convert UIImage to NSData

Question

Try one of the following, depending on your image format:

UIImageJPEGRepresentation

Returns the data for the specified image in JPEG format.

NSData * UIImageJPEGRepresentation (
   UIImage *image,
   CGFloat compressionQuality
);

UIImagePNGRepresentation

Returns the data for the specified image in PNG format

NSData * UIImagePNGRepresentation (
   UIImage *image
);

Here the docs.

EDIT:

if you want to access the raw bytes that make up the UIImage, you could use this approach:

CGDataProviderRef provider = CGImageGetDataProvider(image.CGImage);
NSData* data = (id)CFBridgingRelease(CGDataProviderCopyData(provider));
const uint8_t* bytes = [data bytes];

This will give you the low-level representation of the image RGB pixels. (Omit the CFBridgingRelease bit if you are not using ARC).

NSData *imageData = UIImagePNGRepresentation(myImage.image);

If you have an image inside a UIImageView , e.g. "myImageView", you can do the following:

Convert your image using UIImageJPEGRepresentation() or UIImagePNGRepresentation() like this:

NSData *data = UIImagePNGRepresentation(myImageView.image);
//or
NSData *data = UIImageJPEGRepresentation(myImageView.image, 0.8);
//The float param (0.8 in this example) is the compression quality 
//expressed as a value from 0.0 to 1.0, where 1.0 represents 
//the least compression (or best quality).

You can also put this code inside a GCD block and execute in another thread, showing an UIActivityIndicatorView during the process ...

//*code to show a loading view here*

dispatch_queue_t myQueue = dispatch_queue_create("com.my.queue", DISPATCH_QUEUE_SERIAL);

dispatch_async(myQueue, ^{ 

    NSData *data = UIImagePNGRepresentation(myImageView.image);
    //some code....

    dispatch_async( dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
        //*code to hide the loading view here*
    });
});

Create the reference of image....

UIImage *rainyImage = [UIImage imageNamed:@"rainy.jpg"];

displaying image in image view... imagedisplay is reference of imageview:

imagedisplay.image = rainyImage;

convert it into NSData by passing UIImage reference and provide compression quality in float values:

NSData *imgData = UIImageJPEGRepresentation(rainyImage, 0.9);

Solution in Swift 4

extension UIImage {
    var data : Data? {
      return cgImage?.dataProvider?.data as Data?
    }
}

Use if-let block with Data to prevent app crash & safe execution of code, as function UIImagePNGRepresentation returns an optional value.

if let img = UIImage(named: "TestImage.png") {
    if let data:Data = UIImagePNGRepresentation(img) {
       // Handle operations with data here...         
    }
}

Note: Data is Swift 3 class. Use Data instead of NSData with Swift 3

Generic image operations (like png & jpg both):

if let img = UIImage(named: "TestImage.png") {  //UIImage(named: "TestImage.jpg")
        if let data:Data = UIImagePNGRepresentation(img) {
               handleOperationWithData(data: data)     
        } else if let data:Data = UIImageJPEGRepresentation(img, 1.0) {
               handleOperationWithData(data: data)     
        }
}

*******
func handleOperationWithData(data: Data) {
     // Handle operations with data here...
     if let image = UIImage(data: data) {
        // Use image...
     }
}

By using extension:

extension UIImage {

    var pngRepresentationData: Data? {
        return UIImagePNGRepresentation(img)
    }

    var jpegRepresentationData: Data? {
        return UIImageJPEGRepresentation(self, 1.0)
    }
}

*******
if let img = UIImage(named: "TestImage.png") {  //UIImage(named: "TestImage.jpg")
      if let data = img.pngRepresentationData {
              handleOperationWithData(data: data)     
      } else if let data = img.jpegRepresentationData {
              handleOperationWithData(data: data)     
     }
}

*******
func handleOperationWithData(data: Data) {
     // Handle operations with data here...
     if let image = UIImage(data: data) {
        // Use image...
     }
}