Problem with installation of pillow in python

Question

I am trying to install pillow in windows x64 with python 3.9. Witout pillow, unfortunately, i can't install matplotlib.

When I do:

pip install pillow

I get this error:

ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1: command: 'c:\program files\python39\python.exe' -u -c 'import sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'C:\Users\Luca\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-h61p2lkf\pillow\setup.py'"'"'; file='"'"'C:\Users\Luca\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-h61p2lkf\pillow\setup.py'"'"';f=getattr(tokenize, '"'"'open'"'"', open)(file);code=f.read().replace('"'"'\r\n'"'"', '"'"'\n'"'"');f.close();exec(compile(code, file, '"'"'exec'"'"'))' bdist_wheel -d 'C:\Users\Luca\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-wheel-bymckwkk' cwd: C:\Users\Luca\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-h61p2lkf\pillow
Complete output (172 lines): C:\Users\Luca\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-h61p2lkf\pillow\setup.py:42: RuntimeWarning: Pillow 7.2.0 does not support Python 3.9 and does not provide prebuilt Windows binaries. We do not recommend building from source on Windows. warnings.warn( running bdist_wheel running build running build_py creating build creating build\lib.win-amd64-3.9 creating build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\BdfFontFile.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\BlpImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\BmpImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\BufrStubImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ContainerIO.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\CurImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\DcxImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\DdsImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\EpsImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ExifTags.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\features.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\FitsStubImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\FliImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\FontFile.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\FpxImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\FtexImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\GbrImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\GdImageFile.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\GifImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\GimpGradientFile.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\GimpPaletteFile.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\GribStubImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\Hdf5StubImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\IcnsImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\IcoImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\Image.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImageChops.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImageCms.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImageColor.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImageDraw.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImageDraw2.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImageEnhance.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImageFile.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImageFilter.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImageFont.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImageGrab.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImageMath.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImageMode.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImageMorph.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImageOps.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImagePalette.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImagePath.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImageQt.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImageSequence.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImageShow.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImageStat.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImageTk.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImageTransform.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImageWin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\ImtImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\IptcImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\Jpeg2KImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\JpegImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\JpegPresets.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\McIdasImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\MicImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\MpegImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\MpoImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\MspImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\PaletteFile.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\PalmImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\PcdImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\PcfFontFile.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\PcxImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\PdfImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\PdfParser.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\PixarImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\PngImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\PpmImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\PsdImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\PSDraw.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\PyAccess.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\SgiImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\SpiderImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\SunImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\TarIO.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\TgaImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\TiffImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\TiffTags.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\WalImageFile.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\WebPImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\WmfImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\XbmImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\XpmImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL\XVThumbImagePlugin.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL_binary.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL_tkinter_finder.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL_util.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL_version.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL_init_.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL copying src\PIL_main_.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\PIL running egg_info writing src\Pillow.egg-info\PKG-INFO writing dependency_links to src\Pillow.egg-info\dependency_links.txt writing top-level names to src\Pillow.egg-info\top_level.txt reading manifest file 'src\Pillow.egg-info\SOURCES.txt' reading manifest template 'MANIFEST.in' warning: no files found matching '.c' warning: no files found matching '.h' warning: no files found matching '.sh' warning: no previously-included files found matching '.appveyor.yml' warning: no previously-included files found matching '.coveragerc' warning: no previously-included files found matching '.editorconfig' warning: no previously-included files found matching '.readthedocs.yml' warning: no previously-included files found matching 'codecov.yml' warning: no previously-included files matching '.git' found anywhere in distribution warning: no previously-included files matching '.pyc' found anywhere in distribution warning: no previously-included files matching '.so' found anywhere in distribution no previously-included directories found matching '.ci' writing manifest file 'src\Pillow.egg-info\SOURCES.txt' running build_ext The headers or library files could not be found for zlib, a required dependency when compiling Pillow from source.

  Please see the install instructions at:
     https://pillow.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installation.html

  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "C:\Users\Luca\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-h61p2lkf\pillow\setup.py",

line 864, in setup( File "c:\program files\python39\lib\site-packages\setuptools_init_.py", line 153, in setup return distutils.core.setup(**attrs) File "c:\program files\python39\lib\distutils\core.py", line 148, in setup dist.run_commands() File "c:\program files\python39\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 966, in run_commands self.run_command(cmd) File "c:\program files\python39\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 985, in run_command cmd_obj.run() File "C:\Users\Luca\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python39\site-packages\wheel\bdist_wheel.py", line 290, in run self.run_command('build') File "c:\program files\python39\lib\distutils\cmd.py", line 313, in run_command self.distribution.run_command(command) File "c:\program files\python39\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 985, in run_command cmd_obj.run() File "c:\program files\python39\lib\distutils\command\build.py", line 135, in run self.run_command(cmd_name) File "c:\program files\python39\lib\distutils\cmd.py", line 313, in run_command self.distribution.run_command(command) File "c:\program files\python39\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 985, in run_command cmd_obj.run() File "c:\program files\python39\lib\distutils\command\build_ext.py", line 340, in run self.build_extensions() File "C:\Users\Luca\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-h61p2lkf\pillow\setup.py", line 694, in build_extensions raise RequiredDependencyException(f) main.RequiredDependencyException: zlib

  During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
    File "C:\Users\Luca\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-h61p2lkf\pillow\setup.py",

line 918, in raise RequiredDependencyException(msg) main.RequiredDependencyException:

  The headers or library files could not be found for zlib,
  a required dependency when compiling Pillow from source.

  Please see the install instructions at:
     https://pillow.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installation.html


  ----------------------------------------
  ERROR: Failed building wheel for pillow

I tried to follow all of advice that i found here, but it continues to generate the error.

Who can help me, please? Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

Python 3.9 was released on October 5th 2020. Given that this is really recent you can expect a lot of libraries to not yet be supported.

Pillow has a ticket however for a Python 3.9 release: https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/issues/4953 and according to the progress there you can expect it to be supported very soon. So you can either follow that ticket and wait until Pillow supports 3.9 or uninstall Python 3.9 for now and install Python 3.8.

My advice is to go with Python 3.8 as it will protect you from similar issues with other libraries. The only reason to go for the newer Python release is if you really need some of the newly introduced features.