How to Install ImageMagick on Fedora Linux

ImageMagick lets you resize, crop, convert, and batch-process images directly from the command line on Fedora. Common use cases include converting hundreds of JPG files to PNG for web optimization, generating thumbnails automatically for galleries, adding watermarks to protect images, and creating animated GIFs from image sequences. By the end of this guide, you will have a working ImageMagick installation ready for format conversion, batch resizing, and automated image transformation tasks.

Contents hide

1 Choose Your ImageMagick Installation Method

2 Method 1: Install ImageMagick via DNF

3 Method 2: Install ImageMagick from Source

4 Essential ImageMagick Commands

5 Troubleshoot Installation Issues

6 Process Images with ImageMagick

7 Remove ImageMagick

8 Conclusion

Choose Your ImageMagick Installation Method

Fedora offers multiple ways to install ImageMagick. Specifically, the DNF method provides ImageMagick 7 from Fedora’s official repositories with automatic updates. Alternatively, compiling from source gives you access to the absolute latest release and allows custom build configurations.

Method	Channel	Version	Updates	Best For
DNF Package	Fedora Repos	Distribution package (stable)	Automatic via dnf upgrade	Most users who want easy installation and automatic updates
Compile from Source	GitHub Releases	Latest upstream	Manual recompilation required	Developers who need cutting-edge features or custom builds

For most users, the DNF method is recommended because Fedora already provides ImageMagick 7 with the unified magick command and automatic security updates. Only compile from source if you specifically need features not yet available in the repository version or require custom compilation flags.

Method 1: Install ImageMagick via DNF

The DNF method installs ImageMagick 7 from Fedora’s official repositories. As a result, you get the unified magick command, automatic security updates, and minimal maintenance.

Update System Packages

First, refresh your package cache and update existing packages to prevent dependency conflicts:

sudo dnf upgrade --refresh

Install ImageMagick Package

Next, install ImageMagick along with its required libraries:

sudo dnf install ImageMagick

Verify Installation

Afterward, confirm ImageMagick installed correctly by checking the version:

magick --version

You should see output similar to:

Version: ImageMagick 7.1.1-47 Q16-HDRI x86_64 https://imagemagick.org
Copyright: (C) 1999 ImageMagick Studio LLC
License: https://imagemagick.org/script/license.php
Features: Cipher DPC HDRI Modules OpenMP(4.5)
Delegates (built-in): bzlib cairo djvu fftw fontconfig freetype jbig jng jp2 jpeg jxl lcms lqr ltdl lzma openexr png tiff webp wmf x xml zip zlib zstd

Fedora provides ImageMagick 7, which uses the unified magick command instead of the legacy convert, identify, and mogrify commands. The legacy commands still work but display a deprecation warning. For new scripts and workflows, use the magick command.

Method 2: Install ImageMagick from Source

Compiling from source installs the latest ImageMagick release and allows you to customize build options such as enabling specific image format support or performance flags. However, this method requires more steps but provides maximum flexibility.

Install Build Dependencies

First, install all build dependencies using dnf builddep, which automatically pulls the compiler toolchain and development libraries required for ImageMagick:

sudo dnf builddep ImageMagick

This installs GCC, essential build tools, libtool-ltdl-devel (required for --with-modules), and all image format libraries including HEIC, JXL, and OpenEXR support.

If dnf builddep is unavailable on older Fedora versions, install the core dependencies manually: sudo dnf install gcc gcc-c++ make git libtool-ltdl-devel pkg-config libjpeg-turbo-devel libpng-devel libtiff-devel giflib-devel freetype-devel lcms2-devel libxml2-devel bzip2-devel libwebp-devel

Clone the Repository

Download the ImageMagick source code from the official GitHub repository. For production systems, clone a specific release tag rather than the development branch:

git clone --depth 1 --branch 7.1.2-8 https://github.com/ImageMagick/ImageMagick.git
cd ImageMagick

The --depth 1 flag creates a shallow clone without full history, reducing download size. Check the releases page for the latest stable version and substitute accordingly.

Configure the Build

Then, run the configure script to detect your system configuration and prepare the build:

./configure --with-modules

The --with-modules flag enables dynamic loading of image format coders. A successful configuration displays a summary of enabled features, which you should review to confirm the image formats you need are detected.

Compile and Install

Compile ImageMagick using all available CPU cores:

make -j$(nproc)

Once compilation finishes, install ImageMagick system-wide:

sudo make install

Update Library Cache

Subsequently, configure the dynamic linker to find the new ImageMagick libraries:

sudo ldconfig /usr/local/lib

Without this step, you may encounter “cannot open shared object file” errors when running ImageMagick commands.

Verify Source Installation

Finally, confirm the installation by checking the version:

/usr/local/bin/magick --version

You should see ImageMagick 7.x output:

Version: ImageMagick 7.1.2-8 Q16-HDRI x86_64 https://imagemagick.org
Copyright: (C) 1999 ImageMagick Studio LLC
License: https://imagemagick.org/script/license.php
Features: Cipher DPC HDRI Modules OpenMP(4.5)
Delegates (built-in): bzlib fontconfig freetype jng jpeg lcms ltdl lzma png tiff webp xml zlib

Additionally, test the installation with a quick image conversion using the built-in logo:

/usr/local/bin/magick logo: logo.gif && ls -la logo.gif

You should see a new logo.gif file created (approximately 27KB):

-rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 27055 Nov 30 12:00 logo.gif

Essential ImageMagick Commands

ImageMagick 7 introduces the unified magick command that replaces the legacy standalone utilities. The table below shows common operations and their modern equivalents.

