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<section id="creating-viewing-and-saving-matplotlib-figures">
<span id="figure-explanation"></span><h1>Creating, viewing, and saving Matplotlib Figures<a class="headerlink" href="#creating-viewing-and-saving-matplotlib-figures" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h1>
<div class="highlight-python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">fig</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">figure</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">figsize</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">),</span> <span class="n">facecolor</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'lightskyblue'</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="n">layout</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'constrained'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">fig</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">suptitle</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'Figure'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">ax</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">fig</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">add_subplot</span><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="n">ax</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">set_title</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'Axes'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">loc</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'left'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">fontstyle</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'oblique'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">fontsize</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'medium'</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>(<a class="reference download internal" download="" href="../../_downloads/ebf935d1b9d3f04853efe98a424e6701/figures-1.py"><code class="xref download docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Source</span> <span class="pre">code</span></code></a>, <a class="reference download internal" download="" href="../../_downloads/ef02bb6623d20d2661e061e14e30afd5/figures-1.png"><code class="xref download docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">png</span></code></a>)</p>
<figure class="align-default">
<img alt="../../_images/figures-1.png" class="plot-directive" src="../../_images/figures-1.png" />
</figure>
<p>When looking at Matplotlib visualization, you are almost always looking at
Artists placed on a <a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.Figure" title="matplotlib.figure.Figure"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Figure</span></code></a>. In the example above, the figure is the
blue region and <a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.Figure.add_subplot" title="matplotlib.figure.Figure.add_subplot"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">add_subplot</span></code></a> has added an <a class="reference internal" href="../../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.axes.Axes.html#matplotlib.axes.Axes" title="matplotlib.axes.Axes"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Axes</span></code></a> artist to the
<a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.Figure" title="matplotlib.figure.Figure"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Figure</span></code></a> (see <a class="reference internal" href="../../tutorials/introductory/quick_start.html#figure-parts"><span class="std std-ref">Parts of a Figure</span></a>). A more complicated visualization can add
multiple Axes to the Figure, colorbars, legends, annotations, and the Axes
themselves can have multiple Artists added to them
(e.g. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ax.plot</span></code> or <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ax.imshow</span></code>).</p>
<section id="viewing-figures">
<span id="id1"></span><h2>Viewing Figures<a class="headerlink" href="#viewing-figures" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>We will discuss how to create Figures in more detail below, but first it is
helpful to understand how to view a Figure. This varies based on how you are
using Matplotlib, and what <a class="reference internal" href="backends.html#what-is-a-backend"><span class="std std-ref">Backend</span></a> you are using.</p>
<section id="notebooks-and-ides">
<h3>Notebooks and IDEs<a class="headerlink" href="#notebooks-and-ides" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h3>
<p>If you are using a Notebook (e.g. <a class="reference external" href="https://jupyter.org">Jupyter</a>) or an IDE
that renders Notebooks (PyCharm, VSCode, etc), then they have a backend that
will render the Matplotlib Figure when a code cell is executed. One thing to
be aware of is that the default Jupyter backend (<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">%matplotlib</span> <span class="pre">inline</span></code>) will
by default trim or expand the figure size to have a tight box around Artists
added to the Figure (see <a class="reference internal" href="#saving-figures"><span class="std std-ref">Saving Figures</span></a>, below).</p>
</section>
<section id="standalone-scripts-and-interactive-use">
<h3>Standalone scripts and interactive use<a class="headerlink" href="#standalone-scripts-and-interactive-use" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h3>
<p>If the user is on a client with a windowing system, there are a number of
<a class="reference internal" href="backends.html#what-is-a-backend"><span class="std std-ref">Backends</span></a> that can be used to render the Figure to
the screen, usually using a Python Qt, Tk, or Wx toolkit, though there is a native
MacOS backend as well. These are typically chosen either in the user's
<a class="reference internal" href="../../tutorials/introductory/customizing.html#customizing-with-matplotlibrc-files"><span class="std std-ref">matplotlibrc</span></a>, or by calling
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.use('QtAgg')</span></code> at the beginning of a session or script.</p>
<p>When run from a script, or interactively (e.g. from an
<a class="reference external" href="https://ipython.readthedocs.io/en/stable/">iPython shell</a>) the Figure
will not be shown until we call <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">plt.show()</span></code>. The Figure will appear in
a new GUI window, and usually will have a toolbar with Zoom, Pan, and other tools
for interacting with the Figure. By default, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">plt.show()</span></code> blocks
further interaction from the script or shell until the Figure window is closed,
though that can be toggled off for some purposes. For more details, please see
