Image to BufferedImage

Question

What is the easiest way to convert a Image to a bufferedImage for writing to a file?

Answer 1

The short answer is to start with a BufferedImage! For instance, use ImageIO.read to read.
The long aswer, well here's the long answer:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import java.net.*;
import java.text.*;
import java.util.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class X {
    //preserves image's colormodel. Assumes image is loaded
    public static BufferedImage toBufferedImage(Image image) {
        if (image instanceof BufferedImage)
            return (BufferedImage) image;
        ColorModel cm = getColorModel(image);
        int width = image.getWidth(null);
        int height = image.getHeight(null);
        return copy(createBufferedImage(cm, width, height), image);
    public static BufferedImage toBufferedImage(Image image, int type) {
        if (image instanceof BufferedImage && ((BufferedImage)image).getType() == type)
            return (BufferedImage) image;
        int width = image.getWidth(null);
        int height = image.getHeight(null);
        return copy(new BufferedImage(width, height, type), image);
    //Returns target. Assumes source is loaded
    public static BufferedImage copy(BufferedImage target, Image source) {
        Graphics2D g = target.createGraphics();
        g.drawImage(source, 0, 0, null);
        g.dispose();
        return target;
    public static ColorModel getColorModel(Image image) {
        try {
            PixelGrabber pg = new PixelGrabber(image, 0,0,1,1, false);
            pg.grabPixels();
            return pg.getColorModel();
        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            throw new RuntimeException("Unexpected interruption", e);
    public static BufferedImage createBufferedImage(ColorModel cm, int w, int h) {
        WritableRaster raster = cm.createCompatibleWritableRaster(w, h);
        boolean isRasterPremultiplied = cm.isAlphaPremultiplied();
        return new BufferedImage(cm, raster, isRasterPremultiplied, null);
    //you may want to use MediaTracker directly
    public static Image load(Image image) {
        ImageIcon ii = new ImageIcon(image);
        if (ii.getImageLoadStatus() != MediaTracker.COMPLETE)
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("unable to load image");
        return image;
    //demo
    public static void main(String[] args) throws MalformedURLException {
        URL url = new URL("http://developers.sun.com/im/logo_java.gif");
        Image image = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().createImage(url);
        load(image);
        BufferedImage bi1 = toBufferedImage(image);
        BufferedImage bi2 = toBufferedImage(image, BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB);
        JPanel cp = new JPanel();
        cp.add(createLabel(image, "original"));
        cp.add(createLabel(bi1, "buffered 1"));
        cp.add(createLabel(bi2, "buffered 2"));
        JFrame f = new JFrame("X");
        f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        f.setContentPane(cp);
        f.pack();
        f.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        f.setVisible(true);
    //demo
    static JLabel createLabel(Image image, String title) {
        JLabel label = new JLabel(new ImageIcon(image));
        label.setBorder(BorderFactory.createTitledBorder(title));
        return label;
}I give two versions of toBufferedImage: one takes just an Image and creates a BufferedImage with
the same ColorModel. That is usually what you want, if you care. The second creates a BufferedImage
of a given type, like TYPE_BYTE_INDEXED.