Command	Purpose	Example
`magick`	Unified command for all image operations (recommended)	`magick input.jpg output.png`
`magick convert`	Convert between formats or apply transformations	`magick convert image.jpg -resize 50% small.jpg`
`magick identify`	Display image format, dimensions, and metadata	`magick identify image.png`
`magick mogrify`	Modify images in place without creating copies	`magick mogrify -resize 800x600 *.jpg`
`magick composite`	Combine multiple images into one	`magick composite overlay.png base.png result.png`
`magick montage`	Create image grids or contact sheets	`magick montage *.jpg -geometry 100x100 grid.png`
`magick compare`	Highlight differences between two images	`magick compare old.png new.png diff.png`
`magick import`	Capture screenshots (requires X11)	`magick import screenshot.png`
`magick display`	View images in a window (requires X11)	`magick display image.jpg`
`magick animate`	Display image sequences as animation	`magick animate *.gif`

Legacy commands like convert and identify still work in ImageMagick 7 but display deprecation warnings. Update your scripts to use the magick prefix for forward compatibility.

Troubleshoot Installation Issues

Library Loading Errors After Source Installation

If you see a shared library error after compiling from source, the dynamic linker cannot find the ImageMagick libraries:

magick: error while loading shared libraries: libMagickCore-7.Q16HDRI.so.10: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

First, verify the library files exist:

ls /usr/local/lib/libMagick*

If the files exist, then update the library cache:

sudo ldconfig /usr/local/lib

If the error persists, add /usr/local/lib to the library path permanently:

echo '/usr/local/lib' | sudo tee /etc/ld.so.conf.d/imagemagick.conf
sudo ldconfig

Verify the fix by running:

/usr/local/bin/magick --version

You should see the ImageMagick version output without any library errors.

Missing Image Format Support

If ImageMagick cannot process certain image formats, the required delegate library was not detected during configuration. Check which formats are enabled:

magick identify -list format | grep -i "jpeg\|png\|webp\|heic"

You should see output listing supported formats:

     HEIC* rw-   High Efficiency Image Format (libheif 1.19.7)
     JPEG* rw-   Joint Photographic Experts Group JFIF format
      PNG* rw-   Portable Network Graphics
     WEBP* rw-   WebP Image Format

If your desired format is missing (no entry or --- instead of rw-), install the corresponding development package:

sudo dnf install libheif-devel  # For HEIC/HEIF support
sudo dnf install libjxl-devel   # For JPEG-XL support

After installing the missing libraries, return to the ImageMagick source directory (where you originally cloned it) and recompile:

cd ImageMagick
./configure --with-modules
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig /usr/local/lib

Verify the format is now enabled:

magick identify -list format | grep -i heic

Process Images with ImageMagick

ImageMagick 7 on Fedora uses the unified magick command for all image operations. The examples below demonstrate common tasks for batch processing, format conversion, and image manipulation.

Convert Image Formats

Convert a JPG image to PNG format when you need lossless compression or transparency support:

magick input.jpg output.png

ImageMagick automatically detects the output format from the file extension. Consequently, this works with over 200 image formats including WebP, HEIC, PDF, and SVG.

Create Thumbnails

Generate a 200×200 pixel thumbnail while preserving aspect ratio for image previews or galleries:

magick input.png -thumbnail 200x200 thumbnail.png

Using -thumbnail strips metadata and optimizes the image for web use, resulting in smaller file sizes than -resize.

Resize Images

Resize an image to exactly 800×600 pixels when you need precise dimensions regardless of aspect ratio:

magick input.png -resize 800x600! output.png

An exclamation mark forces exact dimensions, ignoring aspect ratio. In contrast, omitting it allows ImageMagick to maintain the original proportions within the specified bounds.

Add Text Watermarks

Overlay text on an image to protect copyright or add attribution:

magick input.png -font Arial -pointsize 36 -fill black -gravity southeast -annotate +10+10 "Copyright 2025" output.png

This places the text in the bottom-right corner with a 10-pixel margin, where the -gravity option controls positioning relative to image edges.

Batch Process Multiple Files

Convert all JPG files in a directory to PNG when migrating image formats for an entire project:

magick mogrify -format png *.jpg

When using -format, mogrify creates new files with the specified extension while leaving the original JPG files unchanged. For more examples and advanced techniques, see Examples of ImageMagick Usage.

Without the -format flag, mogrify overwrites the original files. For example, magick mogrify -resize 50% *.jpg permanently replaces each JPG with a resized version. Always back up important images before batch processing with mogrify.

Remove ImageMagick

Remove DNF Installation

If you installed ImageMagick via DNF, remove it with:

sudo dnf remove ImageMagick

Afterward, verify ImageMagick is removed:

magick --version

You should see:

bash: magick: command not found...

Remove Source Installation

If you compiled from source, navigate to the source directory and run:

cd ImageMagick
sudo make uninstall

Next, update the library cache:

sudo ldconfig

Verify removal:

magick --version