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Use fig.savefig("plot.png") to export a Matplotlib figure as a PNG. The file extension tells Matplotlib which format to use; add options such as dpi, bbox_inches, or transparent when you need to control resolution, whitespace, or the background.

Save a Matplotlib figure as a PNG

Call savefig on the Figure you want to export:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
ax.plot([1, 2, 3], [2, 4, 3])
fig.savefig("plot.png")

This writes plot.png to the current working directory. Pass a relative or absolute path to choose another location. The Figure.savefig API accepts a path or a binary file-like object.

Using fig.savefig identifies the specific Figure to export, which is useful when code creates multiple figures. Alternatively, plt.savefig("plot.png") saves the current pyplot figure. The Matplotlib figures guide shows the Figure method with a relative filename.

Choose the format and filename

When you omit the format argument, Matplotlib infers the format from the filename extension. For PNG, use a filename ending in .png, as in fig.savefig("plot.png").

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If the filename has no extension, Matplotlib uses the configured savefig.format and appends its extension. If you explicitly set format, Matplotlib uses the filename exactly as supplied and does not add or change its extension. Keep the extension and explicit format consistent—for example, fig.savefig("plot.png", format="png"). See the savefig API reference for format behavior.

Control PNG resolution

Set dpi to choose the raster resolution:

fig.savefig("plot.png", dpi=300)

DPI is dots per inch. The resulting pixel dimensions depend on both the Figure’s size in inches and the output DPI; increasing DPI alone does not specify a particular width or height. For example, the figures guide demonstrates fig.savefig("MyFigure.png", dpi=200), but the suitable value depends on the intended use. The API default is dpi="figure", which uses the Figure’s DPI; these are configurable defaults, not fixed behavior. See Figure.savefig and the configuration reference.

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Trim whitespace around the plot

Use bbox_inches="tight" to ask Matplotlib to fit the saved bounding box around the figure’s artists, such as plotted data, labels, and titles. Set pad_inches to control the margin around that tight box:

fig.savefig("plot.png", bbox_inches="tight", pad_inches=0.1)

The API default for pad_inches is 0.1 inches. Tight cropping can change the saved image’s dimensions, so use it when you want to trim or fit the surrounding area rather than preserve the ordinary figure bounds. The figures guide also covers tight bounding boxes.

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Save with a transparent or colored background

For a PNG intended to sit over another background, use transparent=True:

fig.savefig("plot.png", transparent=True)

This makes the Axes patches transparent and also the Figure patch unless you specify a facecolor or edgecolor. Transparency is off by default. To set the saved Figure’s face or edge color instead, use facecolor or edgecolor; the value "auto" uses the Figure’s current colors. Details are in the savefig API and Matplotlib configuration documentation.

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Use savefig for plots, imsave for image arrays

Figure.savefig exports a plotted Figure containing Axes and artists. matplotlib.image.imsave serves a different purpose: it colormaps and writes image-array data, including 2D grayscale-shaped arrays and 3D RGB or RGBA arrays. For a single-channel array that must be stored as grayscale, the image API documentation recommends an image I/O library such as Pillow, tifffile, or imageio. The DPI argument to imsave is recorded in metadata; it does not change the array’s output resolution.

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