color Management
• Command-Line Processing
• Decorate & Draw
• Format conversion
• Image Calculator, Gradients and Identifications
• Large Image Support
• Noise and Color reduction
• Add Special effects
• Add Text and Comments
• Image Transform
• Transparency
• And many more.

You can check ImageMagick official website for a full list of features. 

Pre-requisites to install ImageMagick on Ubuntu

• Ubuntu 20.04 installed and running.
• Sudo / Root privileges required.
• Internet connection to download ImageMagick

Methods to Install ImageMagick on Ubuntu

You can install ImageMagick through APT or by compiling it from the source. I am going to show you both methods, you can use any method you prefer.

Note: Ubuntu software repository does not have the latest ImageMagick version – 7.0.11-8. It has ImageMagick – 6.9.10-23 (as of writing this post).

If you want to install the ImageMagick 7 then you have to compile it from the source.

1. Install ImageMagick via APT

Before installing ImageMagick, it’s recommended to update the software repositories:

sudo apt update

Now, install ImageMagick using:

sudo apt install imagemagick

After installing check the ImageMagick version using:

magick -version

Or

identify -version

You can also run the following command to check if ImageMagick is working properly:

convert logo: logo.gif

This will create the ImageMagick logo (logo.gif) on the present working directory.

2. Compile ImageMagick through source

To compile ImageMagick from the source, first, download the latest source tar file from ImageMagick’s official website.

Alternatively, you can use the wget command to download the ImageMagick tar file using the terminal.

Install wget, if not installed already:

sudo apt install wget

Download ImageMagick tar file using wget:

wget https://download.imagemagick.org/ImageMagick/download/ImageMagick.tar.gz

Also, install the necessary packages to compile ImageMagick on Ubuntu.

sudo apt install build-essential

Now, extract the downloaded tar file using:

tar -xvf ImageMagick.tar.gz

Navigate to the extracted directory:

cd ImageMagick-7.0.11-8/

Run the following commands to compile the package.

./configure
make

(If you faced any dependency problems, then install the dependencies and run the “make” command again, otherwise proceed to the next steps.)

Now, to install the compiled packages run:

sudo make install

Configure the dynamic linker run-time bindings:

sudo ldconfig /usr/local/lib

Once, the installation has finished, you can check the ImageMagick version using:

magick -version

Or

identify -version

Also, run the following command to check if ImageMagick is working properly:

convert logo: logo.gif

After running this you should find an ImageMagick logo (logo.gif) in your current working directory.

Conclusion

I have shown you how to install ImageMagick 7 on Ubuntu 20.04. Now, you can use ImageMagick to create, edit, compose or convert digital images.

If you have suggestions or feedback, feel free to leave a comment.