You are reading an old version of the documentation (v2.2.5). For the latest version see https://matplotlib.org/stable/api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.savefig.html
Version 2.2.5
matplotlib
Fork me on GitHub

Table of Contents

matplotlib.pyplot.savefig

matplotlib.pyplot.savefig(*args, **kwargs)[source]

Save the current figure.

Call signature:

savefig(fname, dpi=None, facecolor='w', edgecolor='w',
        orientation='portrait', papertype=None, format=None,
        transparent=False, bbox_inches=None, pad_inches=0.1,
        frameon=None)

The output formats available depend on the backend being used.

Parameters:
fname : str or file-like object

A string containing a path to a filename, or a Python file-like object, or possibly some backend-dependent object such as PdfPages.

If format is None and fname is a string, the output format is deduced from the extension of the filename. If the filename has no extension, the value of the rc parameter savefig.format is used.

If fname is not a string, remember to specify format to ensure that the correct backend is used.

Other Parameters:
dpi : [ None | scalar > 0 | 'figure']

The resolution in dots per inch. If None it will default to the value savefig.dpi in the matplotlibrc file. If 'figure' it will set the dpi to be the value of the figure.

facecolor : color spec or None, optional

the facecolor of the figure; if None, defaults to savefig.facecolor

edgecolor : color spec or None, optional

the edgecolor of the figure; if None, defaults to savefig.edgecolor

orientation : {'landscape', 'portrait'}

not supported on all backends; currently only on postscript output

papertype : str

One of 'letter', 'legal', 'executive', 'ledger', 'a0' through 'a10', 'b0' through 'b10'. Only supported for postscript output.

format : str

One of the file extensions supported by the active backend. Most backends support png, pdf, ps, eps and svg.

transparent : bool

If True, the axes patches will all be transparent; the figure patch will also be transparent unless facecolor and/or edgecolor are specified via kwargs. This is useful, for example, for displaying a plot on top of a colored background on a web page. The transparency of these patches will be restored to their original values upon exit of this function.

frameon : bool

If True, the figure patch will be colored, if False, the figure background will be transparent. If not provided, the rcParam 'savefig.frameon' will be used.

bbox_inches : str or Bbox, optional

Bbox in inches. Only the given portion of the figure is saved. If 'tight', try to figure out the tight bbox of the figure. If None, use savefig.bbox

pad_inches : scalar, optional

Amount of padding around the figure when bbox_inches is 'tight'. If None, use savefig.pad_inches

bbox_extra_artists : list of Artist, optional

A list of extra artists that will be considered when the tight bbox is calculated.