How to convert base64 string to a PIL Image object

Question

import base64
from PIL import Image

def img_to_txt(img):
    msg = ""
    msg = msg + "<plain_txt_msg:img>"
    with open(img, "rb") as imageFile:
        msg = msg + str(base64.b64encode(imageFile.read()))
    msg = msg + "<!plain_txt_msg>"

    return msg

class decode:
    def decode_img(msg):
        img = msg[msg.find(
        "<plain_txt_msg:img>"):msg.find(<!plain_txt_msg>")]
        #how do I convert the str 'img', encoded in base64, to a PIL Image?

while 1:
    decode.decode_img(img_to_txt(input()))

How do I convert the string to a PIL Image object, I was thinking of using the function frombytes() withing the Image module from PIL.

Answer 1

PIL's Image.open can accept a string (representing a filename) or a file-like object, and an io.BytesIO can act as a file-like object:

import base64
import io
from PIL import Image

def img_to_txt(filename):
    msg = b"<plain_txt_msg:img>"
    with open(filename, "rb") as imageFile:
        msg = msg + base64.b64encode(imageFile.read())
    msg = msg + b"<!plain_txt_msg>"
    return msg

def decode_img(msg):
    msg = msg[msg.find(b"<plain_txt_msg:img>")+len(b"<plain_txt_msg:img>"):
              msg.find(b"<!plain_txt_msg>")]
    msg = base64.b64decode(msg)
    buf = io.BytesIO(msg)
    img = Image.open(buf)
    return img

filename = 'test.png'
msg = img_to_txt(filename)
img = decode_img(msg)
img.show()