<a class="reference internal" href="interactive.html#controlling-interactive"><span class="std std-ref">Interactive mode</span></a>.</p>
<p>Note that if you are on a client that does not have access to a windowing
system, the Figure will fallback to being drawn using the "Agg" backend, and
cannot be viewed, though it can be <a class="reference internal" href="#saving-figures"><span class="std std-ref">saved</span></a>.</p>
</section>
</section>
<section id="creating-figures">
<span id="id2"></span><h2>Creating Figures<a class="headerlink" href="#creating-figures" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>By far the most common way to create a figure is using the
<a class="reference internal" href="../../tutorials/introductory/pyplot.html"><span class="doc">pyplot</span></a> interface. As noted in
<a class="reference internal" href="api_interfaces.html#api-interfaces"><span class="std std-ref">Matplotlib Application Interfaces (APIs)</span></a>, the pyplot interface serves two purposes. One is to spin
up the Backend and keep track of GUI windows. The other is a global state for
Axes and Artists that allow a short-form API to plotting methods. In the
example above, we use pyplot for the first purpose, and create the Figure object,
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">fig</span></code>. As a side effect <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">fig</span></code> is also added to pyplot's global state, and
can be accessed via <a class="reference internal" href="../../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.gcf.html#matplotlib.pyplot.gcf" title="matplotlib.pyplot.gcf"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">gcf</span></code></a>.</p>
<p>Users typically want an Axes or a grid of Axes when they create a Figure, so in
addition to <a class="reference internal" href="../../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.figure.html#matplotlib.pyplot.figure" title="matplotlib.pyplot.figure"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">figure</span></code></a>, there are convenience methods that return both
a Figure and some Axes. A simple grid of Axes can be achieved with
<a class="reference internal" href="../../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.subplots.html#matplotlib.pyplot.subplots" title="matplotlib.pyplot.subplots"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pyplot.subplots</span></code></a> (which
simply wraps <a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.Figure.subplots" title="matplotlib.figure.Figure.subplots"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Figure.subplots</span></code></a>):</p>
<div class="highlight-python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">fig</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">axs</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">subplots</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">figsize</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">4</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">3</span><span class="p">),</span> <span class="n">layout</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'constrained'</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>(<a class="reference download internal" download="" href="../../_downloads/9f30d505ff94726882d1819ba48d5002/figures-2.py"><code class="xref download docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Source</span> <span class="pre">code</span></code></a>, <a class="reference download internal" download="" href="../../_downloads/860c07f81cccb5c9ca5b0fdd357d5dcc/figures-2.png"><code class="xref download docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">png</span></code></a>)</p>
<figure class="align-default">
<img alt="../../_images/figures-2.png" class="plot-directive" src="../../_images/figures-2.png" />
</figure>
<p>More complex grids can be achieved with <a class="reference internal" href="../../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.subplot_mosaic.html#matplotlib.pyplot.subplot_mosaic" title="matplotlib.pyplot.subplot_mosaic"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pyplot.subplot_mosaic</span></code></a> (which wraps
<a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.Figure.subplot_mosaic" title="matplotlib.figure.Figure.subplot_mosaic"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Figure.subplot_mosaic</span></code></a>):</p>
<div class="highlight-python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">fig</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">axs</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">subplot_mosaic</span><span class="p">([[</span><span class="s1">'A'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'right'</span><span class="p">],</span> <span class="p">[</span><span class="s1">'B'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'right'</span><span class="p">]],</span>
<span class="n">figsize</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">4</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">3</span><span class="p">),</span> <span class="n">layout</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'constrained'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">ax_name</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="n">axs</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="n">axs</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="n">ax_name</span><span class="p">]</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">text</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mf">0.5</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mf">0.5</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">ax_name</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">ha</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'center'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">va</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'center'</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>(<a class="reference download internal" download="" href="../../_downloads/48b6b98d824cb2e7871033a19fc62756/figures-3.py"><code class="xref download docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Source</span> <span class="pre">code</span></code></a>, <a class="reference download internal" download="" href="../../_downloads/5a253edcdd1d4e87cf802da2a3977e2e/figures-3.png"><code class="xref download docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">png</span></code></a>)</p>
<figure class="align-default">
<img alt="../../_images/figures-3.png" class="plot-directive" src="../../_images/figures-3.png" />
</figure>
<p>Sometimes we want to have a nested layout in a Figure, with two or more sets of
Axes that do not share the same subplot grid.
