How Can I Save a Matplotlib Plot as an Image File Instead of Displaying It?

Saving Plots as Image Files Instead of Displaying Them

matplotlib allows users to visualize data through plots, which can be displayed within a graphical user interface (GUI). However, there may be instances where one prefers to save the plot as an image file rather than displaying it directly. This article provides a walkthrough of how to achieve this in Python using matplotlib.

Problem: How can I save a matplotlib plot as an image file (e.g., foo.png) instead of displaying it?

Solution:
To save a plot as an image file, utilize matplotlib's savefig function. The desired file format can be specified by adding the desired extension to the filename:

from matplotlib import pyplot as plt

plt.plot([1, 2, 3], [1, 4, 9])
plt.savefig('foo.png')  # Saves the plot as a PNG file
plt.savefig('foo.pdf')  # Saves the plot as a PDF file

By default, savefig may result in whitespace around the image. To eliminate this, use the bbox_inches='tight' argument:

plt.savefig('foo.png', bbox_inches='tight')

Note: Ensure that you call plt.show() after plt.savefig() to avoid blank image files.

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