22

I have a random .PNG file on my Mac. Actually I have about a hundred of them. What is the easiest way to get the pixel dimensions? (I.e, 100 pixels wide and 50 high, or whatever).

2
  • Doesn't that just show up when you view the file properties?
    – beatgammit
    Apr 20, 2011 at 2:39
  • 1
    I right click, then click "Get info", and don't see it. Apr 20, 2011 at 2:40

6 Answers 6

38

In Terminal, you can use the following:

$ sips -g pixelWidth Pictures/238337225.png 
/Users/danielbeck/Pictures/238337225.png
  pixelWidth: 1140
$ sips -g pixelHeight Pictures/238337225.png 
/Users/danielbeck/Pictures/238337225.png
  pixelHeight: 900

To extract the value only, use e.g.

$ sips -g pixelHeight Pictures/238337225.png | tail -n1 | cut -d" " -f4
900

To embed that in AppleScript:

set h to do shell script "sips -g pixelHeight /Users/danielbeck/Pictures/238337225.png | tail -n1 | cut -d' ' -f4"
set w to do shell script "sips -g pixelWidth /Users/danielbeck/Pictures/238337225.png | tail -n1 | cut -d' ' -f4"
display alert "Height: " & (h as text) & "
Width: " & (w as text)

Result:

enter image description here


Alternatively, you can read the Spotlight metadata:

mdls Pictures/238337225.png | grep kMDItemPixel
kMDItemPixelCount              = 1026000
kMDItemPixelHeight             = 900
kMDItemPixelWidth              = 1140

To get the names and dimensions of all files in a directory:

$ mdls Pictures/* | grep "\(kMDItemDisplayName\|mMDItemPixel\)"
[...]
kMDItemDisplayName             = "url.png"
kMDItemPixelCount              = 16384
kMDItemPixelHeight             = 128
kMDItemPixelWidth              = 128
[...]

Or alternatively, using find and sips:

find /Users/danielbeck/Pictures -type f -name "*.png" -exec sips -g pixelWidth {} \; -exec sips -g pixelHeight {} \;


More more flexibility, wrap in a shell script:

$ cat dim.sh 
#!/usr/bin/env bash

filename=$1

if [ ! -f "$filename" ] ; then
    echo "$filename not found!";
    exit 1
fi

h=$( mdls "$filename" | grep kMDItemPixelHeight | tail -n1 | cut -d= -f2 )
w=$( mdls "$filename" | grep kMDItemPixelWidth | tail -n1 | cut -d= -f2 )

osascript -e "tell application \"Finder\" to {activate, display alert \"$filename\\nWidth:$w\\nHeight:$h\"}"

Result after chmod +x dim/sh:

$ ./dim.sh Pictures/flying_cars.png

enter image description here


You could easily extend the script to display dimensions for multiple files at once, or e.g. all png files in a certain directory. Output is as Finder dialog, so you can embed it into an Automator service:

Open Automator and select to create a Service that receives image files as input in any application.

Add a Run Shell Script action that receives input as arguments and enter the following:

dlg=
for f in "$@"
do
    h=$( mdls "$f" | grep kMDItemPixelHeight | tail -n1 | cut -d= -f2 )
    w=$( mdls "$f" | grep kMDItemPixelWidth | tail -n1 | cut -d= -f2 )
    dlg="$dlg$f\nW:$w H:$h\n"
done
osascript -e "tell application \"Finder\" to {activate, display alert \"$dlg\"}"
exit 0

Save as Show Image Dimensions. Select a few image files in Finder and select Finder » Services » Show Image Dimensions or Right-click on one of the files and [Services »] Show Image Dimensions

enter image description here

enter image description here

2
  • Oldie, but still a goodie!
    – Manngo
    Oct 16, 2019 at 3:15
  • Nice. But sips doesn't directly have a single-line syntax to return width x height ?
    – smci
    Jul 16, 2022 at 21:24
8

Find the file in a Finder window, and either:

  • Highlight the file and press ⌘ Cmd + ⌥ Option + I, or

  • Control-click the file and hold ⌥ Option so you can select "Show Inspector".

This will open an inspector which is similar to the Get Info window, but updates each time you select a file.

Now expand the "More info" section on the inspector. You will be able to see the PNG's dimensions and color depth, among other data. Select a new file to see its dimensions in the inspector.

An inspector window showing the highlighted file in a Finder window

2
  • 3
    The weird thing is that when I open that window, what I see under "more info" is Title, Headline, and Last Opened . . . but no dimensions, color space, color profile, or alpha channel. My OS is 10.6.7 and my Finder is version 10.6.8; could that be the problem? Apr 20, 2011 at 5:24
  • 3
    This feature depends on Spotlight to index the image's location. Are the picture in a non-indexed location? Apr 20, 2011 at 6:45
4

This is an old question, but for current readers, there is now a readily available solution. In Yosemite, you can turn on the "Show Preview Column" in Finder. Finder > View > Show View Options

Here's a screenshot.

screenshot.

2
  • sadly the question was posted in 2011 and yosemite was released in 2014 Sep 28, 2015 at 16:51
  • 1
    yeah, it was the number 1 search result when i looked for answer to this problem on Google, so i thought others would benefit from my answer
    – Sergi
    Sep 28, 2015 at 19:56
2

The easiest way; open the images in Safari.

Select all the images. Then use Ctrl+Click context menu and choose Open With > Safari.

Optionally you can merge all the open Safari menus together into separate tabs using the Safari menu Window > Merge All Windows.

The top of the Safari window displays the image dimensions: enter image description here

1
  • I find it really bizarre that this is the only option that worked for me. Why do I have to open a browser to view picture dimensions ?!? This is ridiculous. Thanks for the answer nevertheless
    – Michael
    May 7, 2015 at 22:22
0

Here is how to use the Finder add a separate 'Dimensions' and 'Resolution' column to the list view of a folder.

  • Open your Pictures folder. /Users/~/Pictures
  • Create a new folder within the opened Pictures folder. Do not drag one in from elsewhere.
  • In this new folder, in list view, right/option-click the column header row.
  • Check both of the options available at the bottom of the contextual menu, 'Dimensions' and 'Resolution'.

Now the nice part.

  • Drag this new folder onto the desktop (or wherever) and open.
  • Note that the modified header row retains the headers 'Dimensions' and 'Resolution'.
  • Add images files to the folder and in list view read the dimensions and resolutions info for all the image files at once and not one at a time with the various info panel methods.

Sometimes Resolution is not calculated or available and a dash will appear in the column. See attachment.

This still works as of macOS Sierra 10.12.6 I do not know if this folder setting sticks when the folder is moved to another user account, network folder, etc.

Screenshot: Folder in list view with Dimension and Resolution columns.

-1

Open the image in preview then go to tools>Show Inspector(⌘S). This will bring up a window that displays the image dimensions with pixels as the unit.

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