We can use <a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.Figure.add_subfigure" title="matplotlib.figure.Figure.add_subfigure"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">add_subfigure</span></code></a> or <a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.Figure.subfigures" title="matplotlib.figure.Figure.subfigures"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">subfigures</span></code></a> to create virtual
figures inside a parent Figure; see
<a class="reference internal" href="../../gallery/subplots_axes_and_figures/subfigures.html"><span class="doc">Figure subfigures</span></a> for more details.</p>
<div class="highlight-python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">fig</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">plt</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">figure</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">layout</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'constrained'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">facecolor</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'lightskyblue'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">fig</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">suptitle</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'Figure'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">figL</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">figR</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">fig</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">subfigures</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">figL</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">set_facecolor</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'thistle'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">axL</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">figL</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">subplots</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">sharex</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="kc">True</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">axL</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">]</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">set_xlabel</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'x [m]'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">figL</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">suptitle</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'Left subfigure'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">figR</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">set_facecolor</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'paleturquoise'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">axR</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">figR</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">subplots</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">sharey</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="kc">True</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">axR</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">]</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">set_title</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'Axes 1'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">figR</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">suptitle</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'Right subfigure'</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>(<a class="reference download internal" download="" href="../../_downloads/3c6ec31385c7e0a934918f3f8ee65912/figures-4.py"><code class="xref download docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Source</span> <span class="pre">code</span></code></a>, <a class="reference download internal" download="" href="../../_downloads/be35aea841b8e55bf67784bab600b902/figures-4.png"><code class="xref download docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">png</span></code></a>)</p>
<figure class="align-default">
<img alt="../../_images/figures-4.png" class="plot-directive" src="../../_images/figures-4.png" />
</figure>
<p>It is possible to directly instantiate a <a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.Figure" title="matplotlib.figure.Figure"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Figure</span></code></a> instance without using the
pyplot interface. This is usually only necessary if you want to create your
own GUI application or service that you do not want carrying the pyplot global
state. See the embedding examples in <a class="reference internal" href="../../gallery/user_interfaces/index.html#user-interfaces"><span class="std std-ref">Embedding Matplotlib in graphical user interfaces</span></a> for examples of
how to do this.</p>
<section id="figure-options">
<h3>Figure options<a class="headerlink" href="#figure-options" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h3>
<p>There are a few options available when creating figures. The Figure size on
the screen is set by <em>figsize</em> and <em>dpi</em>. <em>figsize</em> is the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">(width,</span> <span class="pre">height)</span></code>
of the Figure in inches (or, if preferred, units of 72 typographic points). <em>dpi</em>
are how many pixels per inch the figure will be rendered at. To make your Figures
appear on the screen at the physical size you requested, you should set <em>dpi</em>
to the same <em>dpi</em> as your graphics system. Note that many graphics systems now use
a "dpi ratio" to specify how many screen pixels are used to represent a graphics
pixel. Matplotlib applies the dpi ratio to the <em>dpi</em> passed to the figure to make
it have higher resolution, so you should pass the lower number to the figure.</p>
<p>The <em>facecolor</em>, <em>edgecolor</em>, <em>linewidth</em>, and <em>frameon</em> options all change the appearance of the
figure in expected ways, with <em>frameon</em> making the figure transparent if set to <em>False</em>.</p>
<p>Finally, the user can specify a layout engine for the figure with the <em>layout</em>
parameter. Currently Matplotlib supplies
<a class="reference internal" href="../../tutorials/intermediate/constrainedlayout_guide.html"><span class="doc">"constrained"</span></a>,
<a class="reference internal" href="../../tutorials/intermediate/constrainedlayout_guide.html#compressed-layout"><span class="std std-ref">"compressed"</span></a> and
<a class="reference internal" href="../../tutorials/intermediate/tight_layout_guide.html"><span class="doc">"tight"</span></a> layout engines. These
rescale axes inside the Figure to prevent overlap of ticklabels, and try and align
axes, and can save significant manual adjustment of artists on a Figure for many
common cases.</p>
</section>
<section id="adding-artists">
<h3>Adding Artists<a class="headerlink" href="#adding-artists" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h3>
<p>The <a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.FigureBase" title="matplotlib.figure.FigureBase"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">FigureBase</span></code></a> class has a number of methods to add artists to a <a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.Figure" title="matplotlib.figure.Figure"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Figure</span></code></a> or
a <a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.SubFigure" title="matplotlib.figure.SubFigure"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">SubFigure</span></code></a>. By far the most common are to add Axes of various configurations
(<a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.add_axes" title="matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.add_axes"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">add_axes</span></code></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.add_subplot" title="matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.add_subplot"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">add_subplot</span></code></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.subplots" title="matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.subplots"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">subplots</span></code></a>,
<a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.subplot_mosaic" title="matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.subplot_mosaic"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">subplot_mosaic</span></code></a>) and subfigures (<a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.subfigures" title="matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.subfigures"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">subfigures</span></code></a>). Colorbars
are added to Axes or group of Axes at the Figure level (<a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.colorbar" title="matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.colorbar"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">colorbar</span></code></a>).
