ImportError: cannot import name 'imread' from 'scipy.misc'

How to fix ImportError: cannot import name 'imread' from 'scipy.misc'

scipy removed imread/imresize/imsave in 1.3. Replace from scipy.misc import imread with imageio (from imageio import imread) or PIL (Image.open(path)). imageio is scipy's own recommended replacement and returns the same numpy array.

The exact error

ImportError: cannot import name 'imread' from 'scipy.misc'

Fix it

1. python -m pip install imageio

Expected: installed

1. Replace from scipy.misc import imread with from imageio import imread.

Expected: same numpy array back

1. For imresize: use Image.fromarray(arr).resize((w, h)) from PIL.

Expected: equivalent resize

When this applies

old code/tutorials doing from scipy.misc import imread on scipy>=1.3

When this does NOT apply

you just need any image reader (use imageio or PIL directly)

Versions

scipy >= 1.3

Why it happens

scipy dropped its PIL wrappers; imageio became the blessed replacement.

Edge cases

imageio v3 changed the API slightly; imageio.v2.imread keeps the old behavior.