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python requests post image base64

Narkw Brahma

Narkw Brahma

• 2 min read

Python Requests POST Image Base64

There are several ways to send an image via HTTP POST requests, but one of the most common methods is to encode the image as base64 and include it in the request body. In this blog post, I will explain how to send an image in base64 format using the Python Requests library.

Step 1: Import Required Libraries

Firstly, we need to import the necessary libraries for this task, which includes Requests, base64, and json.


    import requests
    import base64
    import json

Step 2: Read Image File and Encode It

We need to read the image file and encode it as base64 before sending it in the request body. In this example, let's say we have an image named "example.jpg" in the current directory. We can use the following code to read and encode the image:


    with open("example.jpg", "rb") as image_file:
        encoded_string = base64.b64encode(image_file.read()).decode('utf-8')

The above code reads the image file in binary mode, encodes it as base64, and then decodes it as a UTF-8 string. The resulting string, "encoded_string," contains the image data in base64 format.

Step 3: Send POST Request with Base64 Image

Now that we have the image data in base64 format, we can include it in the request body of a POST request using the Requests library. We will send a JSON payload that includes the image data and any other metadata we want to include.


    url = "https://example.com/api/upload"
    headers = {'Content-type': 'application/json'}
    data = {'image': encoded_string, 'name': 'example.jpg'}

    response = requests.post(url, data=json.dumps(data), headers=headers)

In the above code, we define the URL to send the POST request to and set the content type header to "application/json." We then create a dictionary, "data," that includes the image data and any other metadata we want to include. Finally, we use the Requests library to send the POST request with the JSON payload.

Step 4: Check Response

We can check the response of the POST request by checking the status code and any returned data. For example:


    if response.status_code == 200:
        print("Image uploaded successfully!")
        print(response.json())
    else:
        print("Error uploading image.")

The above code checks if the status code of the response is 200 (OK) and prints the returned JSON data if it is. Otherwise, it prints an error message.

Conclusion

That's it! We have successfully sent an image in base64 format using the Python Requests library. This is a common method for sending images in HTTP POST requests and can be used in a variety of applications.

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