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ImageMagick 6 to 7: convert becomes magick

The commands on this page have not been executed by our verification runner yet.updated 2026-10-20
tool
ImageMagick
versions
6 → 7

ImageMagick 7 makes magick the single entry point: convert in.png out.webp becomes magick in.png out.webp, and the other tools (identify, mogrify, compare, composite, montage …) are reached as magick identify and so on. Version 7 also enables HDRI by default and changes the C API. ImageMagick 6 still receives bug and security fixes for at least ten years after version 7's release.

Command changes

ImageMagick 6ImageMagick 7
convert in.jpg -resize 50% out.jpgmagick in.jpg -resize 50% out.jpg
identify in.jpgmagick identify in.jpg
mogrify -resize 800x *.jpgmagick mogrify -resize 800x *.jpg
compare a.png b.png diff.pngmagick compare a.png b.png diff.png
composite over.png base.png out.pngmagick composite over.png base.png out.png

On Linux and macOS, convert, identify and the other names are installed as symbolic links to magick, so old scripts keep working. On Windows, use the magick <tool> form, and do not use magick convert.

Behaviour changes

  • HDRI by default. Pixels are stored as floating-point values, which reduces rounding errors but can change results and uses more memory. Add -clamp to constrain values to the 0…QuantumRange range, or build with --disable-hdri.
  • Settings per image. Image settings apply to each image on the command line; use parentheses (\( … \)) to attach settings to specific images.
  • Longer command lines: the limit grew from 4096 to 131072 characters.
  • New masks: -read-mask and -write-mask protect parts of an image from change.

For C and C++ code

  • Headers move from magick/ and wand/ to MagickCore/ and MagickWand/.
  • Pixels are arrays of channels (up to 64 and more) instead of the PixelPacket/IndexPacket structures.
  • Magick++ and PerlMagick keep their version 6 API.

Check your version

bash
magick -version     # ImageMagick 7
convert -version    # ImageMagick 6 (or the v7 symlink)

Sources

Related pages

errors · imagemagickImageMagick: not allowed by the security policy `PDF'ImageMagick refuses to read or write PDF, PS or EPS when policy.xml disables the Ghostscript coders. Allow the PDF coder in policy.xml for trusted files only.config · imagemagickImageMagick policy.xml: resource limits and coder rulesImageMagick policy.xml limits memory, disk, image size and allowed formats. The policy domains, raising width or area limits, enabling or blocking coders.cheat sheets · ffmpegFFmpeg cheat sheet: convert, cut, scale, extract and inspectFFmpeg cheat sheet: inspect files with ffprobe, change containers, encode H.264, cut without re-encoding, scale, extract audio, make GIFs and thumbnails.