Unable to use Pillow ImageTk module

[ollpu]

On python-build-standalone Python 3.12 or 3.13 (installed via uv), I tried this with the Pillow library (10.4.0, 11.0.0, 11.1.0; wheels or built from source):

import PIL._imagingtk

and got the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: bad argument type for built-in operation

If that import fails, the PIL.ImageTk module doesn't work properly. _imagingtk is a compiled C module.

Observed on both macOS and Linux (Arch). The import works fine on system / brew installations of Python.

[renweibo]

fyi, I encounter the same problem on MacOS for python 3.12.8. But after I upgrade to 3.13.3, it works as design without this problem.

[johnthagen]

With Python 3.12.10 installed with uv on macOS ARM64 we are hitting this error:

.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/PIL/ImageTk.py", line 59, in _pyimagingtkcall
    tk.call(command, photo, repr(ptr))
_tkinter.TclError: invalid command name "PyImagingPhoto"

Our code is roughly

from PIL import ImageTk

ImageTk.PhotoImage(...) # Exception thrown here

• Pillow 11.2.1

[johnthagen]

@zanieb Curious if you had any thoughts on this and if this would be classified as a bug? We currently had to switch back to pyenv to work around this issue, but would love to revert back to uv if this could be fixed.

[mctinker]

Ditto with python 3.11.12 on macOS 14.7.5 ARM64. Reverting to pyenv and uninstalling uv circumvented the issue.

[Flova]

I have the same issue, when I display an image in a tk window. This only happens if the system python version and the envs python version differ. Probably the bundled python has problems linking against tkinter

[DerPlayer2001]

I'm facing the same issue using uv in wsl

[yfllllll]

@DerPlayer2001 have u solved this problem?

[jkseppan]

Minimal failing example at #129 (comment)

[PaulleDemon]

Same issue here, will there be fix anytime soon?

[geofft]

Yes, a fix is in progress, please follow #129 for updates.