How to Compare Two Images in Python?

To compare two images in Python, you can utilize various image comparison methods provided by libraries like OpenCV and scikit-image. Here’s an example using the Mean Squared Error (MSE) method with scikit-image:

from skimage.metrics import mean_squared_error
from skimage.io import imread

# Load the images
image1 = imread('image1.jpg')
image2 = imread('image2.jpg')

# Convert the images to grayscale if necessary
# (skip this step if the images are already grayscale)

# Compare the images using MSE
mse = mean_squared_error(image1, image2)

# Display the MSE value
print("MSE:", mse)

In this example, we assume you have two images, image1.jpg and image2.jpg, in the same directory. You’ll need to replace these file names with the actual paths to your images.

First, we import the necessary functions from the scikit-image library. Then, we use the imread() function to load the images. If the images are already grayscale, you can skip the step of converting them to grayscale.

Next, we compare the images using the Mean Squared Error (MSE) method. The MSE measures the average squared difference between the pixel intensities of two images. A lower MSE value indicates a higher similarity between the images.

Finally, we display the MSE value using print(). You can further extend the code to compare images using other methods or perform additional actions based on the comparison results.

Note that different image comparison methods may be more appropriate depending on the specific characteristics of the images and the comparison requirements. Other commonly used methods include Structural Similarity Index (SSIM) and Normalized Cross-Correlation (NCC). You can explore these methods and choose the one that best suits your needs.

Additionally, you may need to install the scikit-image library if you haven’t already by running pip install scikit-image.