[matplotlib-devel] Inconsistency between JPEG and PNG images by matplotlib.image.imread()

[kasper <ka...@lo...>]

Hello list,

In working with matplotlib in a Python course we discovered an inconsistency in importing various image files. When importing a JPEG file a numpy array containing ints (0-255) is returned, but when a PNG is imported an array containing floats (0-1) is returned.
The obvious solution is checking for filetype during read and then dividing by 255, but this seems awkward to do outside the library. Also, as discussed at [1] there is the matter of 16 (or 8+) bit images, which might complicate things.
Is there a consensus on how to handle this in code using matplotlib?

Kind regards,

Kasper Loopstra.


[1]: https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/pull/616