It is also possible to have a Figure-level legend (<a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.legend" title="matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.legend"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">legend</span></code></a>).
Other Artists include figure-wide labels (<a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.suptitle" title="matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.suptitle"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">suptitle</span></code></a>,
<a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.supxlabel" title="matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.supxlabel"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">supxlabel</span></code></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.supylabel" title="matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.supylabel"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">supylabel</span></code></a>) and text (<a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.text" title="matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.text"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">text</span></code></a>).
Finally, low-level Artists can be added directly using <a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.add_artist" title="matplotlib.figure.FigureBase.add_artist"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">add_artist</span></code></a>
usually with care being taken to use the appropriate transform. Usually these
include <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Figure.transFigure</span></code> which ranges from 0 to 1 in each direction, and
represents the fraction of the current Figure size, or <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Figure.dpi_scale_trans</span></code>
which will be in physical units of inches from the bottom left corner of the Figure
(see <a class="reference internal" href="../../tutorials/advanced/transforms_tutorial.html"><span class="doc">Transformations Tutorial</span></a> for more details).</p>
</section>
</section>
<section id="saving-figures">
<span id="id3"></span><h2>Saving Figures<a class="headerlink" href="#saving-figures" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>Finally, Figures can be saved to disk using the <a class="reference internal" href="../../api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.Figure.savefig" title="matplotlib.figure.Figure.savefig"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">savefig</span></code></a> method.
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">fig.savefig('MyFigure.png',</span> <span class="pre">dpi=200)</span></code> will save a PNG formatted figure to
the file <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">MyFigure.png</span></code> in the current directory on disk with 200 dots-per-inch
resolution. Note that the filename can include a relative or absolute path to
any place on the file system.</p>
<p>Many types of output are supported, including raster formats like PNG, GIF, JPEG,
TIFF and vector formats like PDF, EPS, and SVG.</p>
<p>By default, the size of the saved Figure is set by the Figure size (in inches) and, for the raster
formats, the <em>dpi</em>. If <em>dpi</em> is not set, then the <em>dpi</em> of the Figure is used.
Note that <em>dpi</em> still has meaning for vector formats like PDF if the Figure includes
Artists that have been <a class="reference internal" href="../../gallery/misc/rasterization_demo.html"><span class="doc">rasterized</span></a>; the
<em>dpi</em> specified will be the resolution of the rasterized objects.</p>
<p>It is possible to change the size of the Figure using the <em>bbox_inches</em> argument
to savefig. This can be specified manually, again in inches. However, by far
the most common use is <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">bbox_inches='tight'</span></code>. This option "shrink-wraps", trimming
or expanding as needed, the size of the figure so that it is tight around all the artists
in a figure, with a small pad that can be specified by <em>pad_inches</em>, which defaults to
0.1 inches. The dashed box in the plot below shows the portion of the figure that
would be saved if <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">bbox_inches='tight'</span></code> were used in savefig.</p>
<p>(<a class="reference download internal" download="" href="../../_downloads/bd64a9370f8f5ed60a10a38a58592830/figures-5.py"><code class="xref download docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Source</span> <span class="pre">code</span></code></a>, <a class="reference download internal" download="" href="../../_downloads/b9fd5256eed6d4754cec561f2ac68550/figures-5.png"><code class="xref download docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">png</span></code></a>)</p>
<figure class="align-default">
<img alt="../../_images/figures-5.png" class="plot-directive" src="../../_images/figures-5.png" />
</figure>
</section>
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