There are many different ways to install matplotlib, and the best way

depends on what operating system you are using, what you already have

installed, and how you want to use it. To avoid wading through all

the details (and potential complications) on this page, there are several

convenient options.

Most platforms : scientific Python distributions

------------------------------------------------

The first option is to use one of the pre-packaged python

distributions that already provide matplotlib built-in. The

Continuum.io Python distribution (`Anaconda

<https://www.continuum.io/downloads/>`_ or `miniconda

<http://conda.pydata.org/miniconda.html>`_) and the Enthought

distribution `(Canopy) <https://www.enthought.com/products/canopy/>`_

are both excellent choices that "just work" out of the box for

Windows, OSX and common Linux platforms. Both of these distributions

include matplotlib and *lots* of other useful tools.

If you are on Linux, you might prefer to use your package manager. matplotlib

Mac OSX : using pip

-------------------

If you are on Mac OSX you can probably install matplotlib binaries using the

standard Python installation program pip_.

See :ref:`install_osx_binaries`.

If you don't already have Python installed, we recommend using

one of the `scipy-stack compatible Python distributions

Enthought Canopy, or Continuum Anaconda, which have matplotlib and many

of its dependencies, plus other useful packages, preinstalled.

install matplotlib using pip_::

If you want to try the many demos that come in the matplotlib source

If you are interested in contributing to matplotlib development,

yourself, it is not difficult to build matplotlib from source. Grab

develop matplotlib or just need the latest bugfixed version, grab the

python, numpy, libpng and freetype), you can build matplotlib.

some of the optional libraries that matplotlib ships with are

packaging matplotlib.

inform matplotlib where they are, edit ``setupext.py`` and add the base

Build requirements

------------------

These are external packages which you will need to install before

installing matplotlib. If you are building on OSX, see

:ref:`build_osx`. If you are building on Windows, see

:ref:`build_windows`. If you are installing dependencies with a

package manager on Linux, you may need to install the development

packages (look for a "-dev" postfix) in addition to the libraries

themselves.

Required Dependencies

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

:term:`python` 2.7, 3.4, 3.5 or 3.6

`Download python <https://www.python.org/downloads/>`_.

:term:`numpy` |minimum_numpy_version| (or later)

array support for python (`download numpy <http://www.numpy.org>`_)

`setuptools <https://setuptools.readthedocs.io/en/latest/>`__

Setuptools provides extensions for python package installation.

:term:`dateutil` 1.1 or later

Provides extensions to python datetime handling. If using pip,

easy_install or installing from source, the installer will attempt

to download and install `python_dateutil` from PyPI.

`pyparsing <https://pyparsing.wikispaces.com/>`__

Required for matplotlib's mathtext math rendering support. If

using pip, easy_install or installing from source, the installer

will attempt to download and install `pyparsing` from PyPI.

`libpng 1.2 (or later) <http://www.libpng.org>`__

library for loading and saving :term:`PNG` files (`download

<http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/libpng.html>`__). libpng requires

zlib.

`pytz <http://pytz.sourceforge.net/>`__

Used to manipulate time-zone aware datetimes.

https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pytz

:term:`FreeType` 2.3 or later

Library for reading true type font files. If using pip, easy_install or

installing from source, the installer will attempt to locate FreeType in

expected locations. If it cannot, try installing `pkg-config

<http://matplotlib.org/users/installing.html#optional-dependencies>`__,

a tool used to find required non-python libraries.

`cycler <http://matplotlib.org/cycler/>`__ 0.10.0 or later

Composable cycle class used for constructing style-cycles

`six <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/six>`_

Required for compatibility between python 2 and python 3

Dependencies for python 2

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

`backports.functools_lru_cache <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/backports.functools_lru_cache>`_

Required for compatibility if running on Python 2.7.

`subprocess32 <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/subprocess32/>`_

Optional, unix only. Backport of the subprocess standard library from 3.2+

for Python 2.7. It provides better error messages and timeout support.

Optional GUI framework

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

These are optional packages which you may want to install to use

matplotlib with a user interface toolkit. See

:ref:`what-is-a-backend` for more details on the optional matplotlib

backends and the capabilities they provide.

:term:`tk` 8.3 or later, not 8.6.0 or 8.6.1

The TCL/Tk widgets library used by the TkAgg backend.

Versions 8.6.0 and 8.6.1 are known to have issues that may result

in segfaults when closing multiple windows in the wrong order.

:term:`pyqt` 4.4 or later

The Qt4 widgets library python wrappers for the Qt4Agg backend

:term:`pygtk` 2.4 or later

The python wrappers for the GTK widgets library for use with the

GTK or GTKAgg backend

:term:`wxpython` 2.8 or later

The python wrappers for the wx widgets library for use with the

WX or WXAgg backend

Optional external programs

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

`ffmpeg <https://www.ffmpeg.org/>`__/`avconv <https://libav.org/avconv.html>`__ or `mencoder <http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/news.html>`__

Required for the animation module to be save out put to movie

formats.

`ImageMagick <http://www.imagemagick.org/script/index.php>`__

Required for the animation module to be able to save to animated gif.

Optional dependencies

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

`Pillow <http://python-pillow.org/>`__

If Pillow is installed, matplotlib can read and write a larger

selection of image file formats.

`pkg-config <https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/pkg-config/>`__

A tool used to find required non-python libraries. This is not strictly

required, but can make installation go more smoothly if the libraries and

headers are not in the expected locations.

Required libraries that ship with matplotlib

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

:term:`agg` 2.4

The antigrain C++ rendering engine. matplotlib links against the

agg template source statically, so it will not affect anything on

your system outside of matplotlib.

`qhull` 2012.1

A library for computing Delaunay triangulations.

`ttconv`

truetype font utility

required to build matplotlib with::

to build matplotlib by first installing ``yum-builddep`` and then

This does not build matplotlib, but it does get and install the

To install matplotlib from source, execute:

conda create -n "matplotlib_build" python=3.4 numpy python-dateutil pyparsing pytz tornado "cycler>=0.10" tk libpng zlib freetype